Riding the Colorado River

WOW! Not what I expected. Vic rented a little fishing boat so we could tour a bit on the Colorado River. Carol wasn’t feeling well so she stayed behind. I packed a lunch and by 8:30 we were on board.

My first observation is that it is crystal clear – so clean. And at least in the marina, not very cold. I estimate the temp to be in the low 70’s. That is “swimable” or at least “wadeable”. We headed north with AZ on the right shore and NV along the left.

The terrain not only is different from one shore to the other, but it changed so rapidly as we headed upstream. One can only imagine the violence that had to have occurred for this water to cut such a path and for the upheavals in the ground to force so many layers of the earth to become vertical stripes in the mountains. I wish we could go to Blockbuster and rent the documentary (with real live footage), The Birth of The Colorado River. I’ll let you know if I find it.

Another interesting thing is that if you did not “know” the river, it would be difficult navigating it. OK, it is only so wide and only goes one way – so what do I mean? It isn’t straight. The mountains, coves, cliffs, dunes, vegetation jut out here and there with 3D illusions as to where the edge of the water really is. Put another way: your depth perception is askew maybe because of the grandeur of the whole thing. As Vic explained, there appears to be a dead end in every direction. So if you don’t know the different landmarks, you would be constantly heading back and forth searching for the shoreline to follow. At many places the river was in excess of several hundred feet. Guess that is why it is part of Lake Mojave for 67 miles.

We were fortunate that water traffic was very light. I know I would not have enjoyed it as well last weekend (Memorial Day) when hundreds (really) of boats and jet skis left this marina – many of which were rented by inexperienced boaters. There were some remnants of campers with tents still in some of the beachy coves. A few houseboats were docked in their own coves and we saw only a few jet skis. Although, a fireboat went by to tow back a stranded rental.

We fueled at Willow Beach, AZ about 20 miles into our ride. It is 12 miles from The Hoover Dam. On Sundays and Mondays, no motorized motorcraft are allowed past Willow Beach towards the dam. It is reserved for man-powered boats. Kind of nice.

We continued towards the dam, not sure of how close we could get. You be the judge! Since 911 commercial traffic is not allowed over the dam. A bypass highway/bridge project will carry non-dam traffic across the river without having to drive all the way down to Laughton/Bullhead City to cross – which is the way we drove. It includes a 1900ft bridge, 900 feet above the river. Completion is expected in 2008. They have a long way to go.

Driving over the dam no way compares to seeing it eyelevel from the water. If you look closely at the picture you can see the work trucks parked at the power plant down at the bottom of the dam. In the gallery of pictures (click on the pics at the right) I'm not sure if you can see the workers on the crane platform on the right side. We could see them moving around way up there. Whew – no thanks.

Another thing I found very interesting is the way the light played games with color and shadows. On our way out, looking towards AZ, the water appeared green (not because it is 180 feet deep in some places) and blue looking towards NV. Also, staring at the craggy mountains was like looking at cloud formations. Shadows played against the crevices forming all sorts of faces. Just moving along past some they disappeared into the mountain. I love the guy I spotted. Actually had to have Vic turn the boat back so I could get a better photo of him! Pretty cool.



Great day, great ride (7 hours), great country. There really are purple mountains majesty!