Day 7-Friday, July 4
I woke up at about 5. Sherri is wearing a 4th of July ensemble. Breakfast was fruit pancakes and bacon. We left at about 7:20. We just passed Vulcan's Anvil, a huge lava uplift in the river. Now we are stopped to look at Lava Falls, the big rapid that is the remains of a lava dam. The rapid was soaking and chilly, especially because it was only 8 in the morning. Now we are passing by some ancient lava flows. A helicopter flew over us, taking out people from trips that end at Whitmore Wash.

Then we all started dozing again. We stopped for lunch at a place where the only shade was way up a sand dune (mile 210). After lunch, we saw a "family" of bighorns. Then we ran some more rapids. One of the bigger was 217 mile. Now we can see Diamond Peak. We just passed a group of five bighorns by the river. George just pulled a "Happy Graduation" helium balloon out of the river. Now we are stopped at Travertine Canyon. It was filled with travertine deposits, gluing rocks together. After a short walk, we got to a neat waterfall. Then Bill put a rope up the rocks so we could climb a little further to a waterfall that was in a narrow canyon. At first it was on some very hot rocks, and I toasted my hands, He moved it later, but to a steep spot, and some people chose not to go up. We spent about an hour there. After we were back on the water for a minute or two, we passed Travertine Falls. There was very little water and it slid slowly down a buildup of deposits. Bryant was driving and got us as wet as he could on some of the small rapids. We stopped at about 5 in the middle of Bridge Creek rapids (mile 234), so we could have the sound of the river for one more night. Several of us played Uno. Dinner was steaks with angel food cake, strawberries, and whipped cream for dessert. After dinner, several of us stayed up until 10:00 talking. David watched the water level drop, by placing a rock at the high water level. They are lowering the water level so they can see the effects of the controlled floods.

We just passed Separation canyon, where three of Powell's men hiked out so they would not have to run the rapids that are now buried by silt, due to the dam. Now they are lashing the boats together so that we can go faster on Lake Mead. We also can take off our life jackets. The lake is still very narrow.We just saw two bighorns up on the ledges. As we move further onto Lake Mead, we are seeing more boats. Now we can see that staging for the cable car that was used in mining guano from a bat cave. People on the boats going by are taking pictures of us-that is scary. We ate lunch tied to a rock again. We got off of the river at Pearce Ferry at about one, but spent 15 minutes taking group pictures before we boarded the bus. Now we are crossing the Hoover Dam. We got to the hotel at about 3:45.