After a great breakfast (shout out to the catering service who’s providing all our meals on this trip–the food’s been fantastic!), we had a presentation by a TNC scientist by the name of Marcos. He described the ecological systems that make up the environment in the overall western US and specifically Arizona forests, which include the area around Hart Prairie.

He was very knowledgeable and gave us lots of good info. Very impressed with the work TNC is doing in collaboration with other partners to restore the forests to the shape they were in before everyone went so overboard with fire suppression as a strategy. Turns out, that’s not the best solution for any of the individual elements that make up this area (forests, streams, wildlife, etc.). They have some great strategies; now the political will needs to step up to help provide financing for many of these efforts. Beth took a photo of our outside classroom again today.

As we did yesterday, we sat outside to hear the presentation (better for COVID prevention measures as well as being very pleasant to be outside). There was more of a breeze this morning than yesterday, though, so Ashley actually distributed blankets to many of us for an extra layer of warmth. Nice!

Then it was time to head out for our next adventure. We changed into river clothes and got in two vans for the drive to the Verde River–about 1.5 hours away. Once we got there it was quite a different environment. Temp felt like upper 80s and sunny. Quite a difference from just a couple of hours earlier!

We had a picnic lunch (again, thanks catering folks!) at the takeout point and heard of some of the work TNC is doing around the river from Kim. She also explained more during the kayaking.

But now it was time to head to the put-in point. If you’ve ever done one of these trips, you’ll probably recognize the situation when I say we headed that way in a school bus.

We met our guide, who gave us some basic instructions and then we chose boats and got into the water. What fun! I loved it all, even the time I almost got hung up on a rock in the middle of a rapid. Well, I call it a rapid. The water flow was pretty low so we touched a few more rocks than we would have with more water in several places. It was a very elementary course in going through pretty gentle rapids, but each provided a little kind of excitement. Everyone did really well and seemed to enjoy it.

The day was lovely…nice and warm with a slight breeze, the river was great, the people were good company, and I even got to get out for a swim. Thank you to Jay for taking the next two pictures of me swimming. The water was a bit chilly, at least at first, but felt great. I thought others might also jump in, but everyone else either got out on the shore or stayed in their kayaks. Well, I was in my element, so…yay!

We enjoyed ourselves so much that we were pretty late getting back to Hart Prairie. There wasn’t really time to clean up before dinner, but I headed for a shower right after. (Thanks to the other folks sharing the bath house for letting me go first.) This being my first shower since arriving, it, too, was lovely.

Only a few pics of the day, but hopefully they’ll give you a feel for what it was like. To take pictures with my iPhone, I use a waterproof case. Sometimes the pics are clear and sometimes fuzzy. In the sun, there’s such a glare on the screen that I can’t really see what the picture looks like–I just take it and hope for the best.

So…after a 4.5 to 5 mile kayaking trip today, I think I’ll sleep really well tonight!