Our Maiden Voyage

Hi Blog!
As you know, we recently purchased kayaks. Yes, we bought them in Tucson, Arizona. We got a really good deal on them from REI. It just took a few weeks to finally find a place to try them out.

On Monday, April 3, 2017, we drove over Usery Pass Road toward the Salt River. As we crossed the pass, we entered the Tonto National Forest. Our destination was Butcher Jones Beach on Saguaro Lake. Yes, there are beaches in Arizona. Here, Dave is telling Kathy to "shove it" or was that "shove off!"

We're trying to think of names for our kayaks.  We have Buster for the motorhome, Dusty for the Jeep.  What to call these two little cuties?  Lots of options come to mind.  We're toying with 绿皮划艇和蓝皮划艇 (pronounced lǜ pí huá tǐng, lán pí huá tǐng) - meaning, "Green Kayak" and "Blue Kayak."  However, these names don't exactly roll off the tongue.  So we're still pondering.

Saguaro Lake is the fourth reservoir on the Salt River formed by the Stewart Mountain Dam. The lake is off Arizona State Route 87. If you decide to check it out, make sure you stop and pick up a Tonto National Forest parking pass. If you park without a pass, it could cost you $100.00!

We've kayaked loads of times, but we always rented them. It was such a pleasure to be able to launch when we wanted and return when we wanted. There was no rental clock ticking. No deadlines hanging over our heads. No difficulties transporting the kayaks where we wanted to paddle.  If we wanted to stay out all day, we could.

Today, we paddled lazily in and out of coves. We watched hikers make their way around the Butcher Jones Trail. This cormorant was also watching the hikers, but from a safe distance.

We were curious as to why the beach and trail were named after Butcher Jones. Here is what we found. Butcher Jones most likely is Dr. W.W. Jones, according to state historian Marshall Trimble. An online search showed Jones to be more than a medical professional. In the mid-19th century, he also owned mines in Arizona as well as a freighting business. He lived in Yuma, Prescott, Wickenburg, Phoenix and Tempe, and later in life became a rancher. He apparently was fairly influential in his day, and he was friends with Jacob Waltz of Lost Dutchman Mine fame. There also was a mention that Dr. Jones performed surgeries on his dining room table, which may have led to his nickname of Butcher (a Parks Department The Arizona Republic's Scott Craven did some research, and here's what he found:  an employee said of Butcher Jones – 'I am pretty sure he was a doctor, but apparently not a very good one.'). (Thanks Scott Craven of The Arizona Republic.)

Meanwhile, Kathy paddled on, blissfully unaware of the history of Butcher:

As we reached the southeast end of the lake, we could look up stream to where the Salt River snakes through Ship Rock canyon. More ambitious paddlers can work their way upstream past Begley Flat all the way to Mormon Flat Dam:

We, however, decided to cross the lake at this point and paddle along the far cliffs, sheltered from the day's building wind and the significant currents coming downstream through the middle of the lake. We started working our way back toward the marina.

Saguaro Lake sees lots of use. There were all sorts of things floating around in the water. We made it our mission to pick up as much junk as we could. It reminded us of our nephew Ryan. Whenever we would get together at G-mom's house, he would take us on "environmental walks" around her neighborhood picking up as much trash as we could carry. We hope to continue the tradition of making the world a little cleaner as we pass by. Ryan you inspire us!

Below, Dave smiles, knowing that he doing good deeds and keeping the lake a little cleaner:

As we paddled around the lake, we were able to get up close and personal with these lumpy humps:

The loose gravels that erode from above are easily washed away by waves leaving shallow caves behind:

Here, Dave explores one of the caves:

As we made our way west, the terrain changed from sheer cliffs to gravely aluvial fans covered with saguaro, palo verde and this unusual fan palm. We rested in the "shade" of the palo verde and ate our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Dave was all sugared up after lunch and started a water fight!

Even though this was a weekday, it is Spring Break for some, so we had plenty of company on the lake - not as many as on a weekend, but more than typical weekdays. There were sport fisherman, pontoon party boats, jet skis and speed boats. This pretty purple boat is pulling a wake boarder.

Row, row, row your boat past all that volcanic tuff.

Kathy spotted something blue lurking in the water. Try as she might, she couldn't free it. Dave was able to work his way into shore and rescued this beautiful (though soggy) beach towel from the clutches of the jagged rocks!

See Dave. See Dave paddle. See Dave paddle under the really big cliff.  See how tiny Dave looks:

We didn't paddle for very long after lunch. The wind was predicted to pick up in the early afternoon. It's no fun paddling against the wind. We didn't want to tire ourselves out on our maiden voyage. There will be plenty more opportunities to paddle in our future.

Here is the final trash tally. The beach towel was still in good shape, so we left it to dry and hope that it will get "recycled" by some needy beach goer.

Final tally: over 8 miles, at about 2 miles an hour, for total time on the water of about 4 hours.  No records set, but who was trying?  This was a very peaceful maiden voyage - and it was more successful than the Titanic's!