March 14, 2012

Kayaking in the Desert

 

Who says there is no water in the desert? Well, there really isn't much, but there are a few reservoirs east of Phoenix where the Salt and Verde rivers are dammed that create some really cool "lakes."

I love outdoor adventures, but considering how hard I am training right now, its really hard to fit anything in that involves additional stress on the legs. So when my Dad suggested taking their new kayaks out for a spin, I was excited. I did a 20 mile run Monday morning on the heels of Sunday's 15K race, so I was a bit tired and looking forward to a relaxing afternoon on the water.

We paddled around for a few hours and had a really great time. I have no interest in whitewater kayaking, but cruising around on lakes is more my style. Its a fairly good upper body workout as well.

Jeep locked and loaded
Ready for launch
Out on Canyon Lake
Awesome desert scenery


Gotta have peanut M&Ms to fuel the motor


We stopped here for some fishing...
And lunch - diet dew, gatorade, and chicken.


Relaxing on the water
Kicking back
My parents and I also went to a spring training (cactus league) baseball game on Saturday - Rangers vs. White Sox. I'm not really a big baseball guy, but it was really fun to just sit outside on a nice 80 degree day in March!

Camelback Ranch main field

Coolest restaurant ever - pictures of dogs everywhere!

3 comments:

  1. Awesome pictures Jake. I am incredibly jealous of both activities.

    I take it your not giving up your beloved Mountain Dew as a part of your Boston training. :-)

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    1. Definitely not giving up the dew this time around! One of my friends suggested the lack of dew in my body might have been my downfall in the last 5K @ Philly :-)

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  2. We were just at Canyon Lake a few weeks ago, after the Arizona Marathon. It's gorgeous. And I thought the same thing. Where the heck did this water come from?!

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