Paddling trip in Black Canyon

Ursidae69

Expedition Leader
The weekend of Feb 17th - 19th I went on a paddling trip in Black Canyon, 12 miles of wild canyon below Hoover Dam, on the Colorado River.

This was my second trip there and I really think this may become a yearly trip for me, it is just so awesome. :ylsmoke:

I went with three friends from work. I might try to go again late this fall, we should try to organize a trip here. :exclaim:

Here is my trip report.

Paddling Black Canyon

Image00008jf.jpg
 

Nullifier

Expedition Leader
A few years ago my wife and I drove through the area but unfortunetly didn't have time to hit the river. We were pushing for the Buffalo river is Arkansas.

We did hit the stretch of the colorado in Moab however. We did the 18 mile run from canyonlands by night down to the pot ash boat ramp. it was awesome. Totally quiet water anyone can paddle. There were people climbing on wallstreet, cliff art, arches. beavers, bats, lots of birds etc. One interesting thing was that it was hot in the shade and cooler in the sun. I guess the direction the wind was going it was blowing the hot air off the top of the bluffs down to the river and the air flow was happenng close to the bluffs where it was shady. This is just a guess but it was wierd.
 
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Ursidae69

Expedition Leader
I'd love to kayak that section of the Colorado too! The river in and around Canyonlands is just beautiful! This stretch of river I did was about 12 miles, the current is pretty strong close to the dam, but still not that hard to paddle against.
 

BajaTaco

Swashbuckler
As always, great report Chuck! The falcon/avocet encounter is just too cool. I like how you can see the avocet leg sticking up in the second pic!

I need to go do those canyons again sometime. That has probably been my favorite paddling trip so far.
 

Ursidae69

Expedition Leader
BajaTaco said:
As always, great report Chuck! The falcon/avocet encounter is just too cool. I like how you can see the avocet leg sticking up in the second pic!

I need to go do those canyons again sometime. That has probably been my favorite paddling trip so far.

Thanks Chris! Yeah, the falcon was an awesome encounter, I've seen them from afar many times, but never that close. It amazes me how close to wildlife you can get in a kayak. That peregrine was going to town on the avocet too, feathers were flying! Made me wish I had a movie camera!
 

BajaTaco

Swashbuckler
Ursidae69 said:
Thanks Chris! Yeah, the falcon was an awesome encounter, I've seen them from afar many times, but never that close. It amazes me how close to wildlife you can get in a kayak. That peregrine was going to town on the avocet too, feathers were flying! Made me wish I had a movie camera!

A movie would have been cool. I know what you mean about the close encounters. Sharon and I had a spectacular encounter with a peregrine falcon once while paddling. I'm not sure what the motivation was, but it was very intent on interacting with us. May have been a territory thing, or curiosity, I don't know. But it made several beautiful passes at us, circling very close around our canoe, and then returning to the same spot perched on a rock very close, at about eye level to us. WOW!
 

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