Salt River

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Earlier in May I spent a week paddling the Salt River, in Arizona. Was a fun time, with good company, good food, great scenery and amazing skies, and a surprise bonus of the northern lights!

I’ve not really paddled much the last few years, mostly been rafting with the family. The car accident in 2021 left me with a sore wrist and flexibility issues with my neck that made me lose confidence in my abilities. Pleased to report that I didn’t feel at all like a kook, and can even solidly roll my kayak, so looking forward to more time on rivers this year. Taking a week vacation without the family, and kayaking, felt strange… But it went well and I enjoyed it.

The Salt River has been on my radar for years, but getting a permit or an invite and that lining up with acceptable water flows had eluded me. Years ago I was set up for a trip, but flows dropped to 350cfs and the group fell apart. This year we had 700-750 cfs, which was fine in a kayak but a bit low for the big heavy rafts we had. If I was going to do it again at that flow it’d be small lightly packed boats only. As we did it I got to practice my skills dragging rafts off being stuck which was entertaining in a way and dusted off some rusty skills, but slowed our pace a lot.

salt river · May 5 – 20, 2024 📸

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