John P. and Josh W. put in the water at 11:20 am and arrived at the take out at 2 pm. The GPS track log says the trip was 5.85 miles. Our moving average speed was 3.0 miles per hours and our overall average speed was 2.2 miles per hour. The GPS indicates we were moving for one hour and 56 minutes and stopped for 44 minutes.
Not far below Newton Lane, we encountered the formidable Verde Ditch Diversion Dam. We hadn't been to this spot since March 2007. The diversion's appearance and character had changed. At first we thought the ditch company was already diverting water as 100% of the river entered the ditch itself with an obvious current flow downstream in the ditch. Perhaps less than one percent of the river flow was trickling through what is normally considered to be the diversion structure.
We were very concerned and put our shuttle driver on "hold" via cell phone. We then called Chip N. to confirm his information that the ditch wasn't going to divert the river until February 18 at the earliest. Chip reassured us about the date. We walked downstream and realized that some flow was going back into the river via a breach in the river left sidewall of the crude ditch structure. We assessed this flow and determined it would be sufficient to continue the day's paddle.
The portage was rather difficult but didn't take too long. The first part of the portage is over rough and jagged concrete remnants. Here, paddlers must raise their boat and carefully watch their footing amid the jumble of broken concrete pieces. The second half of the portage is easier because paddlers can drag their canoes without risk of any hull damage. After taking numerous photos, we put back in the river and proceeded on.
Water returned in greater quantity not far below the first ditch seepage. About a mile downstream, the remainder of the river flow rejoined the river. (See commentary.)
The area below the diversion dam is narrow and requires careful navigation. There are numerous areas of partial channel blockage between the dam and I-17. We portaged and lined the canoe around these obstacles. There are also numerous areas of very narrow channels that require some tricky maneuvering.
We ran one substantial riffle where the current was plowing into a strainer on river left. We scouted from the boat and wore our helmets for that run. The tree caught John square in the head. Luckily, the helmet prevented any injury and we did not flip. More comments about specific obstacles will appear on the GPS waypoint map.
The area where car bodies have been used to stabilize the bank was not an obstacle. The river has carved a wider channel there and there is no longer any danger of plowing into the jagged metal of the car bodies.
After the river is diverted into the ditch, this becomes a difficult stretch to paddle. The river is basically dewatered for about a mile.
The stretch below I-17 is quite nice. There are two rough shod areas of the river left stream bank. One is a mass of broken concrete and the other is some telephone pole jacks and rubble. except for those two spots, the stretch between I-17 and Black Bridge is very natural looking and includes numerous pleasant riffles and chutes. (See commentary.)
The area directly beneath the interstate bridge presents some challenging twists and turns around the various abutments. Those new to this area would be wise to scout the abutments for the best run.
There is a nice riffle directly beneath the Black Bridge. It provides a fine finish to this stretch.
The Black Bridge RAP is now one of the nicer public areas along the river. It is well maintained and visually attractive. There is a bedrock ledge riffle directly below the access point. This would be a good area for people to learn how to paddle a canoe in a variety of water conditions.
Cheers, jp
Here is an album of the photos from the trip. Click here in case it won't load. (Another map is below.)
Click here for the interactive track map for this trip shown at the top of this blog post.
Below is a screen shot of the waypoint map. Click here for the full version of this map.
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