Lake Mead National Recreation Area, AZ

On our way out of the Grand Canyon saw a large herd of “Beefalo” resting and grazing near the road. Beefalo are a cross between bison and cattle. There were several lighter colored calves. Three Beefalo crossed the road ahead of us to get a drink in a pond.

The elevation quickly dropped several thousand feet and the scenery returned to the desolate look of the desert and red sandstone mesas. Once we approached the southwest corner of Utah and the northwest corner of Arizona, the scenery took on a whole new look with very dark colored, craggy mountains and very sparse desert vegetation. The rest of the drive through Las Vegas didn’t impress us much with its green golf courses, big casinos, seediness, and traffic. Everything seemed to revolve around gambling, gambling at gas stations, gambling at movie theaters, etc. We were glad to be out in the open desert again.

After a “quick” grocery stop in Boulder City, NV we crossed the new Pat Tillman bridge by Hoover Dam from Nevada into Arizona. Unfortunately, you cannot see the dam down below. The temperatures hovered around 108 all day. As we continued to our campground approximately 15 miles south past the dam, the scenery seemed to become even more stark and looked truly inhospitable. However, it is the home of the largest concentration of Big Horn Sheep in the US. These herds are used to reintroduce or restock the sheep in other US locations.

After about 6.5 hours of driving and about 320 miles, we pulled into Willow Beach Marina, Campground and RV Park. We got a prime spot up on a hill overlooking the Colorado River as it winds its way southward through the Black Canyon after flowing through the turbines of the Hoover Dam.

Our A/C managed to get the temperature in the camper down to a comfortable 87 degrees. It is all about the contrast between the outside and inside!

At 6:30 the next morning we met the Desert Adventures kayak shuttle at the marina. We had arranged to go kayaking 12 miles down the Colorado River in the Black Canyon, putting in close to the base of the Hoover Dam and getting out at Willow Beach Marina. One needs a launch permit to enter the secure dam area which belongs to the Bureau of Land Reclamation. Access is highly regulated. Greg, our driver, loaded up our 4 kayaks and all our gear onto a trailer and in a van. We headed the 15 miles back up to the Hoover Dam. On the way Greg told us about the 3 bridges constructed specifically for the Big Horn Sheep to cross over the road (and how they are on YouTube), and about the extinct volcano a few hills over. Evidently million of years ago that volcano was the source of the dark volcanic rock that makes up the whole Black Canyon area.

We entered through an automatic gate and took the steep, narrow, windy portal road down to the base of the dam. One tiny pond between a concrete walkway and the canyon wall is home to an endangered Leopard Frog that is watched closely by a biologist. The canyon walls are sheer. The emerald green water was incredibly clear and flat. One could see to the bottom of the river and even occasionally spy a big carp. As the water flows from the bottom of Lake Mead through the dam, the water temperature is always about a chilly 58 degrees. We started our float downriver with the slow current and no wind. We saw a large red crayfish Liam snatched out of the shallow water by the tail. There were many reminders from the days when the dam was being constructed over 70 years ago: metal rings in the walls, scaffolding, cables, gauging station, pipes, etc. At various mileage markers there were points of interest. Within the first few miles we saw a variety of hot springs, rain caves, canyons, waterfalls, caves, pretty coves, etc. Each time we parked the kayaks and explored the area. The springs were the most amazing sights. Liam called them awesome. The water flows out of cracks in the volcanic cliff face at over 130 degrees. Sometimes it flows like a stream through a canyon and sometimes it collects in pools one can sit in, just like a jacuzzi. In some areas certain yellowish and green algae were growing in the hot water. We even found some tiny frogs and tadpoles that inhabited a very warm pool. Where the water was extra hot one could see it steaming as it flowed out of the rock and it was too hot to touch for more than a split second. We had to be careful where we put our hands on the rocks and when walking along as the hot water would slosh into our sandals. Where the hot water flowed into the cold river at the beaches, one could find an area of hot water an inch away from the cold water. We had to test before putting our feet into the water getting in and out of the kayaks. Various minerals in the hot water colored the rocks orange, or formed stalactites, or left immense expanses of thick, white crystalline deposits on rock walls and cave ceilings. The boys stood under a warm waterfall and had spring water drip down on them in rain caves. Ethan especially liked the waterfall. In one area we had to pull ourselves up a series of small, very warm waterfalls using a knotted rope in order to continue into a canyon. There is also a certain “brain-eating” amoeba that lives in the hot springs. One has to be careful not to get water up one’s nose as the amoeba causes severe illness and almost certain death.

At one precarious place William dropped the camera into the water. He was quick in jumping in and retrieving it but it did get a little wet inside. We were worried about the pictures we had taken so far. After a few hours baking in the sun, the water behind the LCD seemed to be gone and the camera worked fine again. In the meantime Esther’s trusty Droid smartphone with camera once again came to the rescue. That thing has been worth its weight in gold for numerous reasons.

We went so slowly and spent so much time exploring that we took over 2 ½ hours longer than the shuttle company’s usual guided tour. At mile 6, only halfway, all the neat springs were behind us and the points of interest became sparser and less interesting to the boys. Also, they were starting to get tired. Even though we were still going with the slow current, a stiff headwind had begun blowing. In addition, as it was Saturday, powerboats and jetskis were allowed on the river and their numbers seemed to be increasing in the afternoon. They kept causing big waves that slowed us down even more. Finally we towed the boys behind us again. A few times we saw the famous Big Horn Sheep grazing on the cliff. At one stop a female and her youngster came quite close to the beach.

When we finally made it back to the marina we had been paddling and exploring for 10 hours. We were definitely tired…

Here are the pictures.