Kayaking Horseshoe Bend in Page, Arizona

Over Memorial Day Weekend 2021, John and I traveled down to Page, Arizona to accompany our good friends on their annual Colorado River kayaking adventure.

We would spend two days kayaking from Glen Canyon Dam down to Lee's Ferry boat ramp, aka the start of The Grand Canyon, along a 15-mile  stretch of The Colorado River.

Our friends reserved everything for us!

Our friend Kassi arranged everything for us beforehand. Since she had done this before she knew not only the route, but exactly how to book our kayak rentals and our backhaul (the ride up the river).

She reserved our backhaul with Steve Kelly from Kelly Outfitters and our kayak rentals through Kayak the Colorado. We had to arrange these beforehand because one, they fill up pretty fast, but two because no private boats are allowed up the river and three, you cannot get in from the dam!

​Kassi knew all of these logistics and laid it all out for us before we left.

Before heading to Page, we also read up on both Kayak The Colorado and Kelly Outfitters’s webpages. We found Mr. Kelley’s article “Top 10 Backhauling Tips” extremely helpful. There was information on the water and route, fishing advice, and resource maps. We highly recommend reading both sites before booking a trip.

All we had to do was show up... at 6 a.m.

We arranged the earliest pickups and backhauls we could get. We wanted to make the most of our day on the water. So we picked up our kayaks to load them up at 6, and our boat left at 7!

Both Kelly Outfitters and Kayak The Colorado made starting our trip a seamless process. They had all of our kayak gear all together waiting near Steve’s boat at 6 a.m. ready for our backhaul at 7. It was impressively easy!

​Once we’d been given the safety briefing and had loaded Steve’s boat, we headed upstream! During the ride, he told us about the history of Lee’s Ferry and Glen Canyon Dam all while pointing out landmarks as we passed them.

​Steve showed us an old shipwreck, old mining rods that lead to nowhere, plus roads INSIDE the canyon walls used during dam construction. He also informed us that Glen Canyon Dam is only 16-feet shorter than the much more famous Hoover Dam. It was fascinating!

See the highlights from our trip in my video below!

We hopped in our kayaks, and away we went!

Once we got to the dam, he dropped us off with our gear on a sandbank. We were soon off on our own to float back downstream to Lee’s Ferry boat ramp. 

​Our first day was very slow moving. We were all so amazed with the area that we could barely focus our attention on paddling. The canyon walls stood hundreds of feet above us, and we couldn’t help but sit in sheer befuddlement of how grand they truly are. 

When our necks were sore from staring up at the walls, we’d look down and realize that everything below was just as beautiful as it was above! It was truly 360 degrees of unreal scenery. ​​​

Fly fishing wasn't successful the first day.

The freezing cold water under our kayaks was crystal clear. Even though it was clear, it was a glowing, neon green from the thriving algae and plants below the surface. We could see fish weaving in and out of the tall grasses and we, right away, tried our hand at fly fishing. We didn’t have any success the first day, but the second day was an entirely different story!

We camped at the Ferry Swells Campground.

Fly fishing nets empty, we only made it a few miles downstream before we pulled over to camp at Ferry Swells Campground. It was the middle of the day already and we didn’t want to risk campgrounds downstream being full and forcing us to backtrack!

We pulled our kayaks out of the water and setup near a fire ring in the campground. We spent the rest of the daylight hours exploring up, down, and around the canyon cliffs. When the sun set, we headed back down to start a campfire and have dinner.

Day Two:

The next morning, we got going early and made our first stop at Petroglyph Beach. These petroglyphs are believed to be thousands of years old though no one really knows. It was a cool stop, but we were soon back in our kayaks and paddling onward.

Fly fishing success.

We had roughly 10 miles to go the second day, so we picked up our pace from the day before. It didn’t keep me from fly fishing, though. I actually caught two of my largest fish yet! Both were native rainbow trout, so we released them back into the water.

Hiked to Waterhole Canyon.

We made it to Waterhole Canyon with enough time to hike. From the river, it was about a mile or so walk up to the climbing wall. It’s difficult to go all the way through the canyon without ropes, but it was still extremely cool to see as far up as we did and it was a nice walk on solid ground. 

​See more from Waterhole Canyon in this video below!

I flipped my kayak and we had to stop...

When we got within three miles of the boat ramp, we were caught in a flash wind storm. I couldn’t handle it, and my kayak flipped over into the freezing cold water. ​

​I was the only one to flip all weekend, but luckily, I was in shallow water. I stood up and walked to shore, and nothing was lost! It was scary for a second, but once I gathered my wits, everything was fine. We were nearing the end of the trip, so once the weather calmed down, we were able to paddle onward and get off the river within an hour or so.

Good thing my brand new iPhone 12 was in my Stash 7 Waterpocket. It protected it during my fall, and let me kept taking pictures afterwards! Thanks for the great gear Stash 7!

The ending may not have been ideal, because I was cold and wet, but it didn’t remove a moment of the enjoyment. Even when wet, the views inside the canyon were still unbelievable. We made it out of the canyon safe and sound and right on time to return our kayak rentals! It was an indescribable weekend overall, and we can understand why our friends take this trip year after year!

Read more from our other trips to nearby places:

How to see Horseshoe Bend from Above
Visit Antelope Canyon in Page, AZ
​Road Trip Through Utah's Might 5 National Parks