So we finally made it on our camping trip. Adam came out. We did a test run Thursday morning from Crystal cove to a beach in Laguna. We saw three pods of dolphins, plus the seal lions at seal rock we very active, jumping on and off the rock, out of the water. Several raced under our boat.
Saturday morning we drove out to the Black Canyon. We got there around 12, an hour after I planned on meeting the rental guy. Eventually, I got in touch with their shop and realized he'd already left, but she called him and he came back. We set up our boat and packed everything into it. About 2, we started paddling. We stopped in a few canyons on the way, did a little exploring, but we wanted to camp at Arizona Beach, where the hot springs were. So we got there about 7.
We did go up one little canyon that had hot springs, but it wasn’t dammed anywhere and there wasn’t even really enough water. The campsite at Arizona beach was a little crowded, so we camped kind of near the water. The stove I brought was out of gas, but it was enough to cook the food that first night. The hotsprings were awesome. The water is crystal clear and not at all sulfury. They are in a narrow slot canyon.
So there are three or four pools of increasing warmth and various depths. There were a few other people there. Adam and I went back for a midnight soak after putting the kids to bed. The next morning, Sunday, we slept in. I was originally planning just to hang out close by and maybe hike up the canyon, but we decided to paddle upstream. We went just a mile and half up or so, but since there was a lot of water being let out of the dam it was pretty tiring. We explored Boy Scout canyon. 
There were a couple nice hot spring pools and several nice little waterfalls. With the kids and taking pictures and lunch, we were up there a while and so we just decided to call it a day rather than go all the way up. Came back and hung out near camp. We moved our campsite to the little cove right next to the river. There was a boy scout troop near by and all of the leaders came by, one by one, to tell us that last year when they’d done this, it was flooded. Since it hadn’t flooded the previous nights, we figured we were okay and we were. We went back up to the hot springs. Our new spot had a fire ring, so we built a little fire and made the bean burritos and quesadillas for the kids. Also we had an Easter egg hunt with the eggs we brought to celebrate Easter. Monday, we got up early and decided to paddle all the way to the top. Since the flow was still pretty mellow, we made really good progress until we could see the new bridge above the dam. Then we took a break to look for the sauna cave and Adam checked his e-mail. While we were resting the water came up about a foot and was flowing a lot stronger. After forty minutes or so, we started again, checking various caves that looked like they might be the sauna cave. All looked promising, but none panned out. Also, since the flow was a lot stronger, it was pretty tough going now. Then after getting turned around, we were trying to hug really close the shore to catch eddies and I broke my paddle on a rock, so I didn’t really think that we were going to be able to paddle up the rapids. But it looked like it must be just around the corner, so Adam and I climbed up around the rocks to see what we could find. I didn’t see the sauna cave, but I did see a really nice, warm stream, which didn’t make a lot of sense, since it wasn’t on the map. Anyways, it took a while to climb all the way up to it, so I swam back, which was a lot faster, but freezing and kind of scary with the currents. Adam’s idea was just to take turns and paddle all the way up the rapids. My idea was to climb up with the rope and pull the kayaks up river. Anyway, we tried my idea and it was a fiasco. The first mistake was to fasten the two boats together and do them at once. After about ten feet, the nose of Adam’s boat which was in front got swept out, but the back was still attached to the other boat, so he was perpendicular to the current. So I pulled on the rope to pull him back around and the edge caught and the kayak flipped, spilling his camera gear, and Miriam into the river. Miriam kept her head, and had a life jacket, so she with a little coaching, after being swept fifty feet downstream, she doggy paddled to the side. The camera gear was all in waterproof housing or Adam’s bag, and luckily it all stayed with the bag. Still, it was pretty scary, and I felt like an idiot. So we decided to turn around. On the way down, we looked for goldstrike canyon, the other main hot spring canyon to explore. We found another tiny canyon with a hidden entrance and hot water, but no pools. We had lunch there and on the way out, met someone who said that goldstrike was upstream, right above where we’d turned around. I’d hiked up to it, but not known what it was. Our map, which we downloaded from online, was totally wrong and had goldstrike and the sauna caves in the completely wrong places. But we weren’t really up for paddling back upstream for them, especially with one paddle on our boat. We did stop by the one palm hot springs, which is right above a little waterfall overlooking the river and was very cool. If you didn’t know about it, it’d be hard to find. Then we headed back to camp. We were pretty hot springed out, but the kids wanted to go up to the one by camp, so we did. They were pretty fearless. To get to the pools at Arizona beach, you had to climb up a 20 ft metal ladder and they were doing that on their own on the first day. At Boy Scout canyon, the group from UCLA had actually skipped it, since the ropes were too hard they thought. But Miriam actually climbed up all of them on her own, except the last. Gwyn got most of the way up one, but Bekah made her come down, since it was pretty sketchy. So the final day we just packed up and headed out. A few hours in, the wind became crazy strong blowing upstream, so our leisurely coast home became a battle against strong wind and waves. Plus, we’d put a hole in the boat at some point, and so only constant bailing kept the water level inside the kayak level. Bekah went with Adam and Miriam was a pretty good sport about bailing. Oh, both seat backs on the kayak broke as well. They weren’t very comfortable, and I’ve thought of a better way to rig them, but it does kind of affect the resale value of the boat. So we finally made it back, stopping only to bail water and take some short breaks. Disassembled the boat, repacked the car, and came home. The wind was still super gusty and kind of crazy. We stopped and ate in Boulder City at a local burger joint that gives ginormous fries portions, even with the kid meals. But we polished them all off.
