Ken caught a shot of the moon rising over the cliffs.

Audrey, Ann, and Elaine were chipper and ready to begin the day of rafting..

Ken is bringing his “Pee Pot” down to the river to wash.  We each are given one every night to keep near our tent.

Sue was always trying to teach us something about the canyon.  This iwas the chart for the day.

She gave us a lesson on the names of the formations at each level …

…using an anagram.

Then she showed us the anagram that the rafting community uses to remember.

We had to walk in the water to get on the rafts this morning so Nancy Chase was determined not to get her feet wet.

Elaine and I sat together on the raft.

I had a great seat on the raft because I was sitting up high and I just kept taking photos. I was using 2 cameras.  If I was not nervous about getting the camera wet, I used the Lumix.  If it was possible that we may get splashed, I used the Fuji waterproof one.  I think I may be posting some photos for this day out of order.  That happens when I use 2 cameras and cannot upload them until after the trip..    Oh well, they are all great memories of the trip for me.

There was a rapid very shortly after we began our day.  I think it may have been Nankoweap Rapid which can have a drop 25′ over the course of the rapid.  Emily again demonstrated her skill.

Then just a couple miles later was Lava Canyon (Chuar) rapid which was much smaller.

Sue Holmes was her in her regular cherry mood.  The gloves are to protect her hands.

We were just cruising down the Colorado enjoying the sites.

LIz was in one of her favorite seats.

 

I think these may be limestone layers that rose in Marble Canyon

The ducks were far away and pretty small in this photo, but just for the memory I am posting it.

Emily and Mija got very excited and I  zoomed in the camera lens to see what was exciting them.

It was the robin’s egg blue at the Confluence: where the Little Colorado River flows into the Colorado. Emily said that they weren’t expecting this surprise because they were expecting the water to be mucky.

They docked the rafts and told us that because the water was clear, we were going to be able to take a swim.  A couple of us climbed up the rocks to take some photos.  Ken got a great shot of the confluence.

We had to take photos of each other…

… and desert flowers.

Audrey and I were excited.

We used a variety of clothing choices for swimming.

I am the smallest looking person in this photo. I had to dip down deeper for this photo because I chose to go naked on the top.  The current was strong and Sue Holmes helped me get out of the water.

Ann wasn’t going to go in the water in her clothes but when she found out that I took my top off, she immediately went for it.

Ann surprised me when she swam further out than anybody else had gone.

 

I read that the turquoise blue color of the Little Colorado was from the high alkaline content and minerals in the water.  We are so lucky that it was not mucky today.  Some of us had to have one final photo taken before we left this oustanding spot.

 

We continued on down the river.  We were now officially and geologically out of Marble Canyon (which is also in Grand Canyon National Park) and had officially entered the Grand Canyon.

Just past the confluence, Emily told us about the 1956 Grand Canyon TWA-United Airlines mid-air collision.  The FAA was created as a result of this accident.

Very shortly after lunch we stopped for lunch.

 

I loved what we think was a Desert Spiny Lizard that joined us at our lunch spot.  Ken said it was about 10 inches long.  It hardly moved so it was easy to take photographs.

Our lunch spot had great views of plants and more – including Audrey.

I loved our lunch spot.  After lunch I continued taking many, many photos.  Going over them for this post makes me aware of the variety of the formations.  I love them all.

The people in Duffy’s raft were covered in the tarps as he negotiated the rapid.

The views just kept coming.

Sue stood on the side of the raft to give a talk about the geology.  I sure wish I could remember what she said. There were people on the trip that really could follow all of her lectures.  I was not one of them but I thoroughly enjoyed her.  Sometimes she rode on Emily’s raft and other times on Duffy’s.

 

How in the world did these branches get stuck in the rocks?

I could see that we were coming to another rapid soon.

This photo might be soon after he came  through a rapid because many of them are still covered up with the tarps.  He must be giving a talk to them.

We sure got wet on this one.  Of course the people in the front were the wettist but it did splash all the way over the bags and soaked us in the back.  I am not allowed to sit up high through these but I hold on with one hand and hold the camera over my head.

I am not sure, but this may be Duffy’s raft just finishing Hance Rapid.  It drops 30 feet in 1/2 mile and was at the start of Granite Gorge.

And here we are getting soaked again at another rapid.

The water was churning.

… and it got us.

Sometimes Emily could maneuver just perfectly and actaly keep us partially dry.

It was time to call it a day at Mile 80 p Grapevine Campsite. I believe we went through 10 rapids today.

We have another great place to put our tent.  We still had some organizing to do.

Kerstin and Duffy are busy working on salad and dessert.

Tonight we had 2 lizards hanging around at the bathroom spot.  They sure aren’t bothered by humans.

They decided that the rocky path to the secluded bathroom had to be moved to make sure nobody would trip over the rocks in the night. So Duffy set up an umbrella to shield the view from the people in line.

So here is how the bathroom works.  They set up a toilet and a large pee pot in a secluded spot (usually with a great view).  The toilet paper is kept in a bag near the wash station.  If the bag of paper is there, we knew not to go up to the toilet. When the paper was returned, we knew the next person in line could proceed.  It was important to pee only (or at least mostly) in the pee pot or in the river.  If that didn’t happen, we would run out of space in the toilet.  What fun.

What a calm, peaceful evening at the end of a great day.