Colorado River Kayak Extravaganza

rock copper here and today we're gonna head up the Colorado River for two or three days searching for some hot springs and a sauna cave [Music] all right let's head out [Applause] we are on our way we're heading up the Colorado River we're leaving Willow Beach behind Willow Beach Arizona and behind me there that is the fish hatchery looks like we've got company other paddlers a lot of Tours take people out here judging by all the kayaks there's a stop here of some kind so let's head up there I can see people on a trail and go check it out everything is Just Ducky here all right there's our Trail so we'll head up to the top and see what we can find this is the river gaugers house site from the 1920s to 1935 as it says on the sign and that is what remains of this guy's house got some foundations there not much else and he did have a nice view overlooking the river so what is a river Gauger you might wonder well was living here and he would check the silt content of the river and the flow every single day and the reason they were doing that because they wanted to check and see about the Hoover Dam and where a good site for it would be the Hoover Dam was actually completed in 1935 and right now we're about 11 miles south of the dam Willow Beach is about 12 miles to the dam itself and there's a look at the house back in the day from an old photograph a lot of kayakers out here today ah there's so many people here it's like you have to take a number or something and you can kayak with a dog check him out hey buddy all right well that was interesting so let's head on to the next place upriver this is unbelievably nice today smooth and glassy just a couple days ago there were sustained winds of 50 miles an hour it was terrible luckily I wasn't on the river then on this cable is the little flying fox Where the River Gauger would walk and then you take this thing and he'd go across to the catwalk over there and he would check the river level and the volume of the river every day so this apparently is the line Maybe for seeing the Emerald Cove or the emerald cave or whatever it is it's just a place where you see really green water in the sunlight and a little Cove I guess okay we are going into the emerald cave now so let's see what this thing is about apparently there's some real pretty water okay we are in the cave and this is why they call it the emerald cave is due to the really Emerald looking water that you get in here and if you look out there there's the rest of the river all right so let's head on back out check out that shimmery light up on the wall that's pretty cool too okay we're heading back out there's another one of those flying fox cars for the river Gauger and if you look over here to the left you'll see right against that big cliff is the river gauging station let's go have a closer look well there it is that looks pretty tall it's probably about I don't know 30 35 maybe 40 feet above the river prior to the construction of the dams on the Colorado the river was a warm silty Rushing River full of native species such as Colorado Pike minnow Razorback sucker and humpback chub the dams changed River ecology to a clear cold slower moving River favoring introduced species such as trout bass and Sunfish to the detriment of native species some of which are now struggling to survive unbelievably nice day for kayaking it's just fantastic almost no wind glassy water just a great great day it's really pretty much of a perfect day it's not too hot not cold at all and it looks like now looking ahead looks like we've lost the crowds this is fantastic Mundo this is what it's all about being in the beauty of Nature and being completely surrounded by that beauty at one with nature tranquil peaceful a quiet wonderful connections with the world outside I pulled into this little Cove to have a break and a snack take just a couple seconds hit that subscribe button I hope you do make me paddle you let's just go for a little ways up the side Canyon have a quick look I just saw a lizard go into a hole let's have a look and see if we can see any part of him there's a little lizard there but that's not the one I'm looking for I just saw another oh there's another lizard right there what are you guys doing well I guess they're sharing the rocks but the other lizard I saw just went into there and I think it may have been a chuckwalla you look in that little hole there's some sort of lizard with a stripy tail didn't get the camera out quick enough to capture His Image I'm right up to this hole here I don't know what kind of lizard that is with the stripy tail does anybody know what it might be I think we'll call it the end right here at this side Canyon The Sweet Sound of the canyon ran Tamarisk also known as salt Cedar is originally from Eurasia and was introduced to the U.S in the 1800s as an ornamental Windbreak and erosion control plant they've displaced native plants and animals altered soil salinity and have often taken over in thick stands along streams and rivers and it's become really just a pest and a nuisance now it does provide a couple of benefits however the bees seem to like get the nectar in the pollen and it does provide some shade in the desert however there are intensive eradication programs designed to get rid of tamarisk we're back on the water after a nice little snack and exploration break and here's some of the cliffs to the right of me check out these fish this is just so smooth I'm paddling on glass why couldn't it have been like this on Lake Bell Lake Powell Glen Canyon and that's a different Beast and a beast a beast is don't forget to check out my Lake Powell video kayaking 77 miles alone like the place unseen for 16 years I now have about a five mile per hour Tailwind and I think I'm getting within about a mile of the hot spring Maybe we shall see there is a seat like a water seepage out of the wall upstairs go check it out nice thing about kayaks is you can really maneuver into place like this one here where I'm just having to wedge on through let's check out this little weeping wall right back yeah there's a trickle of water earlier and it does have enough water to form just a little pool right here and this plant with the nice little flowers is taking advantage of that nice fresh water coming down off that face of that rock pretty good size seat for out here in the desert there are other plants taking advantage of the water as well something's going on here it's like they're letting a little more water out of the dam or something starting to come on in and fill this place up just a little bit I'm not sure how far it is to the hot spring from here this will find out I'm hoping to find it before dark one interesting thing is that along this stretch of the river anyway they have mild markers along the water whoa check this out there's a peregrine falcon trying to catch one of these Greaves or uh water Birds two of these peregrine falcons they're on the chase they're on the hunt oh these poor Ducks they're doing their best to evade these guys have the speed oh man uh oh I think I think it might be the end for one duck [Music] right in that bush there that Green Bush right out here [Music] I think they've got nope what is that a kingfisher something has escaped the Falcons [Music] whoa that peregrine falcon just went right over me he's after that Kingfisher back there I'm seeing a weeping wall and I'm hearing the sound of water so let's go up this little canyon here and see if there's a waterfall or something well there is like a little waterfall check this out that's kind of cool a little stream up top some cool little in discoveries in this place pretty time of day here nice light up on the hills around here the sign says caution boaters rocks reefs above this point I don't think we'll have to worry about that I'm seeing something over there looks like maybe a couple of outhouses so maybe the hot springs back in there somewhere let's go check it out there are a lot of kayaks here so obviously there's something here if this is the Springs I've never seen this many people here in my life so I just talked somebody back there and it is apparently Scout Troop that is camping there there are about 50 people around here tonight so it's gonna be pretty busy let's go check out the hot springs this is the place we're on the trail of the hot springs you can see the water there and coming up through this Canyon pretty the flowers contrasting with that Red Rock we're walking up this Canyon and the water is warmer and there's the ladder that'll take us up to the hot spring above these sandbags is Arizona Hot Springs right here [Applause] good morning got a little bit chilly last night all I had was uh brought with me was this little fleece sleeping bag it's basically just a sleeping bag liner I guess you'd call it but uh so I'm just camped came up here did a little hot spring last night chilled out up there and then uh set up the tent and then went back up to the hot spring to enjoy them some more I'm just up from the very large group of people down there it's probably it's probably on me a little bit busy last night here so my bedding was just this sheet here and then this very thin fleece liner let's go have another look at the hot spring before everybody starts heading up that way heading up toward the hot springs this morning and past the palm tree there and going up Canyon don't stick your head under the water here there are brain eating amoebas once you come up the ladder it's a series of sandbags and each pool is a little bit different temperature it's cooler down here and as you go up to the next pile of sandbags you get up to the next pool and then it gets even warmer like this one and this pool right here is a pretty good temperature so go up to the next pole and that'll be a little bit hotter okay going up to the next pool here and this one's gonna be a bit warmer look at the nice color in that water this morning oh yeah it's pretty nice it's uh feeling pretty good pretty warm and it's going to be really quite warm up at this next pot tool up here Behind These sandbags oh wow that's just sparkling clear this morning that's awesome yeah that's warm all right oh yeah it's a little bit too warm up here let's go up Canyon a little bit there's the source right there coming right out of the rock wall and there's another source just over here as well coming right out of the wall here and up there and if you come around the corner there's just a slight Trickle and you're back into the desert thank you all right let's head out for day two yeah let's get kayaking [Applause] about four miles let's go Arizona Hot Springs was formerly known as ringbold hot springs because in the old days steam ships would have fixed a line to ring bolts secured in the rock walls and pull themselves through the turbulent water this may have seemed a tedious task but it was far better than undertaking close to 200 mile pack mule Journey Max send it for the Vlog three two one go this isn't far from the hot springs and I'm wondering if those pieces of metal there are maybe a couple of ring bolts this is the closest you're gonna find to an ocean little seagull around here so I imagine I'm gonna look very very tiny in my kayak compared to the concrete Behemoth that is Hoover Dam but before we get there I think there are some more hot springs and possibly a Sonic cave that we've got to check out try and find anyway what kind of ducks are those could those be buffle heads look at the emerald color in that water it's really peaceful out here today it's like we lost most of the crowds I've only seen a few boats go by and we're just gonna slide through this little narrow bit here between the rock over here and the big Cliffs over here that water is really shallow right through here and we're going to slide through that little Gap right up there fun right through the Gap yeah that's an advantage of being in a little kayak uh quit here this is plantain down here this plant and these leaves are massive they're really sandy so we'll just uh take one of these and rinse it off in the river first and then rinse it off with some clean water I was just pedaling watching The Shore and then I saw these huge plantain plants and I thought hey might as well get some fresh Greens in my diet so here you go you can also make a poultice out of the leaves if you get a cut or something and apply it to the wound the river water is really clear you can see down about 30 or maybe even 40 feet to the bottom the water temperature in this section of the river is only 55 degrees it'll cool you down real fast I'm seeing what looks to be a cave on the other side of the river that may have a whole lot of ferns growing in it let's go have a look wow check this out it's like something from Hawaii look at the color of that water and then up ahead ferns are growing on the side of the wall and it's like a dripping wall oh foreign just across from the fern Grotto is another hot spring apparently so we're going to head up this Canyon here and look for Boy Scout Hot Springs so this is a Boy Scout Canyon here let's check it out time for more fresh Greens in the wilderness this time cattails before the main pool this water coming out of the hillside here is actually too hot to soak in comes into this little pool down here we're following a stream and there's a little waterfall up ahead looks like we found the Thursday hot pool right here this first pool is really just a warmth [Applause] we'll keep going Upstream apparently frogs like the warm water here too these two tadpoles are certainly look to be enjoying it and I also saw a frog swimming away the water that I'm walking in is definitely getting much warmer so this is probably the hot spring right here oh yeah that's feeling pretty warm all right this is definitely right here have a look at this where the water's just flowing right out of the wall another rope well I guess you should go up and check it out more weeping walls ahead and more pools let's continue Upstream yet another rope foreign well I think that'll do it for this Canyon the water is no longer warm and I think this is just a route to go out to some Trailhead back on the water and I'm seeing something ahead looking back for just a minute here that's from where we have come let's check out these palm trees I think there's something back in here you might want to see I was told there's palm trees so let's see if we can find it duck your head we're going up through the Palms little path here see where it leads us and we'll climb up this rock that's a pretty view right there so we're at the top of a ridge now and I think I see something in the distance down there yes we went up the wrong little Gully no worries looks like this Trail will take us down there I just felt this water and it's definitely hot we have arrived yes another hot spring this time up here in the Palms pretty nice this one's a warm pool with a view well I guess we did go the right way after all that's just a sheer drop and a waterfall see my kayak down there like Tom Hanks said in Forrest Gump that's my boat another beautiful day on the river if you like palm trees don't forget to check out my video Palm Tree Paradise this is a nice little place to have a snack break break instead of purifying more water I'll just put this bottle down here and let this seepage to fill it up a little bit well that was a nice Shady break so let's head up toward the Hoover Dam now and after that I've got something else to show you if we can find it back on the river again heading for the big bridge there judging by that pipe I wonder if there was another gauging station there additionally there are a lot of metal posts along here we didn't make it to the dam yet but I have a surprise for you if we can find it and I'm pretty sure where we're at but let's check this out so where do you think I'm bringing you this time did anybody guess Hot Spring but that's not all I've got something else to show you and it's not a hot spring there are some unusual things here let's check this stuff out here foreign this is Gold Strike Canyon here [Music] it's not a hot spring it's a hot waterfall [Music] that felt good but now I've got something else to show you does anybody know where I'm going with this next one anybody anybody at all did anybody guess hot spring whatever I'm Johnny damn that's rough but somebody's got to do the soaking maybe I got a little bit lazy after soaking in that hot spring but I decided to Camp here at the mouth of Gold Strike Canyon tonight and I will finish off you know I had nothing to hoovered in tomorrow this is pretty nice got a nice little running screen right next to my campsite and of course we got the hot spring just that's a way there so looks like a good place to spend the night that guy was telling me that in the early evening they released more water from the dam and the water level right now I'm just watching it rise up it was the water was there that's where the front of my kayak was and luckily I came back to check on it or that sucker might be floating away right now down the river somewhere oh it's definitely coming in I put that stick there as a gauge [Applause] dinner has been pretty simple just these meat tag meals in these packets eat and eat and that stick is completely submerged now [Applause] [Applause] oh good morning I slept warmer last night I was right next to that little hot Stream So that water was running about 95 degrees which kept this place kind of warm since him you know got the tent only like five feet from the stream good thing I moved the tent though because the water released from the dam was increased and it inundated where I was going to put the 10. now he shared the tent with uh several of these little gnats and these ones were just trying to get in I was gonna pitch the tent right there but all of this became inundated with water and it went right up to the back of the kayak there so I ended up pitching it over there as you can see [Applause] paddling like I say this soaking stuff's hard work but Somebody's gotta do it [Applause] the water's gone back out there's that stick that was completely submerged last night and the water went all the way up to my kayak up there on the upper right just in case the river level got too high I did tie up the boat last night [Music] Today's Breakfast is gonna be simple just a couple of energy bars last night I pretty much had the entire Canyon to myself well not entirely though I did have toads and crickets for company it's time to head upriver go and check out Hoover Dam but there's something else I want to show you if we can find it that may be the coolest thing yet all right let's hit it [Applause] shouldn't be too far to the dam but like I said I have something else I want to show you if we can find it that sign looks as old as the dam I was told that kayaks launch Upstream from here all the time so we'll continue some kind of catwalk up there we're getting really close to that bridge now the first look at the dam underneath that bridge damn it that's what they said in the 1930s damn it they wanted to build a big Dam across the Colorado River originally called Boulder Dam Hoover Dam is constructed of six million six hundred thousand tons of concrete and backed up behind it is the largest Reservoir in the U.S Lake Mead the dam is 660 feet thick at its base and 45 feet thick at the top construction of the dam began in 1931 as part of FDR's New Deal to get men working again during the Great Depression it's said that 138 workers died during construction 96 in accidents and 42 from illness likely stemming from carbon monoxide poisoning while in the tunnels it's a myth that men are buried within the concrete four years and 4.3 million yards of concrete later in 1935 a structure 726 and a half feet high and nearly a quarter mile wide span the Colorado River at Black Canyon today the dam is used for flood control and supplies hydropower to 1.3 million people and the lake provides water to 25 million people living in places like LA and San Diego Phoenix and Las Vegas and supplies water farmers in the Imperial and Coachella valleys of California say these tunnels here these are the spillway tunnels and they actually diverted the entire Colorado River through these tunnels so that they could construct the dam I was told one to two people commit suicide by jumping off the dam or the bridge every month building that Highway bypass Bridge was a feat in itself in this area okay well you better get going you guys are here I'll get you down here in two seconds I'll get out of here man all right yeah no problem all right so I guess they only allow those tourist boats up there that guy seem to really want to get me out of there and uh seems a little bit of a contradiction that they can be there because they're motorized and on the sign that I saw it said kayaks below the dam and they were right about where I was at so I don't know well now that we've seen the Hoover Dam it's time to show you one last thing if we can find it and I think this thing is going to be pretty cool so stick around let's have a look at this looks pretty interesting as soon as I stepped off the kayak I could fill the hot water on my feet all of these Springs our hot water coming right out of the mountain all of them and you've got your dripping Fern Grotto there and you've got your hot water firm Grotto here this wasn't the place I was looking for but this is still a pretty cool find so let's head on I think I found something let's go check it out looks like there were some kind of little wooden steps and a cable here and it seems to be some sort of little Trail so let's follow this I just met another kayaker and we're going into the deep depths of obviously I was telling you about so let's go check it out come on okay we're going inside the cave here we go this is the super secret Sonic cave which is not so much of a secret anymore I guess but we're going in you do it with our lights on or not yeah we'll go with the lights on all right step into the water we're going into the sauna cave okay we're going in oh it is humid in this place all right wait come back here so I can get your light we're slushing through the water it's about 80. so how far does this thing go back yards okay you got it okay yeah thanks thanks so it's really hard to see in here because it's completely dark this was a tunnel that was drilled out when they were doing exploratory uh stuff for the potential Hoover Dam and what they did is they hit [Applause] hit water and this tunnel is just like really super steamy and humid and it's so that's why they call it the Sonic game and you can see the rock walls an interesting stuff on there some more stuff here some kind of calcium or whatever that stuff is I'm not sure and this stuff's really cool look at this stuff what is that it's like stuff you find in those uh Limestone caves so it's probably lime or calcium look at that that's pretty interesting stuff right there crystallized type stuff formations real interesting and yeah look at all this stuff looking up over your head now those formations right there that's like a little mini stalactites and then we're going back and I think we're getting close to the end yeah that is the end right there let's shine our lights back here I can see what's going on thanks Marlena that was awesome thanks for uh going in there and checking it out with me and using we've got to use your headlamp as well so that added a little bit extra light have a moth getting water off my sock can you see him so since you guys have seen for the most part everything there is to see along the river I'm going to leave you from here even though I'm going to camp out for another night maybe two on the way back down to Willow Beach just so you know Arizona Hot Springs can get very very crowded there's an invasion by water and land that takes place this is where I camped on the third night on the last day out I fought a spirited headwind on my return to Willow Beach there are a few things you might want to know if you're planning on going and doing a kayak trip up the river if you do let more water out in the evening and the water level of the river does rise so you want to pull your kayak way up so it's out of the water's reach in the evening another thing you might want to be aware of is the headwinds usually blow if you're going back Downstream the headwinds are coming at you in the afternoon so some things I liked and maybe didn't like so much something I liked is that this stretch of river is very kayak friendly there's even a day or two when they don't allow motor boats on here so it's just kayaks I think it may be Monday when it's just non-motorized craft so that's pretty cool uh I was really kind of disappointed that this area has been really discovered and they're just so many people out here now there was a time where I could come out here and be almost the only person at that hot spring in the Arizona Hot Springs I remember bringing a couple from England here and we were the only three people they I hope you enjoyed this river trip up the Colorado River to the Hoover Dam with me don't forget to subscribe and hit that notification Bell share this with all your friends and family and give me a thumbs up like until next time this is rockhopper I'll see ya [Music]