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| Lower Salt River - Waterusers to PhonD, AZ | |
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| | Lower Salt River - Waterusers to PhonD, AZ | | | |
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Lower Salt River - Waterusers to PhonD, AZ
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| Kayak | 8.93 Miles |
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| | Kayak | 8.93 Miles | 2 Hrs 42 Mns | | 3.31 mph |
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| no partners | | A sunrise paddle with a nearly full moon surprise.
Arrived at the take-out point for the shuttle ahead of sunrise to find less than a handful of cars in the lot. Piled all our gear into the shuttle vehicle and headed up to the put in point as the sky was brightening and the moon descending towards the horizon in the western sky.
Got the gear together, disturbed a turkey vulture on the beach, and launched to the river at 760cfs. As we launched, we noticed something moving fast in the water across the way - too fast to simply be floating a long with the river's current. Turns out it was a beaver! We caught up to it a little bit downstream after it had harvested a willow branch to take back to its den.
Was glad to have the shade while the sun was still low in the sky. Continuing down river, we had the novel sight of the nearly full moon sinking towards the horizon, making for some nice photos. While we saw some heron, there seemed to be fewer than usual....but there were plenty of egrets. There were also other water fowl - mallards, cormorants, some killdeer, and possibly a couple kingfishers.
Shortly after rounding devil's elbow, we caught sight of a few river otters. Unfortunately, they were quick to head off into the weeds. We saw a few horses on our way downriver, but it definitely seemed like there were a lot fewer than usual. The squirrels are usually out and about at Coon Bluff when we pass, but there had to have been a convention or something going on - I'd never seen quite so many there before! It was a tranquil paddle and a fantastic start to the week.
Other paddlers: less than a handful of others. |
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Happier when hiking....I may not move fast (and I'm often distracted by wildflowers), but I'll get there eventually  |
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