The morning of September 1st dawns like every other – clear and cool. While daytime temperatures soar to near 38 – 100 F , it is about 14 C – 57 F in the early morning.

We pack up – everything . This is “leave no trace” camping. Even the bonfire is built over a screen in the sand – in the morning the ashes are thrown in the river. Other than footprints , that will be blown away by the wind within an hour – no one would know that a camp of tents and cooking /eating areas was there only hours before.

The rapids today are more frequent and more powerful – up to class 3.

We set up camp at a beautiful river beach – but forest fires flare up throughout the night. Some of the crew puts out the fires with sticks.

Dinner was delicious – pasta followed by flambé, with champagne and red wine.

We saw no people other than our crew the entire day.