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Salt River Kayaking

Ryan and I have been living completely opposite lives lately. But I was able to finagle my work schedule around to get Saturday free, so we could have a day together. And it was worth all the finagling! We took a day trip to Saguaro Lake Ranch to do a kayaking trip on the Salt River.

We had 13 miles to kayak, and the river gets very full of tubers during the summer. So we wanted to get an early start. We were on the road by 5:15 am, and on the river by 7:30!

This trip made Ryan & I seriously consider buying kayaks. We had so much fun! I'm going to let the pictures do the talking....


We saw a variety of landscapes along the way. We started @ Saguaro Lake Ranch - which historically was the ranch that housed the workers who made the dams on the Salt River to create the various lakes near Phoenix. They provided the kayaks, and picked you up when you finished to bring you back to your vehicle.
 
Here I am getting the feel for my kayak & becoming "one with the water". I wouldn't say this was "rapids" - but there were some very high current areas that took a certain amount of skill! It was pretty fun!

 
An obligatory "selfie"

 
How surreal is it to be on a river, with saguaro cacti along the bank?!


 
Best part of this trip? Wild horses along the entire way! And since it was so quiet out, they walked right up to you! (they wouldn't let me pet them, though)


 
I tried to see how close I could get, and they let me right in the middle of their pack. This was the pack of males. We noticed the males and females stood on opposite sides of the river!

 
These were the females! I was in awe of the beauty of this. It's like they're hugging! I wonder if they are sisters?
 
 

 
Kayaking 13 miles was hard work on the arms, but it was so relaxing! This photo sums up how we were feeling! I am also SO GLAD we wore our keen water shoes!
 
We got back to our car by 1 pm, and were ravenous. So we drove into Mesa, AZ (which was about 15 minutes away) and went to Red, White, & Brew to satiate ourselves with a Pesto-Artichoke Pizza and a cold IPA! Ryan's eyes were bigger than his stomach, and he ordered the 20'' pizza. Needless to say, we have a lot of leftovers. Beer and good pizza tasted amazing after a day on the river!

Comments

The pictures are so beautiful and it looks like you guys had an awesome day! I love kayaking so much so can see why you want to buy kayaks of your own! I have thought about doing the same but decided to hold off until next summer as this has been an expensive summer between my move and settling in.

That is so cool that you saw those horses along the way. They are so beautiful! My favorite pic is the one of the two horses with their necks intertwined!

We should rent kayaks when we are at the lake!
Marlys said…
That trip looked like the perfect get-a-way! The horses really added to the beauty of the day. I thought wild horses were more "wild" but they appeared to be quite calm. I'm sure your arms were tired after 13 miles! We've been seeing more kayakers and paddle boarders lately at the lake and both look to be quite enjoyable!

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