It has been interesting that everyone in both of the previous groups on this Grand Canyon segment, some of whom are not normally early risers, have awakened at or around sunrise, before 6 am.

This group was no exception, and we got going by 8:15 am. It was a good thing too, because we had a long day planned.

Like the day before, we saw impressive canyon features reminiscent of places a hundred or more miles upstream. The desert bighorn sheep were flourishing in numbers and appearance.

We also encountered rapids, most notably mile 232 rapid which we stopped and scouted from the right shore. It was sequence similar to so many I memorized before: "go right of a hole at the top, miss two rocks on the right side at the bottom and you are home safe".

This time the last two words were the most operable because there wasn't much more whitewater in the ensuing miles.

Within a couple hours we floated by Separation Canyon, where three members abandoned Major Powell's 1869 expedition through the Grand Canyon. Sadly, if they had just waited one more day-they had been going 99 days-they would have made it "home safe" with Powell.

Instead they were killed by indigenous people who apparently mistook them for criminals because their story of traveling through the canyon by boat was deemed unbelievable.

The canyon was still breathtaking, but within about five more miles we began to see evidence that these shorelines were once covered by Lake Mead, very similar to the way the shorelines looked as the river enters Lake Powell below Cataract Canyon.

The sedimentary layers of silt left behind mimicked the layers in the canyon walls above, but that is the only thing I found attractive about the silt. It was so soft that it wouldn’t support a person’s weight and it was prone to sloughing off, especially when hit by waves.

As we progressed down the river, so did silt progress higher on the shorelines.

After “putting the hammer down” Brian had a lead on us in his kayak and was able to find us a place to camp. It had a very steep bank up which we had to haul gear, but it was sandy (not the dreaded silt) and had a large open flat area.

By this time, about 5 pm, we had made more than thirty miles and were pretty beat. As we unloaded the boats, we heard a helicopter in the distance, then another. Soon they were whizzing right over us in many pairs about 3 minutes apart.

It was really strange when one of them landed on a high flat spot, not 500 feet away from us, then another landed, then a third and a fourth. Next we saw a woman in a white dress and man in a black tuxedo standing together for about ten minutes, then away they all went.

Apparently you can leave Las Vegas to get married in the Grand Canyon and be back in less time than it takes for the ice in your drink to melt. What a concept.

After a few more pairs of helicopters flew over us, the aerial exhibition ended for the night. That was OK with us.