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:

Verde River - Beasely to Gap

I AM SOOOOOO STOKED!!! We had a most excellent float down to Gap Crik on the Verde River today. I hit my first perfect boof on the ledge off of Verde Rapid (pre falls). Then I had my first perfect drop off the Verde Falls proper, which also was my first clean run on a class IV rapid. Then I hit my first combat roll after getting upside down on Punk Rawk. It was soooo freaking schweet! Great day with great peeps!

Anycow, here is a video of the day:  
  And here is an interactive Google Earth Tour of the route we did (it even has the rapid locations:

T0nt0 Crik

Here is little video of us going to 'church' from last Sunday:

Black Canyon Trail Shuttles

Did a little Black Canyon Trail Shuttle action with GnarGnar Tours,  it was way fun.

It had been a few years since I've been out on BCT and it did not disappoint.

This was my first trip down from Crown King Rd down to BumbleBee (about 15 miles).

Here is a vid of the day:

FotP TwentyTwelve is in the books

I finally got my pig tail (pink yarn attached to my seat), and my pig wings. Thanks to Jim for this beatdown. It was an ahsum 11 hours of riding with buds.
 Here is a vid of the day:


And here is a Google Earth Interactive Tour/Map

And here are a few snaps:

Chollaball taking in more than just a sunny AZ day on his bike.

Verde River (White Bridge to Childs)

Nobody wanted to play this weekend, so my adventure started off with camping down at Childs Dispersed Camping Area. Then on Sunday I began my day off with a 27 mile self supported shuttle via my two-wheeler (3,600+ vf in climbing) at oh-dark-thirty (6:30 am and the pedal took me 3 hours) from Childs back to Camp Verde, then followed that up with 27 miles of lovely gnar on Verde River. The float started just north of White Bridge in Camp Verde (Actually I put in at friends place up river about half mile). I continued past Beasley Flats and this is where the GNAR begins. From Beasley Flats to Childs, there are atleast a half dozen class III rapids, class IV at Verde Falls, and dozens of class II for this 17 mile stretch. I ate it on Verde Rapid and on Verde Falls. The flow was only 150 cfs, so having a loaded down ducky stopped me before I fell off of those two drops. I thought I scouted my line properly, but the ducky just didn't react like my kayak. Stoopid ducky. My Gopro camera is now sitting at the bottom of Verde Falls (sorry no vid this time). I rawked 'Punk Rock' which is famous for gobbling up gnar seekers. Last night was very cold, and I had just barely enough dry clothes to keep me comfy. I put myself to bed in my ducky at 7:00 (after a solid 10 hour day of playing), and didn't get outta bed time till 6:30 this morning. And no, it was not a restful sleep; just not enough warmth and light to do much more. I put myself back on the river at 8:15 this morning to rawk some more gnar. It was glorious and beautiful country I floated thru. I made my way down river 12 more miles to my car at Childs. I am so STOKED right now, and I want more. What an amazing canyon. I got hung up several times on rocks, but I can safely say that the Verde below Beasely is a go at 150 cfs. I have been reading the Verde guide thing for a while now, and the you tips ruled: Boater's Guide to the Verde River Here is a Google Earth Interactive Tour: No video this time, but here are a few snaps:

Kayaking Rocky Point, Mexico

Mr. and Mrs. Chollaball invited me down to their place in Rocky Point (Mexico) for the weekend, and I jump on that. I've been wanting to bring my kayak down and do some open water paddling again. I split from my place in Phoenix around 1:30 or 2:00 on Friday, and bolted for the border (Lukeville), and ended up at their place around 6:00. Dood, they have a an awesome place down there; perched on the hill of Las Conchas. I drank a few beers, can konked out for the night. My plan was to launch from the beach below their house, and paddle a couple miles east to the De Marua Estuary. The sun was up and as it warmed the earth, the morning winds picked up from the east. When I launched, the waves were just big enough to get me wet as I climbed into my kayak. The waves that were hitting the shores weren't necessarily wind waves, cuz they were definitely coming in sets. My bilge pump wasn't working so good, so I opted to stick pretty close to the shore line. I out beyond the where the waves were breaking, but I was in an awkward place where the waves were shoaling (building in height as they moved into shallower water). I suppose I would have been calmer farther out, but I wasn't sure how far out I would haveta go??? My paddle along shore, as I headed east was pretty rough and it took forever to paddle the 2.5 miles. I had the wind at my face (about 15 mph), but luckily the swells were rolling under me at a 45 degree angle. It was nice for the moment, that I could easily see what was gonna hit me. I was surprised by the reef when I got down to it, because I had no idea it was there. And as when I got down to it, I was nearly the end of the low tide. I would say it was about a half mile long. I came in from behind it, and I certainly enjoyed the protection it provided. I dinked around there for a while, but by the time I was ready to go into the estuary, the tide was to low to approach it from this side, so I paddle around the front side of the reef to far eastern side where the channel was at. I was tempted to blast on thru a small break in the reef, but as I ran down the the swells, I aborted this plan as it became a fear I was gonna lose control and get chewed up by the rocks. I turned back out to the sea and found a much safer approach. The estuary is far more empty than the google earth images show, but the channel was just deep enough for me to get several miles of protected paddling in. At this point, I was started to get tired, and I knew I had 2.5 miles of very rough and taxing open water paddling back home. I did find a small channel I could paddle thru (a tad bit of portage) on the western end of the reef, so I didn't haveto paddle in front of it. This saved me about 20 minutes of getting work by the waves. The launch from here, back out to the swells was pretty forgiving too. Once I got out beyond the breaking waves, the sea was far more rough. I was getting sets of swells 3 and 4 feet high. This was gonna be a very hard paddle home. That and the waves were coming from about 8:00, so I constantly had to look back at what was going to hit me. I was on edge, and frankly I couldn't wait to get off the water. This was not a relaxing paddle, at all. I had a few big swell break right on the side of my boat. uff, I even had to do a few quick braces to keep my boat from going over. The paddle back down to Chollaball's house went far quicker this time, but not quick enough. I had only paddled about 12 miles, but I was shot. I can easily knock out 20 miles on flat water, but what I had today wore me out. Now that I had made it down to the front of his place, I still had to ride the surf in. Normally, this sounds like fun, but this time I dreaded it. It has been about 8 years since I've ridden waves like this in kayak. I didn't really have a plan other to paddle fast and and try to keep my bow pointed towards the shore. I got my boat speed up, but the first swell went under me, but the second one had me riding down the wave, and as I wasn't going fast enough it pull my boat around and all of a sudden I was parallel to wave and in an awkward position. The wave just just breaking, but showed me mercy. I took a quick glance at where I was at, the shore was still about 100 feet off, and then I looked in front of me and I was in the valley of the waves, then I took a quick glance to my port side and I had a big wave breaking and white water rushing towards me. I was like a deer in the headlights, and I knew this wasn't gonna end well. I knew I need to get my boat in better position and my first instinct was to point towards the shore, the only problem was that this wasn't happening. I was stuck being parallel to a the breaker. The kayak I am in, is 19.5' long and it doesn't turn very easily; especially with current of the swell keeping me in place. After watching the video, I should have tried to point my bow out to sea and back into the shore. Well that didn't happen, and the wave bashed me pretty hard, and the next thing I know I am upside down. I had paddle dug into the sand below, but I stopped myself from using it to up my boat right side up, because I didn't want to break it. I pulled my skirt and had my feet on touching the bottom, and my cockpit full of water. I drug my hull in and was thankfull to be done for the day. I was also thankful I opted to wear my crashhelmet for this little excursion out to sea and back. This was far from a relaxing day in the kayak, but it was an excellent adventure. Here is a video of the day:

Rio Verde Adventure Day - Mountain Biking and Kayaking

Had a nice duo sport adventure day out in Rio Verde area, that combined some mountain biking on some new (to me) trails with some buds and then a short (3 mile) float down the Verde. It is kind of a hike from my place to the Rio Verde area about an hours drive, for a 2.5 hour ride, so I tossed my bike in the car, just in case I had some energy left for self supported rip down some new to me section of the Verde. I basically said that in the prior sentence, but you get what I mean. Ray-Ray, Nancy and Jeffro (all single speed crazies) met up at the Lone Mountain TH to pedal the Pima-Dynomite trail system at 8:00. The temps were comfy, and the normal sandy trails were still packed down from the heavy rains in the area two days prior. Perfect conditions. Nancy lead us on a nice 2.5 hour tour, that lead us around Lone Mountain, thru some whooped-dee-doo infested trail. Pretty fun. Even rolled down a nice long slab of granite. Fun stuff fo sho, but I'd say that this is a hard tail designed trail. The whoops really punished my suspension. After that I drove the 4 or 5 miles down the hill to Box Bar and stage my bike there for, so I shuttle back up to my car after floating down the river. I then drove on up to Needled Rock. The float down from Needle Rock was short as I mentioned, but really scenic. The flow was pretty low, only about 100 cfs. I actually missed the channel in two place and had to get out and tow my kayak to deeper water. Since the water comes down from Bartlett lake it, it is amazingly clear. Fishes were everywhere. Even saw a few horses. Only a few riffles on this section, and definitely no gnar. The float down only took about 50 minutes, and pedal back up to the car took about 15. I dig the area! Anycow, here is a vid of the day:

2012 Hot Head Regatta - Tempe Town Lake

I certainly aint into racing, but I just thought I'd bust out the old (and neglected) touring kayak for a lap on the Hot Head Regatta Race on Tempe Town Lake. It was actually a pretty kewl event, with tons of racing classes. Although I was the only recreational kayaker in my class, so I was both first place and last. The stand up paddler boards started their lap first, followed up by the recreational kayaks, then the hobie pedal boats, the the racing kayaks, then a series of racing shells, and racing canoes, and dragooon boats. My heat started a few minutes after 7:00 am, and the conditions were perfect. The sun had just come up and the winds were no existent. I paddled fast, finishing up the 3 mile course in 30:12, so I beat all 4 of the pedal boats, go crushed (by 7 minutes) by the 1st place racing kayak, but I wasn't all that far behind the 2nd place racing kayak. Not bad, considering my boat aint made to do this. Run with what you brung. I wish I could hung out longer, but I had to split to help out at the food bank for a few hours. Once that obligation was said and done, I made my was back to Tempe Town Lake to drink gallons of beer at the Fat Tire Ale Tour de Fat. This isn't the most entertaining video, but it the google earth route is mildly interesting:

Pemberton: Last Night Ride of the Season

Not much has changed out on Pemberton since the last time I pedaled it (two years ago), but maybe a tad bit more sand, and this time we did it counter clockwise. Meet up with Tom and Tim along with several other dozens of people for the last Pemberton Night Ride of the Season last night, and it was a blast. They don't let ya pedal the trails at night, because it is a preserve, except for these organized rides. Pretty fun social ride. And the CCW direction led to a a das uber fast ripe down the hill. Dare I say scary fast, as I wasn't entirely sure I was on the trail at all times. My eyes could not re wet fast enough. Not a bad way to spend the evening considering I started the day paddling the Lower Salt with some utter peeps. Two adventure days rule! Big ups to Fountain Hills Bikes for the brauts and beer and stoke at the end. Here is a short video of the creepy crawlies out on the trail last night:

Floating Horseshoe Dam: Fail! Do not do!

DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS PORTION OF THE RIVER UNTIL YOU GET GOOD AND CLEAR BETA THAT IT IS SAFE. UNDERSTOOD??? GOOD! The past few weeks, I have been on a quest to find some new water to float. I did a little recon (via my mtb) on the Verde from Bartlett Lake on down to Rio Verde and it looked dreamy. Since the area is closed to recent flood damage, I decided to turn my attention to floating from Horseshoe Dam on down to Bartlett. It looked simple enough, and I did some research (web posts,talked to Tonto FS, and Google Earth). I should be ridiculed for attempting this solo, since it was on the verge of being on the back country, but it looked very doable. My plan was to park my bike at Jojoba Rec Area (new the bottom of Barlett Lake), then drive up to the top (near the dam at Horseshoe Lake), then float the 12 or so miles down the river/lake, then pedal the 15 or 16 miles (a couple thousand VF) back to my car. I left my place at 5:00 am, dropped the bike off at the Rec area, then drove to the top. The road veers a long way off from the river/lake, so getting sights of what I was gonna float were no existent. I parked here, and I from what I saw from Google Earth, I would need to paddle up the pond about a 1/4 mile to get to the river's path. That didn't work out so well, cuz although the pond was full, there was now way to punch thru the cattails and trees the water was rushing thru. The river just dissappeared into the reeds. No bueno! At that point I figure, I would call it a day and do some exploring in my car, as I made my way back up the road a few miles to the dam itself. It was trip not meant to be. Once I got to the dam I saw a nice flow, and my the peak I saw of the river gauge said it was about 200 cfs. I decided to try my trip again, thinking the pond I set out on earlier was not a path the channel of the river. It started off really nicely, I was stoked! I could hear the river flowing over the rapids, and it looked promising. Also on my drive up I could see lake sections of the river that made me think things were good. They were, as I ripped some really nice ripples. I floated down to a really kewl diversion dam, and I think it was Devil's Hole. The design of the dam made for a really nice 3 foot drop into the bump. I scouted it before I hit, then I hit again. I was dreamy. Exactly what I wanted. Nothing gnarly, but it was some whooped I hadn't seen here in AZ. This hole has me wanting to get back up there, just to do it. About 1/4 past that things got das uber hairy. The river channel narrowed to about 3 feet, and the cattails block the river path. BIG TIME CONCERN. Before I knew it, I the river was nearly block, as the river split and the water went thru the reeds. The water was pretty swift, but I pulled over the best I could to pull my gopro camera off my helmet. I didn't want that to hang me up as I ripped thru the cattails. The problem was that I was now pointed backwards, and not ready to head down river. As I set out, I got one good paddle stroke to pull quickly pull me around, but this sent me into the overhanging reeds. Next thing I know I upside down, wishing I hadn't done that, and no room to roll. DRAT!!! I pulled and had my hand on my paddle and boat as the river bashed me thru the reeds. Make this ride stop!!! Luckily there were no trees to get hung up on, and I drifted into a pool where I could catch my breath. I found the most miniscule peace of dirt to pull my boat up on, so I could drain. It, and that is when it dawned on me that was near the vicinity where I set out earlier and it was no place to be. Downed strainers everywhere and the water was moving swiftly. I emptied my hull, ask my Guardian Angel (yes, I am Catholic and I just had a come to Jesus moment)for help. I chose life, and wanted out. To get out, I had to step outta my hull and ride the river down. The river only got more choked. To be honest, I kinda felt a little despair. I got to an angle to where I could take inventory of where I was at (the reeds are pretty damn tall and obscured my view). I was in a place where I could see the bluffs to the west, and the where the road was at. That was a good feeling. I knew I had to exit stage left, and call it a day. The only problem was that I needed to get up on top of the reeds with my boat and paddle. This was no easy task, cuz the water was rushing thru the reeds and my legs. I climbed and struggle over the cattails. It was took me looks to find the place where I could break thru. Alas, I found the opening where it was just cattails and now growing and dead trees. After about 15 minutes of work, I punched thru to the pond. Relief and hope were restored. At this time, not to get all religious and cathartic on ya, but this is when I realized of how reckless this adventure turned out to be. Life has been a real struggle lately, and if I happened to die on the river then so be it. If in the future I die on one of my adventures, then I can only hope you view me a meek person just striving to live the life I have been given. Before my failed marriage, I had a purpose, and that is to love the best I could, during my marriage I did love the best way I could, but understanding of what my purpose is now has been lost. I need to pick myself up and continue to love the best way I can now. I would call this a baptism in the traditional sense, but more of a gentle reminder that life is good, and I need to search for my new purpose and continue it. Phew, thanks for your patience with the last paragraph. I got out safely, to the road, and marched the 3 miles back up to my car. From there I drove back down to the Jojoba Rec area, but I still wanted more, cuz a couple hours on the river just wasn't enough. I shouldered up my kayak and headed down the boat ramp and paddle down to the dam. I wanted to see for myself if a path to the east side of the dam is doable. I still have a yearning (last weekend adventure of scouting this portion of the Verde below Bartlett dam is doable). In the post from last weekend, I noted the gate was locked up 2 miles from the river access. It about a 2 mile paddle to the spill way portion of the dam, and then I left my kayak on the shore and scrambled over the spill way. It would be a kind of a bushwack, but accessing the Verde from here is certainly doable. Although the hike down would be about 1/2 mile. Ambitious, but doable. It bares restating: DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS PORTION OF THE RIVER UNTIL YOU GET GOOD AND CLEAR BETA THAT IT IS SAFE. UNDERSTOOD??? GOOD! Here is short video of what I did today:

Pedaling between Rio Verde and Bartlett Lake

Yeah, I am still around and I am still riding and paddling. Inspiration hit the utter day about a new adventure, and it was trying to figure out how to float the Verde River below Bartlett Lake. I haven't done it, and know people who have, but it has become increasingly hard since the closure of Riverside RAP (just below the dam) and the flood damage at Needle Rock/Box Bar. The gate to road down to Riverside RAP is locked at Bartlett Lake Marina, so that is two miles away. Booooo! (EDIT: TONTO NFS OPENED THE AREA BACK UP NOT LONG AFTER THIS POST.) My plan today was to see if I could pedal from the community of Rio Verde up to Bartlett Lake via the old jeep road that follow the Verde River. I scanned and studied Google Earth for a couple hours, and noticed a very viable route could be done. But some times when I see a path on GE, it just doesn't work. Today, it did. Hell, I only blew one turn (added an extra mile and half - but I was well worth my time to see that area). Shoot, it was so intuitive, that I didn't even bring a map or GPS. I just memorized the washes and and what big hills I need to be up on. I actually began my day scouting out a place to pull out, and I found a Pull Out in this area would work perfectly, since Box Bar is close. I know I would also need to be careful, not to float to far down and end up on the Indian Reservation (this link should be pretty accurate on where the boundary begins) . The path was about from the Pull Out I would uses is about 12.4 miles with miles with about 1,500 feet of climbing. I believe the road to Needle Park Rec Area is closed, so I access it down the road by coming down trail 2148 (off of 172nd and Dixileta Dr.) I headed on to Needle Rock, and ended up chatting with some doods doing some exploring on their motorcycles. They didn't think heading up to Bartlett could be done on the trails I described. I aimed to prove 'em wrong. Needle Rock was is actually a really kewl rec area. Really scenic. I snapped a bunch of photos and then made my way up the jeep road. I pedaled pretty slow, and paid pretty close attention to where I was at. And I didn't skip an opportunity to investigate the interesting things on my way. The hills weren't as big as I thought they were gonna be. I am tired of typing, so here are a few snaps:

Downhilling up at Sunrise - Greer, AZ

I had to get out of the heat of the valley, so I rolled on up Sunrise ski resort for some downhilling with GnarGnar Tours. Even better yet, I rented one of GnarGnar's bikes. The Giant Glory was dreamy. Here is a little vid of the day:

Verde River - August Edition

Last week's run down the Verde was so good that I jumped that the opportunity for another float this weekend. The flow was at about 150cfs. Not awesome, but still it flows. Lotsa green. Here is a little vid of the day: