The morning after sleeping on the beach, Smith begins preparing the rafts for the river trip. Hayduke, or "the bum" (53), as Smith calls him, watches Smith work. Smith's boatman never showed up, so he recruits Hayduke to serve as the second oarsman. The girl, Smith's driver, heads to the small airport in nearby Page to pick up two of the trip's passengers, Dr. Sarvis and Bonnie.

When Bonnie debarks the small airplane, the people hanging around the airport stare at her "with hungry eyes" (54). Dr. Sarvis emerges looking "older than he really was,” with his huge nose “shining like a polished tomato" (54). Smith's driver introduces herself and leads them to the truck. They drive through Page, past the churches on "Jesus Row" (55) and the litter-strewn corrals that house skinny horses. Bonnie comments that it's an "utterly ghastly country" (55) and asks who lives there. Sarvis says Indians live there and Bonnie says it's "too good for them" (55).

When they arrive at the river, the girl introduces Bonnie and Sarvis to Smith. Smith introduces Hayduke and asks him to "say something" (55), but Hayduke just growls "something unintelligible" (55). As Smith admires Bonnie, the last two passengers for the trip, "two secretaries from San Diego" (56), arrive.