Here's the list of who went on the trip:
Submission from Kathy Sharp:
This wasn't a club trip, but it was a great trip you should try sometime!
We left Phoenix a little after 4 p.m. Saturday. That was later than intended; I think loading up all the boats and such took longer than everyone thought it would. At Hoover Dam we ran into a traffic jam due to a problem with a semi; our campsite was to be at Boulder Beach, just past the dam and the first casino/hotel in Nevada. However, even with 150 sites, the campground was full, so we continued on to another campground. My brother Steve and I slept in the back of my new truck; that was the first time I used it for that purpose and that worked out fine, although neither of us slept very well that night.
We got up at 6:15 a.m. (Arizona time) Sunday morning and headed off to the casino for an inexpensive breakfast. Then we went to meet the outfitter with whom Jef had arranged some of our shuttling since the BLM rules about that are pretty strict.
The day was sunny and the temperature was perfect for this kind of trip. We put into the Colorado River just south of Hoover Dam. We had four canoes with two people each: Steve and me, Wayne and Ross, Jef and Isabel, and Sam and Todd. Our first stop, Sauna Cave, came up real quick. This was a tunnel drilled into the rock for Hoover Dam construction, I believe, but the drilling stopped when they ran into 124 degree water. It really is a sauna in there! After we came out of the cave we made a quick dash back to the canoes because Wayne called to us that the river was rising and the boats were going to float away.
Our next stop, Gold Strike Canyon, came up quickly, too. We had a great time hiking and climbing up waterfalls though the warm and hot water in that canyon. We decided we should turn around at noon since we were aiming to leave that canyon by 12:30. I think we left a little late.
Jef had a surprise for us at the next stop, Boy Scout Canyon. He had brought along a little 6-pack size cooler and after we got a short way into the canyon and found a pretty spot, he suggested it was lunch time, although the rest of us hadn't brought lunch. He supplied us all with ice cream! Boy Scout Canyon was a lot of fun, too, although only Ross, Todd, Steve, and I pulled ourselves up by a rope through a slippery waterfall. That particular ascent took Steve and me two tries. We ran into three nude bathers in that canyon.
Our next point of interest was Ringbolt Canyon. After we got out of the canoes, Wayne pointed out some bighorn sheep that were easily visible but a little too far away to photograph well. Seeing them was neat, though! Wayne had been to all our stops before and so was volunteering to watch the boats while the rest of us played. At Ringbolt he had gone to try to take some photos of the bighorns (they had scattered too far by the time he climbed up, though), and I had hiked to the hot springs there before with Wayne and Rogil, so I volunteered to watch the boats this time. Our group wasn't as impressed with that canyon; it's more easily accessible, too many people were there, and some were smoking and drinking beer. This was not the kind of outdoor experience we'd been having the rest of the day.
After Ringbolt we paddled all the way to Willow Beach, making for a long stretch with no stops. Steve kept laughing at how hard he and I were working to try to stay up with Sam and Todd. We were in a canoe we borrowed from Tom, and Sam and Todd were in one of Rogil and Wayne's canoes. Even though Sam and Todd were zig-zagging the whole way, probably covering twice our distance, they didn't look like they were working nearly as hard as us. Wayne mentioned that it was probably because Steve and I were in a shorter boat that was deeper in the water. Sam, Todd, Steve, Isabel, and I were the novice canoers. Steve didn't seem very impressed with my attempts to do a J-stroke, suggesting that I stop in case that was what was causing our boat to feel tippy. I need to get some more practice at this canoeing stuff.
Our final point of interest was Emerald Cave. I think Wayne had come along on this trip to photograph that area, but we played too much and made him arrive there too late. Wayne's always nice about these things, though. You can canoe right into the small cave, and when it's not in shadow, the cave water looks emerald green. But the canyon walls were shading the cave when we arrived.
We had left Wayne's truck at Willow Beach the night before, and Jef's and my trucks were near the put-in, so Wayne took us to retrieve our trucks. We ran into a traffic jam over two miles long at Hoover Dam. We could see that the long line of cars ended behind a building on the dam, and every now and then a car pulled out from the other side of the building. We figured there must be some sort of obstruction blocking traffic behind the building. Wayne told us about the plans to build a new highway, to deal with the traffic problems, through the beautiful hot spring canyons we'd been playing in that day. After waiting forever to finally get across the dam, we discovered what the obstruction was: a pedestrian cross walk. We couldn't believe it! A new highway is going to destroy some beautiful canyons instead of building a crosswalk over the highway at the dam?! The rest of our group, waiting at Willow Beach, heard that the backup due to pedestrians gets to be eight miles long!
Of course, after sitting in the traffic jam, we didn't expect to get back to Phoenix at a reasonable hour. I was in bed before 1 a.m., though.
This trip was great fun, and I hope to go again, so I have some things I want to remember.
Jef organized the trip and got the permits for us at $5 a head. Some information is at http://www.hooverdam.com/. We used Downriver Outfitters (at 1-800-748-3702) to bus us to the put-in and shuttle Jef's truck from the put-in. They gave us river maps, too. I think Jef said the outfitter help cost $20.
One thing I did wrong the morning of the canoe trip was not put on my Tevas. We all just ended up wearing the same clothes and shoes all day, in and out of the water, even though I hadn't intended to wear my tennies in the water. I didn't need my hiking boots at all, since we were hiking in water a lot. Good traction is key in the slime. Next time I must remember to dress for the canoe trip first thing in the morning.
I also brought a lot more stuff than necessary in the canoe. We barely spent any time getting things out of the drybags, but they probably weighted us down. I should have gotten the headlamp out of the drybags for Sauna Cave, though.
I forgot to bring seat cushions, as Jef had suggested, but he provided us with some extras.
I think I should have left some money and a cooler of cold drinks in Wayne's truck at Willow Beach, so that after the trip we could have a cold one and go to the store before completing the shuttle. Fortunately, Jef had cold drinks in the canoe, which he offered us at Willow Beach. I think he may have regretted the extra weight from the cooler in the canoe, though.
And, finally, when we were going to retrieve the cars, we wished we had some way to communicate to our group at Willow Beach that we were stuck in traffic. My radio and Steve's and my cell phones were all in my truck.