Tag: #adventure

Good times on the Verde River in Arizona

Stream of kayakers on gently flowing river

Yesterday I paddled the Verde River in Central Arizona with a Meetup group of about 53 others I’ve never met. We all had one thing in common: Love of adventure.

Verde means green in Spanish. I suggested we rename it Marron River after the Spanish word for brown. Check out the pics and video below to see what I mean. One of the locals guiding us on the trip said, “Na – it’s always like this for a few days after a big rain. We just call it dirty Verde.” Cracked me up and stuck with me.

Verde means green in Spanish. We just call it dirty Verde.

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This was about the halfway point of our float. I’m on the down river side of a large chunk of rock that created a nice eddy where I could sit still and take a break. The other kayakers are resting near a rock formation one local told us is called Salamander Rock.
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This was about five minutes after we all launched and I was near the front of the pack. Look at the parade of kayaks that contnue as far as you can see up river.
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Shady spots like this provide periodic reprieve from the intense Arizona sun.
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Nothing fancy about the shuttle ride for this trip. We just piled as many people as we could into pickup trucks to go from the end point where we left our cars back to the starting point where we left our kayaks.

Had a great time with cool people and saw some amazing sights. My favorite was an array of ancient cliff dwellings. Actually had a little fish jump into my kayak too. By the time I realized it and tried to help him back into the river, he jumped back out of the kayak.

I’m working on a more detailed write up with more pics and video for my new blog. Be sure to follow AZ Wonders if you’re not already, as I’m quite a bit more active with that one.