Misadventure

Verde River, somewhere between White Bridge and the Clear Creek access point.

I took a five day weekend, Thursday through Monday. It's a long enough break to forget what is going on at work. Unfortunately the weekend didn't go exactly as hoped. Our kayak trip on a new-to-us section of the Verde River ran a little longer than I expected. The water level was barely adequate. Everybody was relieved to see the takeout. I think the next time I go back, I will look for more flow, both to avoid rocks and to speed up the trip. Even a difference of a half mile per hour makes a big difference on a 5 mile float trip.

Waterfowl in the Kachina Wetlands, with Woody Mountain in the distance.

The next thing that happened was that I apparently dropped my eye glasses somewhere on a 2.5 mile hike at the Kachina Wetlands. This necessitated losing a morning to an eye doctor appointment. Now I'll have to wait two weeks for up-to-date eye glasses. I'm using outdated prescription glasses in the interim.

When you like adventure, you have to be prepared for the inevitable misadventure that goes with it.

Still worth it though. We got in two and half hikes and a paddling trip. Not bad.

Mount Elden from a hot, dusty Fat Man's Loop trail. Is that the "slabs" route? This was the last hike of the weekend.