Best Dam Floats
Las Vegas Canoe Club ~ Best Dam Floats
The Las Vegas Canoe Club is Proud to be able to Sponsor two day, 11 mile Canoe/Kayak float trips through the Rugged Beauty of Black Canyon, from the Base of Hoover Dam to Willow Beach.
Our trips start early in the AM at the Hacienda Hotel as we load up our gear and wait for our U.S. Goverment Escort to check us in and escort us down a Restricted Access Road to the base of the Dam and launch our Canoes or Kayaks to a view of Hoover Dam that only a very few people are lucky enough to ever get to see.
As we depart the launch site we are presented with a majestic View of the Great Boulder Dam, just a few moments on the water and it is time to make our first stop to re-shuffle all of our gear, and water levels permitting... explore The Sauna Cave.
( The dam produces Hydro-electric Power for Las Vegas & much of the Southwest so water flows are constantly in a state of flux)
The Cave is a long narrow passage carved in solid rock that becomes completely dark in the back.
Hold on to the cieling so as not to hit your head.
Volcanic activity below the Earth's Crust cause water temperatures to rise and seep from the rock all along Black Canyon, and the sauna cave is no exception.
It is told that long ago Indians used this Sauna Cave for Spiritual Rituals and Ceremonies... if you are lucky your guides will sometimes get the chance to tell you some of these stories of Indian Lore.
Keep an eye out for Eagles, Osprey and Blue Heron along the shorelines. These absolutely beautiful birds, fish along the river just as they have for thousands of years.
Any anglers on the trip now have a chance to get into some of the West's best Striper Fishing. Giant leviathons roam the deep cold waters of the Colorado in search of food and structure.
These linesides have the ability to reach 60 pounds or more if they can avoid the treachery of an anglers bait and line.
Stripers in the teens are commonplace along this stretch of fast-moving clear water.
Home-made Trout lures up to 18 inches are commonly fabricated and used to lure these bad-boys to the net.
After a stop or two to explore the upper reaches of Goldstrike or BoyScout Canyons, we pass Ringbolt Rapids. Aptly named for the ringbolts that the steam driven riverboats used to haul supplies and passengers up the "Mighty Colorado" needed to navigate up one of the worlds fastest flowing rivers at the time. The Steamboats would winch their way up the Colorado rather than make the 500 mile trip via land from the coast of California.
With the construction of Hoover Dam and several other major dams along the Colorado River, came the end of the Riverboat Era on the Colorado, but there are still a few ringbolts along the shoreline and Willow Beach, to remind us of the days when the Steamboats were a viable method of travel.
Camp is usually set up at the Famous Arizona Hot Springs on the Arizona side of the river.
A hot soak and some good company make for a great evening under the stars.
Early-ish the next morning, after a good breakfast, we start fresh and rested for the last leg of our trip down the Colorado.
We get to leisurely enjoy looking at some awesome geologic formations and sights along the way. And to the lucky and quiet few, sightings of Bighorn Sheep herds await as they descend the rocky walls of Black Canyon to eat and get a cool drink of water, a refreshing break from the hot arid desert that surrounds this lush river.
Cables and chairs hang high above our heads as we pass the Guagers Station where once a day a government employee, a "Guager" would risk life and limb climbing boulders, and walking on narrow wooden planks along the treacherous canyon walls, and shuttling across the river on a tiny seat hand pulled by a pulley system, to note and record the river's flow and speed.
Remnants and ruins of the "Guager's" house can be seen from the water. Sometimes we take a quick trip up the small hill where the Guagers lived, far away from just about... well, everything
All too soon the trip is over. As the Willow Beach Fish Hatchery comes into view, we start to reminisce about this great trip and plan in our heads the next trip we will get to make down this great river.