Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013, Bill William’s River, AZ.

Kayaking the Bill William’s River

I guess I should start with last night when I left Marty and Patti’s in Quartzsite last night. I left their place around ten pm to go out to my camp site just out of town.

The cops are on me.

I started my van and pulled out the light switch and took off. Just as I entered the road from where they were staying I spied a cop car parked off to the side of the road about a block ahead of where I was headed.

Those flashing red and blue lights.

All of a sudden there where flashing red lights as another cop car did a U turn on me and pulled me over. I just got on the road, so I didn’t have time to do anything wrong,……………… I thought.

So, he comes up to my passenger door and I ask what’s up? You are driving with no lights on, he says. I check the light pull switch, it’s out, but I pull it just a little and my lights go on. He thought I turned them on all the way, but no matter.

Funny, when I started the van and pulled the switch on for the lights, the lights on my dash came on, but apparently not my head lights and there where enough lights in the Palm’s place where I just left that I hadn’t noticed they were off yet.

No, I hadn’t been drinking.

He asked if I was drinking and why was I driving around with my lights off, which I said I didn’t drink and I wasn’t really  driving around with my lights off as I just entered the road, which  he didn’t know until I informed him.

He checked my drivers license and car registration and insurance papers, which all were ok, so he let me go on my way. I thanked him for informing me about my lights and said I don’t like driving around with my lights off either. :O)

That sure gave me a a bit of a scare.

Wow, that gave me a bit of a scare, they have really bright lights on their cars around here.

Off to Bill William’s river.

After a good nights sleep, I got up around eight am and had something to eat and drove up highway 95 to Parker, where I continued up the road to the Bill William’s River Refuge area to kayak for the day, which is just below Lake Havasu city just a bit.

Last year when I was here, they were doing a lot of construction on this place, so they had a new boat  ramp launch area. I put my boat in the water and was off around eleven am.

Launched the boat and was off.

Below is a picture of the boat launch area as I paddled away today.

 

The Bill William’s River Refuge.

I paddled across Lake Havasu, about a half mile over to where the Bill William’s river comes into the lake.

Below, is a picture of where I was headed on my paddle, under the  highway 95 bridge and up the Bill William’s river.

 

There are lots of cat tails that are all browned out at this time of year in the area, which provides real good cover for all kinds of birds and critters. You can hear a lot of unfamiliar bird calls and movement in the reeds, but it’s hard to see much or get pictures as the cover is so good.

The reeds where real thick.

Never the less, I watched for what I could see in the reeds.

Below are some stacks of mud, I think maybe from beaver?

 

I headed up the main channel which is just a few miles. The wind was down and the sun was mostly out with some big clouds in the sky as I started out.

Reflections on the water.

Below, is what it looked like as I paddled up the river.

 

There where lots of reflections in the water, as you can see in the picture below.

 

A kingfisher flew by and landed in a tree nearby, so I got the picture below of it.

 

Fishermen are full of it no matter where I go.

Just near the end of the main channel, I ran into about three boats of bass fishermen. One of them I asked how far I could go up the river?

One of the fisherman said I could go up the river another five miles and said he hoped I had a lot of water and other stuff? He sure was full of it.

I paddled about another hundred yards  past them and the brush stopped me cold.

Below is the brush that stopped me from going up the main channel of the river any farther.

 

There were a bunch of Mud hens on the river and they could go farther up the river as you can see in the picture below.

 

Headed back down the river.

I headed back down the river and turned into another side channel and paddled up it about a quarter mile before I couldn’t go any farther.

Below is a picture of the side channel I paddled up and back on the way back down the river.

 

What’s that making that splashing over there?

I spied something off to the side and got this photo of what I call a puddle duck, as when they dive, they just sink in the water and leave a puddle. I think they are some kind of Grebe.

Below is a picture of the Puddle duck. They are a fairly small duck. This one is full grown.

 

A  big beaver den shows up.

I left that side channel and was headed back and almost to the highway 95 bridge when I saw this big pile of mud and stuff in the reeds.

Below is what I think is a beavers den, just before I paddled under the highway 95 bridge.

 

I liked the area on the north side of the entrance to the river.

After I crossed under the bridge, I headed for the reeds on the north side of the river which I  hadn’t checked out yet. There was a little bay in them and I liked this area, maybe better than what I saw when I paddled up the river.

It was almost five pm now, so I headed back in toward the boat ramp. Along the way, I saw this guy fishing and it looked like he just caught something, so I zoomed in on him and sure enough, it looks like he just caught some kind of a bass.

 

Back to the ramp for the take out.

I made it back to the ramp and took my boat out of the water and headed up highway 95 a few miles to camp for the night, just below Lake Havasu city some where in the hills. I’m camped in a big wash on a four wheel drive road, just off highway 95 for the night.

A pot of coffee and dinner,……..camped.

So far I’ve made a pot of coffee for the thermos and am just finishing my blog, which I will likely post tomorrow on the way back to Quartzsite. Now, it’s time to see what I can cook up for dinner.

Had a real nice time kayaking the river today.

Friday, Feb. 22, 2013, Bill William’s River, AZ.

Another Day Kayaking the Bill William’s River.

A comfortable camp last night, nothing exciting happened. Lots of moon.

I was up around eight this morning, had something to eat and went back down to the Bill William’s River put in and got my boat in the water by nine thirty am.

Paddled over to the North side today.

I decided to paddle over to the north side where I saw a nice little bay like place the day before. I paddled across the lake staying near the cat tails at the head of the river. The wind wasn’t up yet, so it was nice and east paddling.

Below is a picture of the north side of the entrance to the Bill William’s river, where I was headed.

 

Below is another picture of the north side of the river where it flows into Lake Havasu.

 

A nice little bay like place on the north side.

There was a nice little bay like place in this area where I spent an hour or so taking it easy. Below you can see a pic of what it looked like in this bay like area.

 

There were a lot of these Grebes scattered around on the lake, making their calls in the morning.

Below is a picture of a grebe in the bay like area I was in.

 

The wind came up.

The wind was coming up around noon, so I headed in.

Below is what the ramp area looked like today. There were a few other people using this area today.

Everyone was off the water by noon, including me. I got my boat out of the water and got inside to do my blog. I  got something to eat and  a two hour nap and am now working on the blog in the parking lot.

Heading south on 95.

I will head south in a bit and try to post these blogs in Parker and do a little shopping at Wally’s, then, head south down 95 to Marty and Patti’s, where I will stay in my camp area at Quartzsite tonight.

I’m thinking of heading further south soon, down to visit Madeline at Dateland if she is home?

So far, a great day.