River Queen Boat Tour

The volunteers and some of the refuge staff get to go on an annual commercial boat tour as part of our welcome, orientation, and to show how much we are appreciated.  This year we went on the River Queen Historic Boat Tour.  The boat as seen "docked" in the picture is a jet boat and only needs 8 inches of water.  The tour operator and his mate can dock the boat in the narrowest openings of the weeds along the river.  Here we docked and walked up to an old miners cabin.  We also docked and walked back to where there were petroglyphs and a backwater lake (pond). 

The Colorado River is a ribbon of blue with narrow strips of green along the water's edge.  Down here there are mountains on both sides of the river and it makes it very picturesque.  The river is so winding that even though we were only 20 some miles from Yuma we were almost 60 water miles from town.   The river is low this time of year with lots of sandbars.  If you want to navigate the river in a boat you need to zigzag from side to side.  The water on the sides of the river are deeper than the middle.   If you canoe, the middle of the river is your friend because if you tip your canoe all you have to do is stand up.