Feb. 2004 Lake Havasu from Six Mile Island to Topoch Gorge 

Launching at Six Mile Island (Lake Havasu City) Public boat ramp was free and a good starting point. Lake Havasu City is the central point of the lake. In 1957, Robert P. McCullooch was looking for a fresh water-testing site for his outboard motors engines. He was granted land with a provision for improvement and the growth soon caused him to move his testing to Los Angeles.

Late in the afternoon of day one Sacagawea was loaded and cast off for London Bridge. Can you believe someone bought the original London Bridge and rebuilt it as the bridge to Six Mile Island? It has attracted a lot of tourist. After circumnavigating Six Mile Island I made a short run across from California Bay to a small cove for a night at anchor. The weather was calm and clear and a beautiful sunset across the lake developed. I dropped a 12-pound anchor off the stern and tied off the bow to a cedar root sticking out of the bank. It’s not a good idea to beach your boat overnight because the water level can change in just a few hours and you wake up with a land yacht. I always check the water level at the ramp before I depart. This time the water is at 450 feet. That is a good level and will make for good running upstream for Sacagawea, since she only needs about two feet to navigate. This really opens up the area you can explore on the river. 

I really like the way my Skiffamerica runs up on a beach, three feet of the boat on the sand and I can walk around with no tilting or rocking. Also getting off the boat is so easy with the lowered bow deck. The deck is a great place to leave your wet sandy shoes to dry without losing them.

Steamboats also with flat bottoms like SkiffAmerica plied the river until the early 1900; using paddlewheels they supplied mining towns and other settlements along the Colorado River. Difficult rapids forced the crews to use iron ringbolts fastened to Giant rocks and cliffs by which the boats were winched upstream at some of the stronger rapids. The ringbolts can still be seen if you look hard as you past places like Blankenship Bend and Mohave Rock.

 Boat camping on the sandy beaches and side canyons is my favorite pastime in this area of the Colorado River in the winter. No crowds, cool temperatures and more animal activity then in the extreme heat of the summer days. I have seen bighorn sheep on the rocky ridges coming down for a drink. There are plenty of ducks, geese, herons, egrets, cormorants and pelicans to watch chasing their lunch. Golden eagles also fish the river.

The second night I stayed behind a sandbar in a small cove with only two feet of water, it was a beautiful spot with a great view up and down the river. The next morning a boater came along and stopped on the sandbar and asked if I were aground because he had never seen a boat behind the sandbar with the water this low. Probably was not a good place to be if the water level went down more, but it would have come back up someday and there are worst places to be stuck in the sand, I guess I would just be forced to spend another night on this beautiful river.

Just made it over with engine up