Up at 6 and hiking by 6:50. This will be a long day as we need to make it to Cottonwood Campground – about 18 miles away. We crossed the Tonto and found the break through the tapeats down to Clear Creek. On the way down I put my hiking pole down and felt it squish. I looked down to see that I had put it on a rattle snake. It was a juvenile that had only one button for a rattle, and it was clearly too cold to do much. I took a picture and apologized for the pinch and went on my way. We were to water by 7:20 and had breakfast. Walked down stream bed to where the main arm of Clear Creek begins. Went right and made it to the Clear Creek campsite by 9:45. Pumped some more water and had a quick snack and headed out on the Clear Creek trail. Made it to Bright Angel River by 3:00. Soaked our sore feet in the cool water, pumped more water and headed to Cottonwood. Arrived by 7:00. Set up camp and made dinner. Oskar went down to the river to get water. Water pump was full of silt from previous days so it was a hard chore.