Upper Salt River Canyon Rafting

Original Trip Description: (April 6-12,1992)
This six day trip on Arizona's Salt River promises to be unique because of its Sonoran Desert location. We'll raft through stands of towering Saguaro cactus, hopefully be treated to colorful displays of spring wildflowers, and enjoy warm days and nights while camping along the river. The Salt River can require substantial skill to negotiate at some water levels and frequent challenges will keep us on our toes. Several of the rapids on this river are extremely challenging and we expect to have difficulty portaging or lining the boats at Quartzite Falls. Since this dangerous vertical-faced ledge stretches across the river and is preceded by another nasty drop, it is usually inadvisable to run it.
The Salt River is undammed and its unchecked spring flows depend solely upon the previous winter's snow pack accumulation and the on-set of warmer spring weather. The first week in April was chosen for this 60 mile bridge to bridge float because the optimum raftable flows usually occur then. Another consideration is that the following week will be the high use Easter week which must be avoided if one is to enjoy a wilderness experience.
Those bringing a raft or other boating gear must be experienced river runners. Except for the several narly rapids, this is primarily a leisurely, fun camping trip with limited hiking opportunities.
Quartzite Falls was illegally dynamited a couple of years ago. The second drop, a keeper reversal, was notched and the rapid is now runnable at most water levels. The rating on this rapid dropped from V+ to approximately IV on the international whitewater scale.
Originates @ Phoenix, AZ.

Canyon Creek

Late March Snow

Trip Report:

After the trip, some of our group said this might have been the best river trip that they had done. With a severe case of the flu, the trip leader had a slightly different perspective. However, everything else which might adversely affect a Salt River Canyon adventure was favorably inclined for our trip. The desert plants were in full bloom. The daytime temperatures were in the seventies and eighties. The evenings were warm. Clear skies prevailed for all five days of the trip. The river flow was slightly over 3000 cubic feet per second all week. This latter condition made the rapids exciting and Quartzite easy to line.

We met just below the Salt River Canyon bridge on Sunday afternoon and split into two work groups. One group set up the gear and the other group shuttled our vehicles to the Lake Roosevelt take-out. After four hours, the drivers returned and we were able to launch our rafts, crossing the river to an excellent camp. Most of us had previously rafted together but only three of us had ever done the through trip from the Salt River Canyon Bridge to Lake Roosevelt. We brought our 16' foot oared Achilles, a floored raft, and a couple of friends from Southern Arizona each brought oared self-bailing rafts. A new friend from Salt Lake City captained a 15' self-bailing paddle raft. As we proceeded downstream the next day, we left the gravel river road behind us and entered the Tonto National Forest. A couple of days later, we floated by stands of giant Saguaros in an isolated area of this unusual National Forest which has been protected by Wilderness status.

Our first on-river day was from this campsite to below Walnut Creek. This was Class III whitewater and gave us all a chance to work the kinks out. The most interesting event that day was a 5-10 minute adventure that Mike had in the Souse Hole. This is a benign looking reversal behind a rock on the bend above Walnut Creek. Mike caught the edge of this hole, it sucked him in, and the adventure began. For what seemed like an eternity he oared his boat attempting to continue down river. Finally using an oar like a crowbar he was able to free the raft but unfortunately he left the oar behind. The oar eddied out of reach upstream on river left. Brian had to use one of his two paddle-yaks to boat upstream and retrieve the oar.

After camping at Rock Creek that night, we continued down river. The rapids were still Class III but the narrow section around Canyon Creek gave everyone a taste of tight maneuvering. We were able to pull the rafts into the mouth of Canyon Creek. This is a beautiful tributary where the river and the creek have cut into white granite rock. It's a great location for a picnic lunch followed up by a short hike upstream amongst fields of desert flowers and Saguaro cactus. We stayed until 2:00 PM and then continued downstream across Gleason Flats to the last campsite above the Eye of the Needle. This turned out to be an excellent site with plenty of wood and a close kitchen. That night Mike taught us how to make a sweat lodge using a huge blue tarpaulin and fire baked rocks. The rocks were set in a pit under the tarp and water was thrown on them, generating profuse quantities of steam. Many of our party participated in this ancient Indian ritual cleansing.

The third day we ran Eye of the Needle, Blackrock, and the Maze ending up at the last camp above Quartzite. Much of this was narrow channel, Class IV whitewater. Initially, we decided to keep our two paddle-yaks out of the water. We thought that they might be upside down so frequently that the other rafters wouldn't be able to concentrate on what they were doing. After scouting it, we ran Eye of the Needle on the right. We scouted Blackrock and took a big ride through it. More confident now, we put the paddle-yaks back in the water at lunch. Susan and Bob Sweeney took long swims in the Maze, but everyone had a great time this day. The Blackjack Wash campsite was excellent. There was lots of space, soaring quartzite walls surrounded us, and Quartzite Falls lay one mile below.

We lined Quartzite Falls. It was big, as it usually is, and while the upper falls looked runnable, it fed the lower ledge and hanging out in a monstrous reversal didn't seem appealing. We roped the boats from a belay anchor, dropped them one by one over the first falls, and then pulled them off to the river right so we could trickle out that side. Getting everyone back on the boats from a ten foot cliff was the biggest obstacle. We were able to get the job done by noon and ate lunch just below Corkscrew Rapid. The trip had suddenly become less hazardous, it was great to be alive. No equipment had been lost or damaged in the Class IV and V rapids. We aired up the paddle-yaks and played down river to another neat camp near Coon Creek. We stopped at Chalk Creek to visit the pool and falls. Even with all of the rain, Chalk Creek was dry at the river. We followed a dry boulder strewn creek bed with much of our party disbelieving the falls existence until they finally saw water. The falls and creek were flowing, but all of the water disappeared under the delta at the confluence of the creek and river.

We were off of the river by 2:00 PM and eating Mexican food at El Rey's in Globe within a couple of hours. This was a great trip and if the weather cooperates next year (lots of spring snow and rain in Arizona), we'd like to do it again. In early May, there was still twenty feet of snow in some parts of the White Mountains, so local boaters are hoping for a long season on the Upper Salt.

The spring of '93 was another great rafting year for the Upper Salt but '94 had little water and virtually no season. '95 had a long boating season, but it was unusual since the best boating occurred early, in February and March, rather than the more typical April. By the time we launched in early April, we barely made it down the river on 1000-1100 cfs of water setting a new low water record for our 18' raft. '96 and '97 had marginal runoffs which led to short boating seasons.

Other Salt River raft trips from our quarterly newsletters:

* March 17, 2004