Colorado River Hot Springs

cak56

Cadet
Joined
Feb 20, 2013
Messages
28
Just wanted to share a story. Many years ago, my husband,son then 17, and I went for a long ride on PWCs. We left Cottonwood Cove Az. and headed to the Hoover Dam. We love Cottonwood Cove to launch.It was a long ride,but we stopped,explored coves etc.We went past Willow Beach were the water is ICE COLD. Just a little south of Hoover is the Hot Spring. We beached the PWCs in the soft sand and tied them off, no problem. The little hike back into the canyon was easy and then when you get back there a hot spring coming out of the canyon wall,underneath it a pool of steaming hot water with a sand bottom. Must be full of minerals, as your skin feels slick when you get out.Very relaxing! What could be better?And the beautiful colors and rugged look of the canyon was unspoiled. Fast forward to..its time to leave,its getting late and we have to make it back to Cottonwood before dark. Get to the pwc's and they are totally sitting on the sand. The water is SEVERAL FEET away. Our first thought was oh ---- now what? Remember pwcs, we don't have much on board with us. There was a area with some flow from up by the hot springs coming through a I suppose, man made drain. We started digging a trench in the sand with pointed rocks, hoping to get enough flow to move the boats. No luck it would take forever. We were thinking,how do we get enough to move the boats, a three person and two person at the time. Two stroke,but still very heavy. We did get out. How? I sat in front of that drain and plugged it with my back (opened up my life vest and used it as a drain cover with my body weight and held it as long as I could. Move away fast and it would cause a large amount of water to flow into our trench and it would move the boats inches with the two guys pulling them.) Don't remember how many times we had to do this,but it worked! And we got back safe and sound. Think we slept a little better that night. Well, we haven't been back since then. Our son is now 31. My husband and I are shopping for a pontoon. He wants to go back to the hot spring. I told him, you can't dig us out anymore if we get stuck and I can't hold back enough water to move a 22 ft. boat! Thank you! Happy boating everybody!
 

Old Screwball

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jun 20, 2012
Messages
240
Re: Colorado River Hot Springs

Have gone up there several times BEFORE 9-11. We have even ignored the warning signs and taken the Seadoos to the base of the dam. Awesome Pictures! I can't remember how far back they have put the "No Boats" sign, but access to the dam is now very limited. Also, there is a 17 to 20 mph current as you get closer to the dam, and the river gorge gets narrower. I don't think they launch the canoe trips from up there anymore.

Good Luck.
 

QC

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 22, 2005
Messages
22,783
Re: Colorado River Hot Springs

You can still go during the summer:

(iii) In the designated Primitive/Semiprimitive area in Black Canyon, from the Willow Beach Harbor to Hoover Dam, prohibited from the first Tuesday following Labor Day weekend through Friday of Memorial Day weekend; and prohibited only on Sundays and Mondays from the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend through the Monday of Labor Day weekend, which is described as Nevada T22S; R65E Portions of Sections 32; T23S; R65E Portions of Sections 5, 8, 17, 20, 21, 28, 29, 34; T231⁄2 S; R65E Portions of Sections 34; T23S; R65E Portions of Sections 1, 2, and 12. Arizona T30N; R23W Portions of Sections 3, 10, 15, 22, 27, 34; T29N; R23W Portions of Sections 2, 12, 13; T29N; R22W Portions of Sections 18, 19, 20, 29;

Basically this says you CAN operate a PWC in Black Canyon, during summer months, Tuesday through Saturday. Same applies to boats over 50 horsepower I believe.

eCFR — Code of Federal Regulations
 

cak56

Cadet
Joined
Feb 20, 2013
Messages
28
Re: Colorado River Hot Springs

Steve,
Too bad all good things change. Hubby will be disappointed,but I wouldn't try taking a new boat there, I"m chicken. maybe we can watch the limit signs and get as close as allowed. Think they did the same thing at Davis Dam also. And changes were made up by Katherine Landing too. We didn't use Katherine much,too busy.We were in Laughlin in December and the water was really low.
 

cak56

Cadet
Joined
Feb 20, 2013
Messages
28
Re: Colorado River Hot Springs

Thanks Supreme Mariner,that is good to know!
 

QC

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 22, 2005
Messages
22,783
Re: Colorado River Hot Springs

I don't think depth is an issue middle of the day in the summer. When power demand is high, so is the river. Man, I challenge the 17 - 20 MPH thing. That would mean if I anchored we could ski off the back. Not happening ;) I bet it maxes at 5 mph, and that would be a lot.
 

Old Screwball

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jun 20, 2012
Messages
240
Re: Colorado River Hot Springs

Hot off the press

"The National Park Service notes that from Hoover Dam to midway between Willow Beach and Eldorado Canyon, the current ranges from 3 to 12 mph. This current is variable, depending on the volume of water released from Hoover Dam and the water level in Lake Mohave. At Ringbolt Rapids, the speed of the water may reach 16 mph on weekdays."

I missed it by a MPH or 2. Ringbolt Canyon is less than a mile below Hoover Dam in a narrow canyon

We rarely launch at Katherine's Landing, way too much of a CF and parking sucks. Usually drive the 40 minutes to Cottonwood Cove then boat up past Willow. We like the river, our house is about 6 miles below Davis Dam. We have taken the SeaDoo's to Davis Dam, touched it, turned around, and ran to Lake Havasu. Gassed up at London Bridge and then run the 23 miles down Lake Havasu to Parker Dam. Touch then home with a gas stop at Topac. A cooler in my 'Doo with food, hers has drinks. We do the "Dam Dam" run at least once a year. Did it on the PWC's, and the go fast ski boat. Not sure about doing it on the Pontoon, 24 mph top speed will take a while, and I think the Merc gets about 7 gallons an hour at 'ramming speed'.
 

QC

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 22, 2005
Messages
22,783
Re: Colorado River Hot Springs

Wow!! I stand corrected. My Avatar is there if you missed it, and I have been there a number of times. 12 MPH is MOVING!!! All good. Thanks for the update.
 

fishrdan

Admiral
Joined
Jan 25, 2008
Messages
6,989
Re: Colorado River Hot Springs

Hot off the press

"The National Park Service notes that from Hoover Dam to midway between Willow Beach and Eldorado Canyon, the current ranges from 3 to 12 mph. This current is variable, depending on the volume of water released from Hoover Dam and the water level in Lake Mohave. At Ringbolt Rapids, the speed of the water may reach 16 mph on weekdays."

I'm with QC, and not sure why they worded it that way as it's not a realistic speed of the entire river and kind of misleading for Hoover to Willow and beyond. There are only a few small spots that might reach 12-16MPH, funnel area by rocks. If the entire river flowed at 12MPH, it would take less than an hour to float from Hoover dam to Willow Beach on a high flow day... I've drift fished from Hoover Dam all the way back to Willow when the current was ripping and it took 4 or so hours. I'd say 5MPH is a good guess at average max river speed up by the dam from what Ive seen. (Tried going up river close to Hoover with a trolling motor and wasn't making any head-way at all, max speed of trolling motor about 5MPH.)

If they are talking about when they dropped Mohave down really low 3-4 months back, I could see those types of speeds, but again that's not realistic as they wouldn't let anyone on the lake during that time period.

Good story cak56, I've helped haul more than 1 person off the beach when the water level dropped like that.
 

Old Screwball

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jun 20, 2012
Messages
240
Re: Colorado River Hot Springs

Don't know what to say. I have gone up to the base of the dam on our Seadoo GTX Limited, Cobra Ski boat and Seadoo Speedster boat. I usually run 1/4 throttle to hold steady against the current. I really had no idea how fast the current is/was, just that I had to fight it. I googled up "current speed below Hoover Dam" and that is what I got. At that point below the dam, the river is very narrow. As you go down stream it really widens, and I guess the current slows down.

QC mentioned water skiing, couple of Teen Agers tied a 4' diameter piece of plywood to a dock piling near our house. They can climb on and 'ski' in the current. It is between 5 and 7 mph at our house, about 6 miles below Davis Dam in Laughlin.

If any of you are running the River below Laughlin, our house is in a complex on the Arizona side, just up-river from Big Bend Park and the skeleton of the hotel they started to build. There is an arched bridge over the opening to our Marina. There is a Condo Complex just down river with bright blue roofs.
 

QC

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 22, 2005
Messages
22,783
Re: Colorado River Hot Springs

We rarely launch at Katherine's Landing, way too much of a CF and parking sucks.
We agree on that. I can't stand Katherine. Literally a CF.

The first place I was ever on the River was Willow Valley just below you. I've been from there to Parker Dam, and there to Davis, but never did same day. Pretty cool ride :thumb: I have done Davis to Hoover and back a few times.
 
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