Right away there were amazing hot springs and a sauna cave to explore. Merril and I borrowed kayaks. We had a two-person kayak and a smaller yellow kayak. We started out in separate kayaks. It was super fun to explore all of the hot springs and the cool things on the river.
I really didn't want to get sunburned so I had on hiking pants and a long sleeve quick-dry shirt.
The first day was pretty chill. We would paddle for a while and then stop for a while. When we made camp, it was super hot. We ended up making dinner and chatting and playing songs. Alex Chamberlain brought a guitar, and we carried it on the two-person kayak. There was singing and a bocce ball game and lots of stories. I went to bed super hot, but put a wet bandana on me and slept well. Exhaustion makes it easy to sleep, so does half a sleeping pill.
The next day we saw another hot spring and a cool old water metering station, that hasn't been used in years. There was a cat walk that a worker would hike from his house a quarter mile away and go in a basket across the river to the metering station. Of course Merril and Wade decided to explore on the catwalk. It looked a little sketch.
The wind kicked up that afternoon, which made for some strenuous paddling. Paddling against the wind was hard for me, people told me I had a slow kayak. I was dragging way behind. Merril was having a hard time keeping his two-man kayak straight in the wind. Once his kayak got sideways, the wind would blow him all the way around.
Everyone stopped for a break and we rearranged the kayaks. We loaded all the stuff into the yellow small kayak and towed it behind us in the two-person kayak. With both of us in the two-person kayak, we were able to keep it straight in the wind. It was so much better!
We paddled for another bit and then stopped for snacks and drinks. It seems silly to me to paddle into the wind when we could just camp and then get up early the next morning and paddle without the wind. Dave Howard had to be back in St George by 3:00 p.m. on Saturday and so they were worried about not having enough time in the morning to get back. We kept paddling down river and looking for a campsite. We're having trouble finding it and so we just kept paddling into the wind. Soon we could see Willow Beach, which is where we were supposed to get out the next day. Since we couldn't find our campsite and people were starving and tired, and vote was taken on whether we should camp across from Willow Beach, or just head home that night.
Out of 18 adults, I was the only one that voted to stay and camp that night. I knew that if we drove home it was going to be hours before I was asleep, whereas if we camped I knew I could be asleep in a couple of hours. So we paddled the last half mile through some super windy weather to get to Willow Beach. We got out and loaded up kayaks on our trailer and smashed 18 adults in a suburban and our truck. From there we dispersed, some people stayed in Vegas some drove home. We ate at Wahoo's fish tacos with the Beattys and the Howards, then we plowed on home. I didn't get into bed until 1:00 a.m. with noodle arms.
Overall the trip was a blast! I had no idea there were so many hot springs along the Colorado River. It was so fun chatting and hanging out with adults. My arms felt used the next day but not too bad. I thought my abs would be super sore but they weren't at all. I wouldn't mind doing it again without so much wind!
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