Tag: kayak

Kayaking in the Desert

When I moved to the desert, I thought I would be letting go of one of my favorite things: the water. It cannot be overstated: I. Love. The. Water. I swim, and when I’m not swimming I’m paddleboarding, and when I’m not paddleboarding, I’m kayaking. Give me any activity on or near the water and I am a happy, happy girl.

So imagine my surprise when I found two of my favorite things, adventure and water, in the desert!

Less than an hour from Phoenix, nestled in the Tonto National Forest, sits Saguaro (pronounced Sah-wah-ro) Lake, which is actually a reservoir created in 1930 from the Stewart Mountain Dam, the last of which to be built off the Salt River. The lake itself has 22 miles of shoreline, making it a popular spot for boating, sailing, jet-skiing, and, yes, kayaking.

For my inaugural paddle, I turned to Saguaro Lake Ranch. For $50, they outfitted me with a kayak, a life vest, a paddle for two hours, and some tips on where to look for Big Horn Sheep and other wildlife, like Bald Eagles. They also transported us from to and from their ranch to the launch site, and they even put the boats in the water for us. It was the easiest launch I have ever had!

We were midweek in the middle of winter, so we had the lake pretty much to ourselves. Two hours on the water in the land of eternal sunshine was a dream: we found our way down a slot canyon, saw osprey and herons, and enjoyed the many canyon rock formations that surrounded us.

If you do plan to self-launch with your own gear, there are a few things to note. There is an $8 daily pass needed for parking in the Tonto National Forest , plus $4 for each watercraft you are launching, and Saguaro del Norte is where you will want to park and launch.

Or, turn to Saguaro Lake Ranch for a kayak rental – they will not let you down!

And as always with any kind of outdoor activity, a little PSA…remember to LYP:

Don’t LITTER.
YIELD to hikers that are climbing.
PACK in/PACK out.

Glow Worms in New Zealand

Adventuring in New Zealand is easy to do, after all it is the birth place of many modern day adventures. So it is difficult to narrow down exactly which adventures not to miss once you have landed in hobbit land.

While I wanted some more extreme adventures, I also wanted a few adventure light moments sprinkled in, which is how I landed on an evening kayak tour on a calm lake in the pursuit of glow worms.

Glow worms, or Arachnocampa luminosa, are a species unique to New Zealand that are not really worms, rather a carnivorous larvae of fungus gnats. If you can ignore for a moment the fact that you are paying for a tour of fungus gnats, it really is something to behold. These little bioluminescent creatures glow from the inside, attracting prey, in turn causing a magical twinkle show for us tourists seeking some “adventure light”.

The tour we chose was through Waimarino Kayak Tours, because it promised wine and cheese and kayaks and glow worm caves. They delivered on all fronts. We met at dusk at Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park, where, after a little wine and cheese, we climbed into our kayaks and paddled across a calm, glassy lake. The skies grew darker as we paddled, and by the time we reached the caves, it was almost completely dark.

Paddling into a cave at night might feel a tad too adventurous for some, but once we entered the caves, our skilled guides pulled us along so we could gaze up at the sparkling twinkle lights of the glow worms. I’m a sucker for twinkle lights in any form (strung across trees in a backyard, casting light on a restaurant patio, hanging from a window during the holidays), and this was no exception. It was lovely to see nature working in truly mysterious ways, on a rustic island on the other side of the world.

We paddled back quietly across the completely dark lake under a moonless sky, grateful to have found a truly unique adventure offering in New Zealand.

THE DEETS:

On the North Island, close to Tauranga
2.5 Hours from Auckland
Waimarino Kayak Tours
Transportation extra from Tauranga

$155-$165USD per person
3 Hour Tour Length
1.5 Hours of paddling time