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| Kayak | 9.29 Miles |
387 AEG |
| | Kayak | 9.29 Miles | 4 Hrs 33 Mns | | 2.20 mph |
| 387 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | With some rain washing through up north, the discharge along the Verde made this doable. By the time we set up our shuttle and got on the river, it was between 90 and 100 cfs. I was in my packraft, and my wife in a hardshell. We didn't have to portage anywhere, but my wife had to step out in a place or two to get off a high center situation. On balance, the packraft managed better.
There were others on the river, but we enjoyed quite a bit of solitude.
Not sure why they called this the Verde (green) River, as it seems to almost always be brown. Today was no different. Visibility in the water was limited to an inch or two, which became a problem when one of the very minor strainers caught my GoPro and quickly deposited it out of sight somewhere on the bottom of the creekbed. We spent about 45 minutes, blindly sweeping the bottom of the river bed, but no luck.  I marked the loss spot on my route, so let me know if you find it on your next paddle!
After an appropriate celebration of life for the GoPro, we carried on. The highlights were a few lovely tree tunnels, and lush greenery lining the shore. Passed some beautiful private properties along the way.
We pulled out at the "upper" Beasley Flat pull out--a great, shaded spot, which is also used by the commercial kayaking companies, who shuttle between there and the Clear Creek put in throughout the day, apparently 365 days a year.
We intended to go all the way to the lower Beasley Flat pull out, but I didn't do enough homework, thinking that the road was paved all the way--it's not. The last 1.5 miles are on dirt road. Not a problem for any car, but I brought my road bike to set up the shuttle. It was risky enough to ride it the 0.5 mile from the upper Beasley drop in, but I was almost guaranteed to secure a puncture over 1.5 miles.
On the shuttle note, it took me about 38 minutes to ride back to White Bridge in already toasty conditions (85+ degrees). The ride includes a few solid climbs, so not a walk in the park. If you do a bike shuttle, FYI, the mapping programs will route you up Oasis Road to connect to the 260, which throws in an unnecessary couple 100 ft. of elevation gain. For bikes, stay on Salt Mine Road, which bypasses that up and down, and is more direct. (Mapping probably routes the other way b/c the speed limit on Salt Mine Rd is 25, so going over the hill is probably slightly faster in a car). |
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