Verde

Just went down at 4k dropping to 2k cfs. Got chased off a Salt trip by high water and had three duckies, two rafts (13 ft and 14 ft) and a hardshell kayak. To make a long story short, DO NOT do this trip with rafts. At high water, every turn is a jungle, with 3-6 options for channels, and only one that actually carries the flow without being strained or shallow rocked out. Usually couldn't tell which was the good option more than 200 ft above the move, even with a bunch of experience on the Verde. Perfectly fine and fun for small boaters who can make quick moves and get themselves through some tight spots. We did get the rafts through with only one flip and no gear loss, but there was a lot of cursing, tree plowing and almost pins involved. This was after the river had spiked above 30k twice this year, so going to take a serious flood to clean this one out to its former fun and kinda open channels.

This stretch can easily be class III+ in places: lots of strainers and VERY remote.

OK, where's the water? Where're the hot springs? They're actually a quarter mile upriver from the Fossil Creek parking area where this sign loomed over the valley.
OK, where's the water? Where're the hot springs? They're actually a quarter mile upriver from the Fossil Creek parking area where this sign loomed over the valley.