# Flagstaff kayaking



## LineDawg (Oct 18, 2009)

Fossil Creek is east of camp verde. Best to drive to strawberry then head west on fossil creek road. It runs year round due to it being spring fed. Best to catch it with some additional flow though.


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## Outlaw (Mar 8, 2010)

Talk to your vertical challenge teammate, ski_kayak365. He's been living down there in Flag for a few weeks.


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## lmyers (Jun 10, 2008)

The closest kayaking to Flagstaff is Oak Creek. A couple Ark Valley crews went down last March for a record runoff...

The upper reaches contain some V+ creeking that only runs after heavy rain...then comes the Slide Rock section which contains predominately III+ to IV+ whitewater with 3 solid V's:


















Below this is the Indian Gardens section, which is rated as solid IV. This stretch ends at Sedona, and marks the beginning of more mellow water. 
The Sedona to Red Rock stretch contains predominately class II whitewater with a half dozen III+ to IV- moves depending on wood and flow:










The Red Rock to Paige Springs run looked to be clogged with wood, so we didn't run it. However, you can put in at Paige Springs and float down to Cornville. This stretch contains more class II water with a handfull of easy III's.

When we did it Oak Creek was running 650 at Sedona for the upper stretches and 850 at Sedona for the lower.

Here is the gauge: USGS Real-Time Water Data for USGS 09504420 OAK CREEK NEAR SEDONA, AZ

It is a really fun creek, but doesn't run every year. Hope that helps!


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## lmyers (Jun 10, 2008)

As Linedawg said, Fossil Creek runs year-round and is a couple hour drive from Flagstaff. It is actually a great run (not just a park and huck) if you can catch it with additional water (the spring discharges like 56 cfs). It tends to get additional padding in Feb and March. Here is a couple pics from it at aprox. 150 cfs:


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## cayo 2 (Apr 20, 2007)

Nice shots Logan,that was a blast.There are some nice looking slightly cleaner drops[than the stuff from Powerhouse to the bridge] down by where the road from Camp Verde comes in ,that you can lap, they are close to the road,and unlike higher up,you can have campfires.This is the part they call the Ghetto,you can keep going but book says the takeout hikeout's a bitch.Wanted to run it but everybody was in a hurry to leave,next time.Definitely down to go next spring.


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## ednaout (Jun 3, 2005)

Hey thanks for the replies. I am thinking of applying to a nursing program at NAU so thought I should know what I am getting myself into...It looks like there are some decent options around flagstaff...and hearing that fossil creek runs year round is sweet.
I'm also thinking of applying to Boise State, which is clearly going to have lots of options...
La dee da....I'll just have to see who accepts me...Ideally, I would like to pretty much stay put, but I'm willing to move for a bit,if I can get in and out of a BSN program ASAP.

Thanks again for the info: )


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