Kayaking the Colorado River below Hoover Dam

Isn’t it wonderful when one of your best friends marries someone exceptional and you get a fantastic bonus friend?  That’s what Melissa is to me: a fantastic bonus friend.  She is a motivator, an encourager and a lot of fun, to boot.  For this adventure, she suggested we take a kayaking trip on the Colorado River when she came to visit Las Vegas.  I was all in, for sure (once one of my other always-dependable friends agreed to babysit!).

We put in very early in the morning right at the base of the Hoover Dam.  We went with a local outfitter who has access to the National Park Service launch sites (not just anyone can paddle the Colorado there–you have to have a NPS permit).

Neither Melissa or I are expert kayakers, but we held our own on that beautiful Nevada fall day.  I’ve been sea kayaking in the dead of night in Ireland and on an intrepid kayaking adventure in a tremendous thunderstorm on Lake Placid.  This day of kayaking lived up to the high standards set by those other trips, especially because of the excursions we took whenever we beached the boats.

For our first stop, we hiked up to Sauna Cave, which is actually a horizontal shaft that was drilled and blasted into the mountain as a tunnel for the Hoover Dam in the early 1900s.  However, work on that particular tunnel suddenly came to a halt due to an unexpected natural phenomenon: geothermal activity (which, I have now learned, is quite pronounced in this area).  At the back of the cave, hot springs gush out from the wall and fill the tunnel with steam.

Yes, I know this photo looks awful — the camera lens was completely covered in condensation.  It was about 100 degrees in there and 95 percent humidity.  Great for our skin and perfect for a cool Nevada autumn day, but I wouldn’t recommend it in the heat of summer.

The whole trip from the dam to Willow Beach somewhere in Arizona is about 12 miles (here’s a nice map), and with all the stops for hiking and hot springs, it took us a full day of paddling.  The Park Service doesn’t make public the dam water release schedule, so from day to day you’ll never know how much you might have to paddle and how much you can just float the distance.  Today was a mostly paddling day, with a slight breeze, perfect temperature and beautiful views of Black Canyon.

We stopped several times for short hikes up to different Hot Springs.  This was on the way up to Arizona Hot Springs.  Some resourceful conservationists strategically placed sandbags to control erosion and provide nice footholds for climbing up the runoff.

This is the way up to the top few pools at Arizona Hot Springs.  I didn’t take my camera up there with me, because we stripped down to our swimming suits and soaked in the 111 degree water.  God sure does make better hot tubs than we do.  If you don’t want to take the river to the base of the hot springs and hike the 1000 feet up, you can reach Arizona Hot Springs from the top and hike down a canyon to get there.  Our family plans to do that at Gold Strike Canyon still this fall.

We did get a rare look at some native Nevada widlife:  Big Horn Sheep.  They were gallivanting on the cliffs along the river and seemed to be as interested in us as we were in them.

This momma kept her two kids fairly well hidden (they are remarkably camouflaged), but she came down to check us out.

Near the end of the trip, we ventured into Emerald Cave, which is supposedly one of the most photographed caves in the world.  When full sunlight hits the cave, it lights up with a majestic green glow.

On a hot summer day, I’m sure the cool shade of Emerald Cave would be a welcome respite for a Colorado River paddler.  For us, it meant we were only two miles from the end of a journey we would have gladly continued all night.

I am so thankful Melissa recommended this kayaking adventure, and I’m looking forward to many more with my fabulous bonus friend.