# Boaters near Phoenix?



## Benjamin.l.richard (Aug 14, 2017)

Hey guys and gals. My family and I are relocating to the Phoenix area sometime in Sept. We have been living on the east coast our whole lives and are super stoked to be making our way out west. We are a very active outdoor family that participates in all sorts of activities ranging from wild edible plant foraging, backpacking, day hiking, bike packing etc. I have also been paddling open canoe in whitewater for the last 5 or so years in class three and some class four water. Always open to new adventures, I'm setting my sights on whitewater rowing. I'm 38, my wife is 37, and my daughter is 11. My daughter paddles her own kayak in class two and non technical class three so she's good to go.......my wife has some hesitation on whitewater so I'm hoping that getting her in a raft on tamer water will loosen her up a bit......if not, my daughter and I will be ripping up some R2........

Anyhow,
I am looking for fellow boaters that can help acquaint me to the local scene and possibly show me down the Salt and Verde a few times and others that can possibly point me In the right direction for rafting......my two end goals are to be able to confidently take my family down rivers such as the salt in multi day trips, and possibly start working my way up to some bigger water........I looked into dorys and instantly fell in love, but maybe a cpl years down the road.......

I also looked into the 5 day rouge river rowing clinics offered by O.A.R.S and that seemed like a good route..........

Anyway, hopefully some of our paths will cross.....


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## [email protected] (Jun 1, 2010)

The salt can be big and technical, do not underestimate it.


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## Benjamin.l.richard (Aug 14, 2017)

Thanks for the heads up. Hopefully I can meet up with some folks to get me acquainted.......I'm not the "cross my fingers and hope" variety.......

Just to clarify, we are talking about the salt east of Phoenix correct? Is the American whitewater pages an accurate representation of the river?


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## lmyers (Jun 10, 2008)

There is a fairly healthy population of whitewater boaters in Arizona. Sounds to me like you should hook up with Gene (Dead Lizard). He lives in the Phoenix area, rafts a lot and runs a pretty cool little website about his explorations: PaddleOn - Southwest Float Trips

Most of the AZ boaters I know live in the Flagstaff/Sedona/Cottonwood area and usually kayak. I like to go down in February and March for early season if there is snowpack.

Yes, the description for the Salt on AW's site is accurate, although it lacks detail. The day run is III-III+ with some fairly large rapids at respectable flows. The multi-day has a few solid class IV's some of which are regularly portaged at certain levels. It is very remote and not a good place to cut your teeth.... a little more information about it can be found here: http://southwestpaddler.com/docs/salt2.html

The Verde is probably going to be your main boating option to start with. There is some mellow water near Camp Verde. Then the Beasley Flats run is II-III with one IV and lots of trees. The stretch below that is a wilderness run down to Horseshoe Reservoir and mostly class II with a little III.


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## Benjamin.l.richard (Aug 14, 2017)

Thanks brother, great info........ I'm super stoked......looking fwd
To tapping in.......


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## Jdsampsonite (Dec 7, 2015)

I live in the East Valley and own a couple rafts & IK. The lower salt river is very accessible to go down for a nice leisurely float. I prefer to go in the morning before the tubers are out. 


I go down the Upper Salt quite a bit and have run it at flows as low as 250 & as high as 3000. It really depends on what you are willing to deal with. The main thing to watch out for on the day run is make sure you get into the chute on the right on Overboard(you don't want to go over the falls, pushes you right into Overboard), go down the second channel on three way, and stay right at Mescal. 
For a calm overnight trip you can get in at horseshoe bend(you do have to carry your boat 1/4 mile if the gate is closed) and float down to the 288 takeout. You need to sleep at the **** creek camp spot it is a truly amazing camping spot. There are no serious rapids but its a nice float. I've taken a scout group down it before.
If you want to do a day run on the upper salt sometime let me know. I have done it at all different times of year.


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## firemedic521 (Mar 14, 2011)

There is great group of boaters that live in Tucson and Phoenix. All skill levels and very welcoming to anyone new to the area. If you PM with your email address I'll let you know when people are heading out. People meet up at the upper salt when ever the flow is good in the spring and we chase the monsoon flows in the summer. Good luck with the move. 

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## InflatableSteve (Jun 12, 2013)

I'm in Cave Creek (north end of Phoenix). Always looking for someone to boat with. I could show you down the Verde and maybe the Salt sometime. And if you get a raft, I do multi day trips whenever I can as well. Feel free to contact me.


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## Jdsampsonite (Dec 7, 2015)

I should get with you on a Verde trip Steve. When I first got into boating I actually made a couple kayaks and we tried to go down the part bellow Horseshoe(having only read that it was considered class 1 or 2 ) That section was awful and there were strainers everywhere on that section and it was pretty much impossible to run. Since then I have not run the Verde at all. I would like to see some of the runnable sections.


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## Dusto5 (Oct 20, 2013)

Hey Benjamin, I'm in a group of fellow boaters in the Verde Valley, Prescott and Flagstaff areas. The opportunity for actual rafting in AZ is a narrow window. Usually mid February to mid March depending on the river and snowpack. There's more boating options available running duckies and canoes at a little lower water levels. The Verde is what we call a Class "Tree" river. It has some formidable rapids in the whitewater section (Beasley to Childs), and a great wilderness run between Childs and Horseshoe Lake (or Sheep's Bridge if you can swing the shuttle). The entirety of both runs is overgrown with willow trees which make for some very tight and technical boating.
The Upper Salt is a Class III+, super technical and formidable. Tons of fun and anxiety at the same time! 
Several creek day runs in the Verde Valley doable in the late winter months, not really aimed at rafters as much as duckies, kayaks and canoes.
The San Juan (Sand Yawn) is a booze cruise, nothing in the way of a technical river. Very family oriented river with lots of other extra curricular activities available.
The Gila Box is a run I have not done, nor the San Francisco from New Mexico to Clifton.
Other than that, for rafting, you may end up like the rest of us hoping to draw permits out of State for some of the bigger rivers.


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