The Black Canyon Water Trail is located within Lake Mead National Recreation Area, a unit of the National Park System. The trip begins, as the river flows, at the base of Hoover Dam, one of the engineering marvels of the world and meanders through 30 miles of the Colorado River where it enters Lake Mohave. This spectacular river setting provides unique paddling and rafting opportunities that are not matched in the southwestern United States. There are flowing hot springs in some of the side canyons and a great deal of history associated with the construction of and research connected to Hoover Dam including a sauna cave, gauging stations, catwalks, trails and foundations of early inhabitants.
Approximately 12 miles downstream from Hoover Dam, you arrive at Willow Beach, a developed area which is the only road accessible portion of the 30 mile stretch of river. Willow Beach is a historic river access site and is developed with all the amenities one would associate with a National Park Service development site. Rental craft are available at Willow Beach for those who would like to access the river from this location.
The river, in the next segment, transitions into a lake but maintains the canyon environment with small bays and beaches appearing as you continue down stream. The setting is extreme and remote with designated wilderness on the Nevada side of the river and proposed wilderness on the Arizona side. As you approach Eldorado Canyon, the main canyon opens so that the size of Lake Mohave begins to be realized. The Edorado Canyon is known for its mineral history. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, gold and silver mines were active in the mountains that form the horizon in Nevada. Steamboats would transport the ore from Eldorado Canyon down to the Gulf of California and on to mills in southern California.
