The last full day on the river was a long one – about 50 miles. To save time we made lunch sandwiches in the AM before leaving the spot we spent the night and then tied up in the shade in the early afternoon to eat our lunches on the rafts.
The inner gorge became deeper later in the trip.
Nate permitted a few on our boat to jump into the water and float down a mild rapid in their life jackets. Here the first is being recovered by the boat.
The black rock between the boatman (Nate) and the steering arm of the spare motor is lava which is found along several miles of the river. There is so much lava that I suppose that there were many vents in the area, erupting over many years.
More lava covering older rock.
On the last night on the river the crew removed, deflated and rolled up the pontoons so that, after dropping us at the helicopter pad for extraction the next AM, they could go 100 miles downstream to the boat take-out point at a higher speed than if the pontoons were left on the boats.
On the last night awards were made. The award was a couple of pulls on a tequila bottle. Here Jerry is receiving his award as the historian or the group for volunteering to get the names and e-mail addresses of everyone and sending them to all of the passengers.
I won the award for the best new beard of the group. I did not shave for the whole trip (and I still am sporting most of the whiskers).
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