It is morning and we are gathered around the kitchen. We are drinking our morning coffee and Meg is cooking pancakes. I am looking downstream from Nankoweap rapid and watching the sun, shadow and colors change on the canyon walls. Today, we pick the hikers, Richard, Jan, Cathy, Jessica, Jacob, and Wayne, at Tanner Trail. It is an exciting morning. They have hiked down Tanner Trail in 2 parts. The first half yesterday afternoon and rest this morning. While I am eating my breakfast the raven checks out my backpack and actually takes my Ziploc bags out of my backpack, looking for food. My campsite looks very messy when I get back to it. We put on the river within 45 minutes eating breakfast. Meg and J.P. are really good.

This morning we encounter the confluence of the Little Colorado River and the Colorado River. We pull up at the corner and park the boat so that we can take a walk up the Little Colorado. The river is muddy, red, and brown. It rained upstream and the red brown soil moved down the river. The Colorado at this point is still clear and green in color, so when the two mix the Colorado River changes colors, and becomes reddish brown muddy. I walk as far as I can on the sandstone ledges and cliffs and then walk down to the river and get stuck in the mud. The mud is deep and sticky and doesn’t wash off easily in the river. In fact I still have Little Colorado River mud on my sandals.

We start to go back down the river. Just past river mile 63 is the Great Unconformity. This is due to a period of 820 and 770 million years ago, when there was a period of geologic upheaval. The super group sediments weathered away, by being exposed to erosion. What all this means is that there is a couple of years missing between 2 rocks.

We pass the Sacred Hopi Salt mines on the left side of the river. This is where the Hopi’s would come down to get salt. It is still sacred place and is strictly off limits to all others.

Today after picking the folks up at Tanner Trail, we hit some awesome rapids. We ran Hance rapid, which is an 8 or 9 and is one of the longest rapids on the Colorado River. It is fun and wet.

We camp at Zoraster. It is fun and sandy and small. We eat well and sleep on the sand under the stars.