This Memorial Day weekend the Johnson klan made plans with some friends of ours "Kenny and Lindsay" to check out a section of the river I have always been curious about, "The Lower River." Kenny and Lindsay have a place in a quiet section of the river known as Cibola or better as "The Cibola Refuge." Their place is about a mile and a half from the infamous "Hippie Hole."
I wasn't sure if we should bring our boat or not as I have heard all kinds of things about the depth of the Lower River. I decided at the 11th hour we were going to take it, because I've heard all kinds of people claim that Parker is shallow as well, and that's just nonsense.
Kenny had texted me directions, and somewhere in those texts it said "Don't follow the GPS." In typical me fashion we got to rolling down there and we followed the GPS. That ended with it telling me to turn left in the middle of nowhere. There's a farm field on the left, and a farm field on the right. The aerial view didn't look very promising as well. We decided to get back on the road and look for a better route. After about 20 minutes of that and no cell service what so ever, I bit the bullet and we drove back to the farm and pulled down the dirt road. I know some people wouldn't care about this... I'm not one of those people, my hairline receded a little more on that road.
We arrived at their house finally and settled the nerves with a couple of beers. Kenny suggested stashing the boat at the house and heading to the beach, being that we are out of our element a little bit my plan was to just do whatever he said all weekend.
This was the campsite that they had setup for us for the weekend. At first I was thinking "What are we going to do all day at the beach?" The scenery and the water quickly washes any concerns of "what comes next" pretty quickly. We walked in and met a great group of people that were going to be our temporary river family for the weekend. One of Kenny's neighbors Brad, had a propane powered smoker slow cooking tri tips, sausages, and they laid out a spread, paper plates aside, that would've been at home at any steak house as it was on this beach. If you ever get the opportunity to hang out with Brad he's a very cool guy with a laid back demeanor that sets the tone for the entire camp. It's kind of a chicken or the egg situation, where you're not sure if that demeanor comes from decades at the lower river, or if the lower river is that way because Brad has been there for decades.
This is Brad on the left standing next to his 21 Shockwave.
We arrived pretty late in the afternoon the first day so we only hung out on the beach for a few hours before retiring back to the house for the night time activities. I asked Kenny what the plan for the night was and he said we were going to go pound around in the dirt a little bit. I took these pics the next day, but these were the vehicles we took.
And this was the Mantra for all the passengers.. LOL
(FYI this sign is in the local general store)
I can't tell you how much fun I had just rolling around in an old Blazer that night. The blazer had that smell that all old Chevy's have, and makes all the same creaky noises they make when they are travelling down dirt roads and hitting bumps, it really rewinds you back to a better time. I nick named the blazer "Red Dawn" (yes I know it was a truck in the movie) because hauling ass out on those dirt roads kind of reminded me of the movie for some reason. Being that I only had an I phone on me, I couldn't exactly take great pictures at night.. I did get this quick clip of Lindsay driving her Land Rover (Not Range Rover like it says in the video) bringing the kids up to the top of a bluff that over looked the river. The hill was extremely soft sand and they got stuck on the first try.
[video=youtube;Zdv5cZC82Ok]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdv5cZC82Ok[/video]
This is Francine, she was with Kenny and myself in the Blazer. In a tribute to the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500, we will call her the "On Board Mechanic." She sat in the back, and was manning the cooler on our adventure. On a side note, Francine is Jason's wife, Jason owns the yellow Yamaha and is ridiculously smart when it comes to offroad stuff. Jeff builds trophy trucks, and is the guy that is responsible for the re-gearing kits that are now being sold for these new 1000's.
The one thing I love about the Lower River is nobody is in a hurry. It's no secret I'm not a morning person, and that's just fine down here because you generally have to wait for the water to come up a bit by 10 or 11 anyways. So after sleeping in, it was time to brave the Lower River in my boat. First was the unique experience of launching at Hippie Hole. You basically launch off the beach into this little cove, and then you have to go through about a 5' wide channel that is literally two feet deep. The upside is it's all sand so you won't hurt anything if you touch bottom, but I have to say it was an unusual experience for me.
We went through it and went straight out to the river. Everybody at Hippie Hole was kind of looking at me like I was from mars. I'm sure it had to do with the fact that I probably didn't take the right route out to the river, or maybe they were looking at me because I was the only guy there with an I/O boat at the time. Our campside was a mile or two south so I ran the boat down there and beached it.
I ran the boat up and down once just to say I did it. The lower river is sketchy for an I/O to say the least. Lindsay told Stacy when we first got there "There's no such thing as straight boating down here" referring to the fact that you are always turning left or right in a kind of zig zag pattern to dodge these giant sandbars that have formed. Thankfully the water was way up when we were there, and you could see them for the most part so I didn't have any troubles on my short journey. I ran my boat for a total of 12 minutes before decided I really didn't want to press my luck anymore and put it back on the beach. (Note Summer and her trademarked upside down glasses)
My kids had more fun hanging out on this beach then anywhere on the river I have ever taken them. Not sure why it's different then the beaches we have here, but they were playing non stop all day long. They really enjoyed wading out in the current and then trying to swim back, and getting rescued every so often when they went too far, and then screaming "Again again again!"
Francine and Jason have a son named Andrew, and to put it mildly he's a tubing maniac. He would tube all day long and all night long if you would let him. Lindsay was getting ready to take him out for a run, and Sierra and Daniel said they wanted to ride on the tube.
Now I know this sounds kind of funny being they are my kids and growing up in Havasu, but Sierra only being 4, and Daniel being 3, they had never been on a tube before. Stacy was concerned that if one of them fell off they'd likely be traumatized for life by the time the boat came back to get them. I personally was of the opinion "they'll live, let them do it."
Andrew was really cool to a couple of kids he didn't know, and he got on the tube with them, and more or less guided them through the whole adventure. They went from being barely on plane, to perfectly comfortable being whipped in and out of the wake in two rides. I can't say enough about how cool this kid is, not just in this instance but all weekend long.
To wrap up my thoughts on Cibola, it's the most relaxing strip of water I've been on. The entire experience is about chilling on the beach with a good group of people, good food, and the occasional boat ride. In a world where it's really easy to get caught up in making sure everything is perfect and keeping up with the Jones's, it's nice to know there's still places out there where the Jones's are more likely to be a family with a trailer down the road, then a metaphor.
RD
I wasn't sure if we should bring our boat or not as I have heard all kinds of things about the depth of the Lower River. I decided at the 11th hour we were going to take it, because I've heard all kinds of people claim that Parker is shallow as well, and that's just nonsense.
Kenny had texted me directions, and somewhere in those texts it said "Don't follow the GPS." In typical me fashion we got to rolling down there and we followed the GPS. That ended with it telling me to turn left in the middle of nowhere. There's a farm field on the left, and a farm field on the right. The aerial view didn't look very promising as well. We decided to get back on the road and look for a better route. After about 20 minutes of that and no cell service what so ever, I bit the bullet and we drove back to the farm and pulled down the dirt road. I know some people wouldn't care about this... I'm not one of those people, my hairline receded a little more on that road.
We arrived at their house finally and settled the nerves with a couple of beers. Kenny suggested stashing the boat at the house and heading to the beach, being that we are out of our element a little bit my plan was to just do whatever he said all weekend.
This was the campsite that they had setup for us for the weekend. At first I was thinking "What are we going to do all day at the beach?" The scenery and the water quickly washes any concerns of "what comes next" pretty quickly. We walked in and met a great group of people that were going to be our temporary river family for the weekend. One of Kenny's neighbors Brad, had a propane powered smoker slow cooking tri tips, sausages, and they laid out a spread, paper plates aside, that would've been at home at any steak house as it was on this beach. If you ever get the opportunity to hang out with Brad he's a very cool guy with a laid back demeanor that sets the tone for the entire camp. It's kind of a chicken or the egg situation, where you're not sure if that demeanor comes from decades at the lower river, or if the lower river is that way because Brad has been there for decades.
This is Brad on the left standing next to his 21 Shockwave.
We arrived pretty late in the afternoon the first day so we only hung out on the beach for a few hours before retiring back to the house for the night time activities. I asked Kenny what the plan for the night was and he said we were going to go pound around in the dirt a little bit. I took these pics the next day, but these were the vehicles we took.
And this was the Mantra for all the passengers.. LOL
(FYI this sign is in the local general store)
I can't tell you how much fun I had just rolling around in an old Blazer that night. The blazer had that smell that all old Chevy's have, and makes all the same creaky noises they make when they are travelling down dirt roads and hitting bumps, it really rewinds you back to a better time. I nick named the blazer "Red Dawn" (yes I know it was a truck in the movie) because hauling ass out on those dirt roads kind of reminded me of the movie for some reason. Being that I only had an I phone on me, I couldn't exactly take great pictures at night.. I did get this quick clip of Lindsay driving her Land Rover (Not Range Rover like it says in the video) bringing the kids up to the top of a bluff that over looked the river. The hill was extremely soft sand and they got stuck on the first try.
[video=youtube;Zdv5cZC82Ok]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdv5cZC82Ok[/video]
This is Francine, she was with Kenny and myself in the Blazer. In a tribute to the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500, we will call her the "On Board Mechanic." She sat in the back, and was manning the cooler on our adventure. On a side note, Francine is Jason's wife, Jason owns the yellow Yamaha and is ridiculously smart when it comes to offroad stuff. Jeff builds trophy trucks, and is the guy that is responsible for the re-gearing kits that are now being sold for these new 1000's.
The one thing I love about the Lower River is nobody is in a hurry. It's no secret I'm not a morning person, and that's just fine down here because you generally have to wait for the water to come up a bit by 10 or 11 anyways. So after sleeping in, it was time to brave the Lower River in my boat. First was the unique experience of launching at Hippie Hole. You basically launch off the beach into this little cove, and then you have to go through about a 5' wide channel that is literally two feet deep. The upside is it's all sand so you won't hurt anything if you touch bottom, but I have to say it was an unusual experience for me.
We went through it and went straight out to the river. Everybody at Hippie Hole was kind of looking at me like I was from mars. I'm sure it had to do with the fact that I probably didn't take the right route out to the river, or maybe they were looking at me because I was the only guy there with an I/O boat at the time. Our campside was a mile or two south so I ran the boat down there and beached it.
I ran the boat up and down once just to say I did it. The lower river is sketchy for an I/O to say the least. Lindsay told Stacy when we first got there "There's no such thing as straight boating down here" referring to the fact that you are always turning left or right in a kind of zig zag pattern to dodge these giant sandbars that have formed. Thankfully the water was way up when we were there, and you could see them for the most part so I didn't have any troubles on my short journey. I ran my boat for a total of 12 minutes before decided I really didn't want to press my luck anymore and put it back on the beach. (Note Summer and her trademarked upside down glasses)
My kids had more fun hanging out on this beach then anywhere on the river I have ever taken them. Not sure why it's different then the beaches we have here, but they were playing non stop all day long. They really enjoyed wading out in the current and then trying to swim back, and getting rescued every so often when they went too far, and then screaming "Again again again!"
Francine and Jason have a son named Andrew, and to put it mildly he's a tubing maniac. He would tube all day long and all night long if you would let him. Lindsay was getting ready to take him out for a run, and Sierra and Daniel said they wanted to ride on the tube.
Now I know this sounds kind of funny being they are my kids and growing up in Havasu, but Sierra only being 4, and Daniel being 3, they had never been on a tube before. Stacy was concerned that if one of them fell off they'd likely be traumatized for life by the time the boat came back to get them. I personally was of the opinion "they'll live, let them do it."
Andrew was really cool to a couple of kids he didn't know, and he got on the tube with them, and more or less guided them through the whole adventure. They went from being barely on plane, to perfectly comfortable being whipped in and out of the wake in two rides. I can't say enough about how cool this kid is, not just in this instance but all weekend long.
To wrap up my thoughts on Cibola, it's the most relaxing strip of water I've been on. The entire experience is about chilling on the beach with a good group of people, good food, and the occasional boat ride. In a world where it's really easy to get caught up in making sure everything is perfect and keeping up with the Jones's, it's nice to know there's still places out there where the Jones's are more likely to be a family with a trailer down the road, then a metaphor.
RD
