The idea of rafting down the Colorado River 100 years ago, would have been quite a daunting challenge. Particularly, about this time of year, when the snow is melting in the Rockies, the lower Colorado was prone to very high water and flooding. Hoover Dam changed all of that, and with the addition of several other large dams, the mighty Colorado is no longer the beast it once was. That's a good thing, as our group of Golden Spikers boarded large motorized rafts at the base of the Hoover Dam yesterday morning.
The view of the dam and new bridge from river level was quite different than it was when we toured the dam day before yesterday. The bus ride from the Hacienda Casino, down a very steep and narrow service road was probably more exciting than the calm ride on the river.
Once on board the rafts, we started downriver for the 12 mile run to Willow Beach. The good news regarding the weather was that we had some cloud cover, and it was cooler. The bad news was the wind was blowing pretty good, and just happened to be coming from the direction we were headed. The combination of wind and waves created a little bit of water spray back into the raft, which prompted some folks to use the free ponchos provided by the raft company.
Barbara Westerfield and her husband Tom, our Golden Spike President
Our Captain, and guide - Jerry
About an hour into the trip, we stopped for lunch, and as you can see, Patty had decided that the flimsy poncho was better than nothing. 
The highlight of the trip for me, was the several sightings of Desert Big Horn Sheep. There were about 3 different locations where we saw groups of females with youngsters, very near the water. In fact, one of the females walked right down to the waters edge, and took a drink, not more than 100 feet from our raft. All together, we probably saw about two dozen sheep.
This Desert Big Horn wasn't intimidated by our raft
The raft company bus picked us up at Willow Beach, and we were back at the motor home by 4pm. It was an enjoyable experience, and one that neither Patty or I had ever done before. Today, it's back to Lake Havasu for about a week, where we'll be busy packing everything into the motor home for our summer of living and working at the Grand Canyon.
WE have worked at the North Rim Grand Canyon for the last 3 years, and have been meaning to do a 1/2 day rafting trip from Glen Canyon Dam to Lee's Ferry, but just have not done it yet. I think this may be the year for it for us.
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