Salt River's 'Love Level'

ROMANCING THE SALT LOOKING FOR LOVE LEVEL

A Wet Spring on the Salt River Washes Away a Rafter's Black and Blue Memories

WATER RESISTANT

At any level, Class-IV rapids like the Maze in Salt River Canyon are consistently challenging and require the unflappable and unflippable skills of guides like John Shocklee.Black and blue-like my first flawed raft trip on the Salt some 23 years ago. Brand new to Arizona and all Western rivers, I could have used a copy of River Running for Dummies-if there had been such a booklet.

"Love Level." Whisper those words into the ear of a white-water rafting guide on the upper Salt River and she'll sigh and give you a satisfied smile.

Love level is what you get when the Salt's current is running just right, neither too fast nor too slow-somewhere around 2,500 cubic feet per second (cfs). At love level, most rapids on the Salt, even ones in the adrenaline-pumping Class IV category, smooth out and make a boating guide's job just a tad less stressful.

"At love level you can just line up Eye of the Needle and slide right through," says lead guide Matt Sayre. By contrast, the same rapid at 6,500 cfs would truly test a boater's skills. But worst of all is "black-and-blue level," when the 750-csf current sends rafts pinballing off boulders, scrunching over gravel bars or bottoming out, forcing rafters to jump overboard in river sandals to hoist the raft or blister their hands hauling lines. At this point, it isn't fun anymore.below the bridge spanning the gorge at U.S. Route 60 for an unhurried, four-day, 52-mile float to the take-out at the State Route 288 bridge. But we immediately ran aground on the well-named Baptism Rapid, waded in, pulled free, jumped in-and promptly ran aground again. So it went, rapid after rapid as the mid-May temperature soared above 100 degrees and the current ran black and blue with a vengeance. Somehow, we fought downriver as far as Cibecue Creek before giving up, 7 miles from our put-in. All my memories of that trip are black and blue-a scraped knee, beastly heat, a bruised hip and a steady stream of not-so-original cussing. Lost forever are all impressions of landscape, vegetation, wildlife, tributary creeks, birds, butterflies, flowers or swimming holes.

BACK THEN WE LAUNCHED OUR RAFT

But forget black and blue. This is about love level. And in the spring of 2005, the love that floats our boat has spread from the shoreline to the cliff heights. Abundant spring rain has kissed the landscape, producing lush green grasses, forbs and shrubs. Vivid yellow colonies of brittlebush blanket entire hillsides, strawberry and claret cup hug rock niches, and tributary creeks harbor red and yellow monkeyflowers and a few lingering Mexican goldpoppies.

As if celebrating this bonanza of buds and bugs, a canyon wren's descending trill echoes at seemingly every bend in the river, black phoebes dart from rock perches to nab insects in flight, belted kingfishers dive from overhanging snags to snap small fry from the current and vermilion flycatchers and lesser goldfinches flit through stream-side brush.

In truth, love level begins miles away and months prior to the rafting season with a deep snowpack high in eastern Arizona's White Mountains. Come spring, rivulets of snowmelt rush into the Black and White rivers, which eventually merge to form the Salt.

Bountiful snow and a slow, steady melt give the most love. Years of drought and scant snowfall give no love.

But too hot too soon sends deadly flood-waters churning through the canyon. In early 2005, a quick thaw and heavy rainfall generated a 41,400-cfs torrent that rolled giant boulders, reshaped beaches, carved new channels and uprooted miles of shore-line-choking tamarisk trees. The biggest flood in recent times occurred on January 8, 1993, when water surging at 143,000 cfs boiled through the Salt River Canyon, a 100-year event. “Apocalyptic level” comes to mind.

It took me 15 years to get back on the Upper Salt River, but since then I've rafted it three times with professional river guides. The guides knew all the rapids by name and relished relating boating-mishap stories linked to Quartzite Falls, Corkscrew Rapid, Devil's Pendejo and others in the Class-IV, raft-flipping category. All spoke reverentially of the Salt, ranking it among the top-10 white-water rafting rivers in the American West.

Assemble a half dozen hardy outdoor enthusiasts, put them on a raft running a wilderness river, season with a dash of risk and you've got a recipe for esprit. We're going to get this raft downriver, and we're going to do it together. A tough rapid coming up? Bring it on! "Four strokes forward!" our guide shouts.

When higher water meets higher ground at love level, left, both novice and veteran rafters can enjoy easy access to the canyon's best beaches, like this one at Arch camp, below Salt Banks.

From right to left, lead guide Katrina Hynes, Robynn Ekel and commercial-guide-intraining Mac Stant exude the love level state of mind, or should we say joie de fleuve?

'No man steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.'

"Right forward, left back! All forward! Paddle hard! Keep paddling!" And we've made it through The Maze, a gnarly ClassIV run. Shouts of triumph and seven paddle blades are raised aloft in a "high-five" salute as we float on down into quiet water below the big drop. We pile seven into the raft, three on a side, with river guide Katrina Hynes commanding from her perch in the stern. Robynn and Jeana are from Williams; Catherine from Durango, Colorado; Hannah and David from Seattle; and Mac from Holbrook. As odd man out, I'm occasionally called on to relieve a paddler, but mostly I ride in one of the supply rafts rowed by guides Karl Hynes, John Shocklee and Matt Sayre.

Others before him must have observed it, but around 500 B.C. Greek philosopher Heraclitus coined the aphorism: "No man steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man."

Indeed, rivers do change over time, especially volatile desert rivers, which change with the hour. A spring cold spell can lock up snowmelt for days, converting love level to black and blue. A cloudburst miles upriver can send water gushing down tributary creeks to spawn a roaring flash flood in the main channel.

But people change, too. "He's not the same man," Heraclitus noted in the second half of that oft-quoted maxim. Certainly, I've changed since that first aborted run down the Salt 23 years ago. But what intrigues me especially are the changes in a group of boaters in just a few days on a wild river.

At the beginning, there's apprehension, particularly among first-timers facing half a dozen Class-IV rapids with a big reputation for dumping paddlers overboard. One is named Little Boat Eater.

By day two, confidence grows. We become a team, thanks to the expert instruction of Katrina, our guide. So we relax and start getting acquainted, bonded by hikes up tributary creeks-Walnut, Canyon, Hess, Coon-and the camaraderie of sleeping in the open, sharing meals and chatting around a campfire. By the fourth day, some of us think we've I got the hang of this river-running stuff-it may be hubris-but there's even talk of organizing a run on our own.

At the take-out, we exchange hugs, e-mail addresses and promises.

Had love level splashed right into our boat? Or was it merely the bond of a risky adventure?

Guess you'll just have to raft the Salt to find out.

Tucsonan Tom Dollar wrote the book Guide to Arizona's Wilderness Areas, in which he includes more information about the Salt River Canyon Wilderness. His last run downriver in April 2005 was the best ever.

Rivers are like home to photographer Kate Thompson of Dolores, Colorado, who has been guiding and conducting research on Western rivers since 1980. Not until 1998 did she start photographing river adventures for a living.

RAFTING COMPANIES: Canyon Rio Rafting, (800) 272-3353 or www.canyonrio.com/salt.htm. Mild to Wild, (800) 567-6745 or www.mild2wildrafting.com; In A Raft, (800) 462-7238 or www.inaraft.com/salt-river.htm. TRAVEL ADVISORY: The rafting season on the Upper Salt River is brief, usually March 1 through May 15. Local weather can be very changeable. Consult with commercial rafters about gear. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Tonto National Forest, Globe Ranger Station, (928) 402-6236.