APACHE LAKE KAYAK

We drove over to Apache Lake to kayak on our last full day at Roosevelt. Apache Lake is the second lake in a sequence of four lakes that start with Roosevelt that catch the water from the Salt River and Tonto Rivers.  All the dams have hydro electric generation I believe. We have kayaked there two other times and have never made it to the dam as the afternoon wind has always came up and made us scurry back to our launch beach.  We got over there pretty early this time and made it all the way to the dam.  But we did have quite a bit of wind on our way back to the beach.  It is one of our favorite places to kayak in Arizona.  The cliffs are really pretty - it is getting there that is the hardest part.  The road is a gravel road and is very washboardy (I know that is not a word but it describes the road).  It will rattle our jeep to the point you think it is going to come apart.  The road is part of the Apache Trail from Tortilla Flat to Roosevelt.

As you can see, we started this paddle on very flat water and most of it was this way.

I think I see more grebes on this lake that any I paddle on.

The rock formations are the best thing about this paddle.

What a flat surface.

You really just like to float along and check out the scenery.

We encountered a number of vultures along the shore just waiting for a dead fish or duck to wash up.

And of course the "dock dog" Zeph got to go swimming in a few bays we stopped at.  He is pretty excited about his new toy that he got for Christmas from Aunt Pat that goes along with us on our kayak adventures.

 

A couple of old buzzards!!

The dam at Apache Lake.

 At the dam, a tourist helicopter made a pass over us before it flew over the dam.  I was to busy watching it to take any pictures until it was headed over to the dam.

This was what the water looked like when we got back to our launch point.  It was worse out there than it looks as there were quite a few white caps.