Saguaro Lake

We found a nearby lake to try the kayak in! From door to parking lot only took 45 minutes, which was great! This is Saguaro lake on the Salt River, down from the Roosevelt dam. Here is Glen getting the boat ready for take off. He did a solo run first because Maggie was too excited by the "beach" to take a boat ride. He also like the boat dry, and I tend to get the boat very wet. The water runs down the paddles when I'm kayaking. How does it not for Glen? He has the magic touch. So Glen went first.



Poor Sean was too little for the boat....again! *sigh* Too little to stand in the water. Too little to sit in the sand. Well...I tried, but he kept shoving rocks in his mouth, so he was carried most of the time. He really didn't mind. Even got a nap in...

Here is Maggie testing the water.

Here is Maggie becoming one with the water. I forgot her swimsuit. She didn't seem to mind.

After an hour, Glen was back and Maggie was ready for a ride. Sean was asleep, so Glen went back out with her. By this time there were plenty of moto boats in the middle of the lake and Maggie liked riding the waves. The bay we were in was marked for swimming and "man propelled watercraft" so it was quiet there. Note the patch of yellow on the hill in the background. Those are poppies and bitterbrush.

Ahhh...finally its my turn! I explored an inlet next to the bay. It was very quiet and I counted 5 types of wildflowers in bloom on the shore. The main part of the lake had lots of jet skiers and motor boats. THe noise was a little annoying, but what I didn't like was the smell of gas fumes. Bleh! We will try and arrive a little earlier next time.

All in all it was a great day. Having never been to Saguaro lake, we didn't know what to expect. For instance, you need a pass to park, but you can't buy the passes while in Tonto National Forest, so we had to drive back to a casino to purchase one. We will definately bring swimsuits next time. Maggie could walk quite a ways out in the bay with the water not passing her knees, so it will be a good place for little ones (i.e. Sean) to play in the water. Of course, Maggie prefered to be fully submerged, so she rarely walked, but rather crawled. We will also bring a cooler to keep our drinks cold. It was 85 degrees when we left, and we were hot. It was also 2pm when we left. We plan on leaving closer to noon next time and arriving earlier to avoid the heat and the motor boats.

Tomorrow will be abother busy day. We have dance class in the morning, a birthday party in the afternoon, easter egg dying somewhere inbetween (and the purchase of eggs and dye -- as well as candy, yipes!), and this is going on while Glen is volunteering with the city of Tempe to clean up an area of Papago Park to expand the current 9 hole frisbee golf course into an 18 hole course. Perhaps I should go to bed...