FKT: Suzanne "Sunny" Stroeer - Deer Creek Lollipop (AZ) - 2022-10-05

Still a little hot in the canyon on October 5 but all in all a beautiful day.  It's somewhat shocking to me that Deer Creek and Thunder River don't seem to be on the radar for canyon runners yet.  I'd been down there a few times before and yet couldn't help but get sucked into the beauty of Deer Creek again, which "cost me" at least 45 minutes. For the Colorado traverse from Tapeats to Deer Creek I inadvertently ended up on the upper variation, which added some vert and mileage but avoided exposed terrain.  If I were to do it again I'd do the lower variation -- it's more direct with less vert, and the trail is *mostly* good (save one 10 foot section that has significant exposure and won't tolerate a misstep).