I suddenly start sobbing. „No way, this can’t be… is this? Really? No way!“ I keep repeating words like that over and over again. I am sitting in my packraft, looking down past the crest of Imperial Dam. Below, there is a little green lake, and then a small creek exiting it shyly in between some high reeds. The Colorado River? Really? The same river that has washed me through raging rapids in Grand Canyon only a few weeks ago?
I know, my blogposts these days serve as nothing but a logbook. But that’s all I can gather the energy to do these days. Bear with me, there will be other entries again, I am sure. My days are challenging currently, especially with regards to the intellectual depression I go through down here. Some of the images below (all from Fishers Landing) may tell you more.
I start early and paddle steady. I reach my camp at around noon and then I enjoy the entire afternoon on my own little private sandy beach in the desert. The water down here seems clean and nice again and I dip into it over and over again. It is a great and relaxing afternoon. The Pichacho area is wild and quiet, something I did not expect to get again down here, so I enjoy it all the more. At night I awake to burrows groaning very near my tent. I actually get out to grab my paddle, that is still down by the water, in case I will have to fight them off. Of course, in the morning this seems funny to me, but that’s what nighttime sounds to you sometimes…
Started at 6:15. Late but with a real coffee (thanks to Lori). I paddle through sort of dirty water and there is lots of trash on the riversides, but otherwise it is nice and quiet. I take a lunch break with a nap on a sandy beach on the Arizona side, but leave soon as I am afraid to be trespassing on angry farmers land (I have heard they shoot sometimes). The sun is strong and I am getting very tired, staying groggy pretty much all day and not wanting to get into the water, where I can see all the outlets of wastewater from the farmland flowing in every other mile.
Started below Parker at 5:30, it was already windy. Portaged around Palo Verde Irrigation Dam with the help of Ned and J.R. who then told me about the dam and where all this water goes to (flood irrigation in California).
Just notes today. I started from Parker at 6 am, it was all good at first, then it got windy and it finally turned out to me a really long day, with some frustration breaks and naps in the heat. I arrived at Twin Palms at 6 pm. Continue reading “Day 74. Longer than expected”
So I did end up asking Mona to take me all the way past Parker and “the strip” last night. She drove me around a bit and we were looking at some of the unique Saguaro cactus that grow in this area.
I wake up at first light and pack my Kayak. The birdsong is incredible and when I look up from my packing, a Coyote comes out of the brush behind where my tent had been and sniffs around curiously. He looks up at me and it seems I don’t bother him much. Then he elegantly disappears again, making me feel as if he had just been an apparition. But I see his tracks all over the ground and have left a big smile on my face that I take downriver with me. The Topock Gorge that I now paddle through is beautiful. I laugh out loud at the beavers playing and splashing right next to my boat at one time. I take my time and make the most of this last beautiful stretch before hitting the resorts of Lake Havasu with all their motorized traffic. I take a long lunch break, do yoga in the shade of a pretty rock formation and take a nap.
Continue reading “Day 71 and Day 72. They are having a kind of blast”
I wake up at 4:30 and start paddling at 6. The wind has turned and I get a taste of the rare north wind, that accelerates me along wildly blinking Casinos on the Nevada side of the river (town of Laughlin) and all sorts of Trump flagged riverside mansions.
The wind today is supposed to be up to 35 miles per hour and from the south, so straight into my face. In light of this it’s an easy decision to take a day off the river.
