September 28-29, 2025
This kayaking trip down the Colorado river is something that I've been wanting to do for a while. I had actually gave the trip to Adam for father's day in 2023. We booked it in 2024 but had to cancel it. We re-booked it for an earlier date in September of 2025 but had to re-book it again! We thought about just rescheduling it for the following year again, but with a baby coming, we knew it was now in a few more years. We re-booked it and made sure nothing came in the way. Haha! With such a late re-book, the earliest backhaul time we could get was 1:00pm, so we new it would be a fast trip down the river but also decided it might be best, being our first time.
We all drove out to Lee's Ferry early Saturday morning, arriving at 10:00am. We drove to the campground which is just a 2 minute drive from the dock and got set-up. We hung out, ate lunch, packed our drybags, changed and headed to the docks around 12:45pm.
Our backhaul was a 30 minute boat ride around horseshow bend and then dropped off at mile 7 and had 4 hours to complete it. We had rented 4 tantum kayaks, one for each couple and it was such a blast! We had so much fun, kayaking, dancing and singing our way down the river.
It was such a beautiful day. It was high 70's but much cooler in the canyon and always shaded. She had a small little rain shower which was light and only lasted a minute or two. We had a couple spouts with the wind as well. One that blew for us and one against us. Haha!
For the most part, we paddle our little hearts out but we also allowed time to just float, snack, and rest on the sandy beaches.
Where we began our trip the water was 90 feet deep. The deepest part of the entire river. At times the water was super murky but at times it was clear as could be and we could see the bottom and watched for rainbow trout.
We ended up finishing in plenty of time, we had about 30 minutes to spare. As we neared the end, we were all already talking about coming back and doing an all day adventure and sleeping on the shore. (Once we got back, showered, had a big, hot dinner, rested, played games and watched football games (BYU) we all agreed, we'd do it again but instead of sleeping on the shore, we'd come back to the trailer. Haha)
We made it back to the trailer around 6:00pm. Everyone showered, we ate dinner and rested and played the rest of the night, except for an hour that the storms clouds that threatened all day finally let loose. It was a lightening and thunder storm, and it was close. At one point, Calli was just getting ready to walk out the door to grab something out of her trailer and a lightening and thunder struck in our campground at the very same time. She jumped back in and decided she'd just wait it out. Haha! It was so crazy though. I had never seen a lightening strike that close and hear the thunder at exactly the same time. Luckily, it lightened and we were able to enjoy the rest of our night.
Not surprisingly, being sore and tired, we all ticked in pretty early and slept all night. The next morning, we just enjoyed the day. Made breakfast, played games, played cornhole and watched more football. We pulled out for the 3-hour drive home around noon, making a quick stop at the Navajo Bridge. I'm sure we'll be feeling it tomorrow. Haha! But it was all worth it. So, so much fun! Definitely a repeat adventure.
