Since there was a lot of interest in this in a "hidden gems" thread...
THE BRAG
So last Sunday, June 14, in the bright sun and 102 degrees, me, the wife and a couple friends spent the day in Black Canyon,kayaking twelve miles from the Hoover Dam to Willow Beach, AZ,
and hiking and scrambling about another three miles. Here's my GPS track - squint near the top and you can see the bridge and Hoover Dam. Pure awesomeness, right?
THE REALITY
Well that’s the macho version of the story. In reality, the gentle 4 mph current did half of the work for us. The humidity was about 5%, high cliffs provided shade much of the time, and most
importantly, the breeze off the 54 degree water probably lowered the air temperature by about 15 degrees. So if you can handle temps in the high eighties, you can probably handle this heat.
(Although you need to apply sunscreen with a trowel.)
BLACK CANYON
Black Canyon, for those who don’t know, is the canyon where they built the Hoover Dam. They originally chose to name the dam after nearby Boulder Canyon, because calling it the “Black Dam” just
didn’t have the right ring to it. This part of the old Colorado River is now technically a lake, being dammed at both ends, but the gentle current is provided by the water being released from the dam.
And I don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing the water is so cold because it’s coming from the bottom of Lake Mead.
And Black Canyon is so much nicer for paddling than Lake Mead. The canyon really is the wilderness, but kayaking along the Lake Mead shoreline often feels like paddling along the 15.
BOOKING WITH DESERT ADVENTURES
Anyway, because of security concerns, you must go through an outfitter to launch from near the dam. The good news is that Desert Adventures and other outfitter rates are pretty decent;
$30 to transport you from Hoover Dam Lodge (the old Hacienda) to the launch point near the dam and to pick you up at Willow Beach, AZ, and bring you back to the lodge.
Perfectly okay kayaks with paddles and vests, are $60 to rent. Plus there’s a $17 fee for a federal permit fee, which supposedly can sell out well in advance. So bring your own kayak and
it's about $50 total, rent one and it's about $100. And I think they will pick you up and drop you off at your Vegas hotel for a little more.
That’s for the self-guided, “paddle or perish” version of the trip. Newbies might be wise to go with a tour which runs about $200 including all equipment and fees. Or there is a big pontoon boat that
motors down the river and makes several stops, which is what I really wish I was riding at about mile ten.
WE BEGIN
Anyway, we met in the Hoover Dam Lodge parking lot at about 7:00 AM.
That chubby looking orange thing at the bottom is mine. It’s my blow-up boat; an Advanced Elements that converts from single to tandem. It’s pretty much state of the art for an inflatable, with
aluminum and plastic structure in the bow and stern, and a twelve foot aluminum keel. A decent hard shell tandem would have cost about the same, but then I would have had to invest in a roof
rack – and a Chevy Suburban to go underneath it. As it is, I can fit my kayak in the trunk or hatch of all but the smallest car. It still isn’t as fast as most hard shells, but I’m a more efficient paddler
than most, so I usually keep up.
They drove us down the same road they used to transport the workers that built the dam. We put in almost under the bridge. Here is my GPS position projected over a three month old Google
Earth image:
We decided to skip the Sauna Cave. It's 130 degrees, 100% humidity, and pitch black inside. I'm glad I did it before - once. After a mile and a half, we stopped at Gold Strike Canyon.
GOLD STRIKE CANYON
That's about a really pleasant 100 degree waterfall, and we had to scramble up the slippery rocks to venture further. Mostly the springs were shallow streams, but we waded in deep warm pools,
and further down the river, scalding water came out of a waterfall trickle. There are signs warning about Naegleria Fowleri, an amoeba that can kill you if it enters your nose, but oh well, you
got to die of something.
Ordinarily in our tandem kayak, I paddle while my wife specializes in "holding the extra paddle" and "keeping the paddle dry," but that was not to be this time. One member of our party was
already having difficulties, which we had anticipated, so she rode in the front of my kayak, while my wife took her rental. Unfortunately my wife had so much fun being in the faster hard shell kayak
that she paddled far away and didn't want to stop. Meanwhile, I'm in my blow-up with a non-paddler in the front seat, trying to keep up. By the time we landed at Arizona Hot Springs three miles
later, I was exhausted and sick to my stomach.
ARIZONA HOT SPRINGS
So I staggered up a hot springs stream for about a half mile until I came to this:
That movement up and down in the picture is because of my ragged breath. I've climbed up the ladder before - piece of cake - and it leads to some really nice warm pools you can practically swim in.
But coming down is terrifying - to me - because you have to go over the ledge backwards trying to find the rungs of the ladder. Feeling rotten at the moment, I decided to forgo it - but others in
my party persisted.
HISTORY
There are a few historical remnants along the river. A hike will bring you to some petroglyphs - ancient Indian rock art - but it's a 3 1/2 mile round-trip hike, so I'll never see them.
The builders of the dam used steamboats to move men and equipment, and some of the original ringbolts are still in evidence. And while engineering the dam, there were people called gaugers,
who would in some cases take small cable cars over the raging river to take measurements.
EMERALD CAVE
There's a bit of a cave near the end of the trip, and when the sun is at just the right angle, it has an emerald glow. We were there too early for that. Although for some reason I can't explain,
folks exiting the cave seemed to have a special property.
MORE PRETTY PICTURES
STATS AND INFO
The 11.25 mph max speed is a GPS glitch. I've never paddled that fast in my life.
Incidentally, I felt safe bringing my Galaxy Note 4 out on the river for photo and GPS purposes because I had it contained within a clever waterproof case know called a Frieq. Eight bucks on Amazon.
DISAPPOINTMENTS
When it came to seeing wild critters, the day was a disappointment. No bighorn sheep and no coyotes. One person in our party saw a heron and a "big ass fish," but that was about it. Our other
disappointment was that we left our usual paddling companion, our Chihuahua mix (the river rat), at home. We couldn't bring her, because we knew it was likely that my wife and I would be in
separate kayaks for a while, and my dog cannot handle it. When we've been in separate kayaks, she dives off one to get to the other one. So there was only one thing left to do...
THE RIVER RAT RETURNS - WITH BIGHORNS!
So we decided to come back on Wednesday, when it was a mere 108, this time paddling out of Willow Beach.
And we saw bighorns - but they kept their distance:
Yes, the river rat was howling at them, and she had to be restrained, otherwise she would have gone into the water to get to them.
And from an expedition a few weeks ago:
I've only done this twelve mile trip twice. I usually just paddle out of Willow Beach, AZ, which is about 50 miles from the Strip. If you don't have a kayak they're $10 and hour or $45 for the day,
until they get sold out. There's no park admission fee, they have a pretty good food stand, marina, power boats for rent, a fishing pier, and a general store with reasonable prices. And the water
is clean, clear, and would be great for swimming, if you can swim in 54 degree water. I can't.
Kayaking is easy; if you're new to it, just don't go too far. And remember, when you are out on the river, pee in the river, not on land. Seriously, that is one of the rules of the road.
Besides, that water ends up in California anyway.
THE BRAG
So last Sunday, June 14, in the bright sun and 102 degrees, me, the wife and a couple friends spent the day in Black Canyon,kayaking twelve miles from the Hoover Dam to Willow Beach, AZ,
and hiking and scrambling about another three miles. Here's my GPS track - squint near the top and you can see the bridge and Hoover Dam. Pure awesomeness, right?
THE REALITY
Well that’s the macho version of the story. In reality, the gentle 4 mph current did half of the work for us. The humidity was about 5%, high cliffs provided shade much of the time, and most
importantly, the breeze off the 54 degree water probably lowered the air temperature by about 15 degrees. So if you can handle temps in the high eighties, you can probably handle this heat.
(Although you need to apply sunscreen with a trowel.)
BLACK CANYON
Black Canyon, for those who don’t know, is the canyon where they built the Hoover Dam. They originally chose to name the dam after nearby Boulder Canyon, because calling it the “Black Dam” just
didn’t have the right ring to it. This part of the old Colorado River is now technically a lake, being dammed at both ends, but the gentle current is provided by the water being released from the dam.
And I don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing the water is so cold because it’s coming from the bottom of Lake Mead.
And Black Canyon is so much nicer for paddling than Lake Mead. The canyon really is the wilderness, but kayaking along the Lake Mead shoreline often feels like paddling along the 15.
BOOKING WITH DESERT ADVENTURES
Anyway, because of security concerns, you must go through an outfitter to launch from near the dam. The good news is that Desert Adventures and other outfitter rates are pretty decent;
$30 to transport you from Hoover Dam Lodge (the old Hacienda) to the launch point near the dam and to pick you up at Willow Beach, AZ, and bring you back to the lodge.
Perfectly okay kayaks with paddles and vests, are $60 to rent. Plus there’s a $17 fee for a federal permit fee, which supposedly can sell out well in advance. So bring your own kayak and
it's about $50 total, rent one and it's about $100. And I think they will pick you up and drop you off at your Vegas hotel for a little more.
That’s for the self-guided, “paddle or perish” version of the trip. Newbies might be wise to go with a tour which runs about $200 including all equipment and fees. Or there is a big pontoon boat that
motors down the river and makes several stops, which is what I really wish I was riding at about mile ten.
WE BEGIN
Anyway, we met in the Hoover Dam Lodge parking lot at about 7:00 AM.
That chubby looking orange thing at the bottom is mine. It’s my blow-up boat; an Advanced Elements that converts from single to tandem. It’s pretty much state of the art for an inflatable, with
aluminum and plastic structure in the bow and stern, and a twelve foot aluminum keel. A decent hard shell tandem would have cost about the same, but then I would have had to invest in a roof
rack – and a Chevy Suburban to go underneath it. As it is, I can fit my kayak in the trunk or hatch of all but the smallest car. It still isn’t as fast as most hard shells, but I’m a more efficient paddler
than most, so I usually keep up.
They drove us down the same road they used to transport the workers that built the dam. We put in almost under the bridge. Here is my GPS position projected over a three month old Google
Earth image:
We decided to skip the Sauna Cave. It's 130 degrees, 100% humidity, and pitch black inside. I'm glad I did it before - once. After a mile and a half, we stopped at Gold Strike Canyon.
GOLD STRIKE CANYON
That's about a really pleasant 100 degree waterfall, and we had to scramble up the slippery rocks to venture further. Mostly the springs were shallow streams, but we waded in deep warm pools,
and further down the river, scalding water came out of a waterfall trickle. There are signs warning about Naegleria Fowleri, an amoeba that can kill you if it enters your nose, but oh well, you
got to die of something.
Ordinarily in our tandem kayak, I paddle while my wife specializes in "holding the extra paddle" and "keeping the paddle dry," but that was not to be this time. One member of our party was
already having difficulties, which we had anticipated, so she rode in the front of my kayak, while my wife took her rental. Unfortunately my wife had so much fun being in the faster hard shell kayak
that she paddled far away and didn't want to stop. Meanwhile, I'm in my blow-up with a non-paddler in the front seat, trying to keep up. By the time we landed at Arizona Hot Springs three miles
later, I was exhausted and sick to my stomach.
ARIZONA HOT SPRINGS
So I staggered up a hot springs stream for about a half mile until I came to this:
That movement up and down in the picture is because of my ragged breath. I've climbed up the ladder before - piece of cake - and it leads to some really nice warm pools you can practically swim in.
But coming down is terrifying - to me - because you have to go over the ledge backwards trying to find the rungs of the ladder. Feeling rotten at the moment, I decided to forgo it - but others in
my party persisted.
HISTORY
There are a few historical remnants along the river. A hike will bring you to some petroglyphs - ancient Indian rock art - but it's a 3 1/2 mile round-trip hike, so I'll never see them.
The builders of the dam used steamboats to move men and equipment, and some of the original ringbolts are still in evidence. And while engineering the dam, there were people called gaugers,
who would in some cases take small cable cars over the raging river to take measurements.
EMERALD CAVE
There's a bit of a cave near the end of the trip, and when the sun is at just the right angle, it has an emerald glow. We were there too early for that. Although for some reason I can't explain,
folks exiting the cave seemed to have a special property.
MORE PRETTY PICTURES
STATS AND INFO
The 11.25 mph max speed is a GPS glitch. I've never paddled that fast in my life.
Incidentally, I felt safe bringing my Galaxy Note 4 out on the river for photo and GPS purposes because I had it contained within a clever waterproof case know called a Frieq. Eight bucks on Amazon.
DISAPPOINTMENTS
When it came to seeing wild critters, the day was a disappointment. No bighorn sheep and no coyotes. One person in our party saw a heron and a "big ass fish," but that was about it. Our other
disappointment was that we left our usual paddling companion, our Chihuahua mix (the river rat), at home. We couldn't bring her, because we knew it was likely that my wife and I would be in
separate kayaks for a while, and my dog cannot handle it. When we've been in separate kayaks, she dives off one to get to the other one. So there was only one thing left to do...
THE RIVER RAT RETURNS - WITH BIGHORNS!
So we decided to come back on Wednesday, when it was a mere 108, this time paddling out of Willow Beach.
And we saw bighorns - but they kept their distance:
Yes, the river rat was howling at them, and she had to be restrained, otherwise she would have gone into the water to get to them.
And from an expedition a few weeks ago:
I've only done this twelve mile trip twice. I usually just paddle out of Willow Beach, AZ, which is about 50 miles from the Strip. If you don't have a kayak they're $10 and hour or $45 for the day,
until they get sold out. There's no park admission fee, they have a pretty good food stand, marina, power boats for rent, a fishing pier, and a general store with reasonable prices. And the water
is clean, clear, and would be great for swimming, if you can swim in 54 degree water. I can't.
Kayaking is easy; if you're new to it, just don't go too far. And remember, when you are out on the river, pee in the river, not on land. Seriously, that is one of the rules of the road.
Besides, that water ends up in California anyway.
