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Howdy from Arizona

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Living in Arizona, but wanting to get back East. Origionally from Western New York, and due to driving OTR for a number of years and not enough water close by, got away from paddleing for a while. I've been catching up with what's new in canoeing and renewing some old friendships and making some new ones. :cool:

Good luck on the sight!
 
Re: Howdy from Arizona

Thanks for the welcome.

There is some decent water around, but the best of it is some distance from where I'm living. The Salt River lakes, Roosevelt, Apache, Canyon and Saguaro are all man made and Canyon and Saguaro are thick with drunks in power boats. Apache is better, as it is farther from Phoenix and only accessible via the Apache Trail, which in places looks to be the basis for much of the desert scenery in the Roadrunner cartoons, so a lot of the powerboat crowd avoids it. Roosevelt lake is not as bad with power boats due to it's sheer size. Other options are Lake Pleasant, Bartlett Reservoir and Horseshoe Reservoir, but again, too many power boats being operated in a questionable manner for me. There are some small non-power lakes, but all are at least 3 or 4 hours away, so inconvenient for a quick paddle. The closest water to me is Tempe Town Lake, another man made lake on the Salt River. I'm not real enthused about TTL, as it sits between downtown Tempe and the Red Mountain Freeway, but the itch is getting pretty bad, so may give it a go. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempe_Town_Lake

We also have some decent water on different stretches of the Gila, Salt and Verde rivers, but again, too far away for a quick paddle. The biggest problem has been the OTR job left me no real time to paddle, and my one remaining canoe is in BAD need of some new rails, as the desert heat has really done a number on them.

Definitely not like the old days of working at the airport in Batavia and running over to Godfrey's Pond for a quick lunch time paddle!
 
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