Upper Salt - Horseshoe Bend to Roosevelt Lake

Allan put together a nice lil adventure, that consisted of doing a monsoon float down the Upper Salt from Horseshoe Bend down to Roosevelt Lake. The Shuttle started off by parking a car at the Roosevelt Lk RAP off of 288, and then heading back up the highway to Young Rd, and then a series of FS roads. I believe the total distance was about 27 miles of driving. It was super freaking hot, considering it was 8/17, and we didn't get on the water till about 12:00. The 13.5 mile float took us about 4.5 hours. The flow was about 400 cfs. Other than an occasional strainer, it was pretty mile class II stuff. Here is a vid of the day: Here is an interactive Google Earth Tour:

I am still here...

Here's a little recap of my road trip thru Utah and Colorado. Good stuff. I started my trip off with a drive from PHX to SLC, for some mountain biking. I knocked out 3 trail systems in 2 days. Trails were pretty primo. Gangi gave me a tour of the Draper Trail system, where we did a couple laps down Rush. That trail was a freaking blast. Later that afternoon I drove 20 miles or so up to Bountiful and pedal up and down Mueller trail. I was a 7 miles up and 7 miles of pure fun on the way down. Hell, I even chased a moose off the trail. Neato. Legs were tired, but day 2 took me to Park City, where I spent the day pedaling Armstrong,Mid Mountain and then up Pinecone (snow stopped me at 9,500 vf). 2 days of buff trails had me yearning for more, but my legs said the needed a rest, so I drove off to Moab. Not for riding, but for some paddling. Ya, see I had my kayak with me, and the Moab Daily Run (Colorado River) was on my to do list. Shoot it was a gnarly run, but plenty thrilling considering the riffles sponded some pretty big waves. Hell, it was flowing 8k CFS that day. I didn't stay in Moab long, cuz I had to meet up with friend in Durango, CO for some more kayaking and biking. Shoot Durango has it going on. You have the Animas River (flowing about 1,100ish CFS) and some might fine trails to ride. Day 1 we did a run down the Animas, the next day, I hope on my bike and hit the trails near the condo, and then later that day I cheered on some of my peeps doing the Animas River Days competion at Smelter Rapid. Then the last day, I did the down river race on the Animas. I was doing pretty dang good until I got sucked in by the wave on Corner Pocket. Drat! Anycown, here a couple vid's:

Kayaking the Salt River (Upper Canyon)

I've had a couple fabulous runs down the Upper Salt this year and here are a vids of my exploits:

Verde River Hohokam Cliff Dwelling

Finally found the Hohokam cliff dwellings on the Verde River. Nice, real nice

Tonto Crik - Jake's Corner, AZ

Nice little float with some buds on Tonto Crik today. Although I doubt I'll every float the 3 mile section between Gisela and Rye Crik. I ended upsidedown twice today, but no swims. schweet! Anycow, here is a vid of the day:

2012 Compilation Adventure Video

Hi y'all thanks for checking this little space out this year. I dig it when people have passion to play, and I dig it when people allow me to capture them having fun. Here is my 2012 Compilation Adventure Video:

Skiing into Blue Ridge Reservoir

I just haven't been really anxious to ski lately, but today I was inspired to do something I've been wanting to do for a while, and that was to grab the skinny skis and kick my way from the gate at the highway down to Blue Ridge Reservoir. The way I see it, is that today was just the right time. The recent snow has been cleared from the highways, so driving there would be no problem, yet the snow behind the gate should still be in good condition. I split from my place in Phoenix a little after 6:00 am, and I parked the car at a snow cleared pullout just up the road from the gate. I left my car about 8:45 and kick the 5 miles down to the lake via FS road 571. It wasn't totally untracked, as a snowmobile had beatdown a nice path for me, so breaking trail was easy. That and the first 2.5 miles is flat. The 2 miles after Rock Crossing Campround it drops down about 600 vf, but the slop if the road is pretty gentle for coming down on skinny skis and and climbing back out of. I saw a couple elk, and could hear others battling off in the distance. The temps were pretty cold when I started, prolly about 10 or 12 degrees, but once I got moving, I wasn't bothered at all. I didn't shoot any video, so I pretty much kept moving, but I took my time. Actually I didn't really look at my watch until I was nearly done, which was about 3:00. I ended up going all the way to the dam, so the round trip was about 13 miles. Here are a few snaps: