Based on the promising weather forecast we heard at Phantom Ranch, we took the chance of sleeping out at Hermit camp.  We enjoyed having the stars directly overhead for the first time on the trip, but we woke to cloudy skies in the morning.  After going through the boat wash in Hermit Rapid, Joelle took us on a perfect run of Crystal, one of two rapids in the Grand Canyon with a 10 rating.  We had a fun time in all the gems, including another great wash in Sapphire.  Since the previous day had been a long one, we stopped at Hotauta camp after a half day of rowing.  It started raining on and off in the afternoon, but that didn’t stop us from taking a hike up to Bass Saddle.  Fortunately, we got back to camp just as it started pouring, and managed to get the tarp up to have shelter for dinner.