Lower Salt Float

It's getting hard to continue being creative with names for Salt River float trip posts, since we do them so often. Yet, every one is unique and so are the photos!

This time we took Zach's friend Lane, who had never been on the river before. His family has a pool, but it was with Zach and I that Lane first left an urban area (to hike in the Superstitions) and now his first visit to a river. So "we" was Zach, Lane, Zach's mom and my daughter, Jenny, and I.

It was our intention to put in where the tubers take out. That is the folks who rent tubes leave the river at that point to return them to the vendor. It's at the end of Blue Point Road. However, by the time we got there, the Sherriff's office had closed that road for some reason. So we had to drive to the next possible put in, which is Coon Bluff. (This is where Zach's Cub Scout pack camped last October.) Our planned take-out was still Phon D. Sutton recreation area, so that left us with only about an hour and a half float.

We had the river entirely to ourselves, however, not counting the birds, dragonflies, and fish.

I can't say it was silent because Lane never stopped talking! At one point he was going on about SpongeBob SquarePants and how funny it would be if he actually lived in the Salt River. I mildly pointed out that sponges live in the ocean where there's salt water, and wouldn't be comfortable in a fresh water river. I explained that real sponges are also kind of round, not rectangular like SpongeBob, and that they don't make good pets.

"I know," Lane replied. "I've tried revealing my innermost thoughts to them many times, but they just don't react."

Lane is ten.

Because our float was so short, when we got to Phon D. Sutton we let the boys enjoy themselves in the water for awhile. They clambered over the travertine islands and let the various currents pull them from one to another.

At one point, Zachary stopped for a moment after riding a natural waterslide, and said, "This is what splash parks are copying, aren't they?"

"I think so," I agreed.

"They just do that so they can get you to pay to do what we can do free, here," he adjudged, and then dove back into the water.

So, hot as it was (110°F), we were cool and didn't even get sunburned.

I'm probably going to stop blogging these trips unless something outstanding happens. But don't worry—we'll still be going on them!