For Christmas 2007, we received a canoe!  Unfortunately, it would take us more than two months to find the time to take it out on the water for the first time.  That's what happens when life takes over.

We had attempted to take the canoe out to Bartlett Lake on New Year's Day, but rough winds forced us to abort our trip before it had even begun.  Frustrated, we went home and put the canoe in the backyard, where it sat until we finally had time to try again.  In the meantime, we waited through wet weather, business trips, family obligations, and a nasty sinus infection...until finally, one beautiful day in March, we found the perfect day for our canoe's maiden voyage.

On Saturday, March 8, John and I awoke early and prepared for our day out on the lake.  First, we hoisted the canoe onto the top of the 4Runner and strapped it down as tight as we could get it.  Then, we packed an ice chest with water, sodas, and lunch.  We also gathered up all of our canoeing gear: two new paddles for me and John; an old, small paddle for Mary to use; and life preservers for all of us.  Finally, we packed our sunscreen, because, as everyone knows, you should never go canoeing without it!

With all of the essentials packed, John and Mary and I hopped into the 4Runner and started out towards Bartlett Lake.  As we pulled out of the driveway, though, we were surprised to see how gray the clouds were and how cold it was that morning.  According to the weather report, the day was supposed to be sunny and warm, not cold and cloudy!  We just hoped that the haze would burn off quickly and that it wouldn't ruin our plans for the day.

To get to Bartlett Lake, we took Cave Creek Road all the way out to the town of Carefree and continued until we came to the Bartlett Lake turnoff.  Along the way, of course, we stopped to purchase a Tonto Pass, with a watercraft sticker, so that we could park legally at the lake.  Naturally, given the circumstances of our last visit, we decided not to scratch off the date until AFTER we determined that we would be able to canoe.  If not, then we could always save the pass for another trip...

When we arrived at Bartlett Lake, we went out to the same boat ramp that we had used before - the one with the nice, wide beach - only to find that it was completely under water!  What a nice surprise it was to see the lake so full...and that it had happened in such a short period of time, too!  That said, I guess that it was a good thing that the rain had kept us home a lot, because the lakes and streams certainly needed the water!

After lowering the canoe from the top of the 4Runner, John and Mary and I loaded it with our gear and prepared to set off on our voyage, despite the fact that the haze had still not yet burned off.  It was still very cold outside; but since the water was like glass that morning, we decided to shove off anyway in hopes that we would get lucky later that day.

And so, at 10:00 that morning, the Verley Canoe left shore on its maiden voyage across Bartlett Lake, with me in the front, John in the back, and Mary in the middle.  After more than eight years, the Verleys were back on the water again!

Our mission that morning was to paddle to the other side of the lake to find a geocache that was only accessible by boat.  It was the same geocache that we had hoped to find on New Year's Day but couldn't because of the weather.  This time, we were determined to find it.  So, guided by the GPS, we steered the canoe towards the cove in which the cache was hidden.

Paddling to the cache location was easy enough; getting to the cache was another story!  Once we reached the cove where the cache had been hidden, we discovered that there weren't any good places for us to beach the boat; they were all under water!  We managed to get within 70 feet of the cache, but we couldn't find a good place for us to get out of the boat.  On our first attempt to beach the boat, I found myself stuck in a thorny bush and there was no place for me to go; we decided then that we needed to come up with a better plan.

We paddled away from the shoreline and stopped a second to reassess our situation.  That was when John found another area for us to beach the boat.  Although it wasn't much better and the ground was awfully soft, we were able to get a good footing and scramble up to solid ground.

We spent the next ten minutes bushwhacking through the desert in search of the cache.  John eventually went on ahead of us, after it became too dangerous for Mary to continue, and he found the cache by himself.  After replacing the container where he had found it, he returned to us and helped us hike back to the boat.

Our geocaching mission accomplished, we decided to take the rest of the time that we had to explore the lake.  John instructed us to paddle to the next cove to see if there was anything interesting to see.  By that time, much to our delight, we discovered that the haze was just starting to burn off and that the day was beginning to warm after all.  Perhaps it was going to be a lovely day after all?

Inside the cove, we discovered a small canyon, through which a small stream was flowing into the lake.  "This looks like a good spot," John said, and with that, he ordered us to beach the canoe in the sand, on the left bank of the stream. 

"What are we doing?" Mary and I asked him.

"This looks like a good spot to go exploring," John explained.  So, with that, he handed us our water bottles from the ice chest, and we began hiking up into the canyon.

Hiking into the canyon proved to be a fun time and it didn't take much bushwhacking to do it.  At first, where the canyon was wider, we followed the bank of the stream until we were forced to cross over to the other side.  Crossing was easy as there were lots of rocks on which to step (although that didn't keep Mary from testing the waterproofing of her new hiking boots!). 

As the canyon narrowed, navigating became a little more difficult, but it wasn't impossible; we just had to pay close attention to the contour of the land.  At one point, though, we ended up on a high ledge with nowhere to go, and we thought for sure that we were going to have to turn around; but then we found a better path that led us through the trees.  After some backtracking, we were back on the route again.

We soon came to a spot where the canyon widened again.  There, we reached a confluence between two different creeks.  Since it was almost noon, we decided that it was the perfect place for us to turn around and head back towards the boat.

Before starting our return hike, we took a thirty-minute break at the confluence.  We sat down on the white rocks that lined the creek to the left and rested, hoping that, with some rest, we could avoid the usual 11:00 meltdown, which had still not arrived.  Instead of acting tired and cranky, though, Mary was on a roll; she didn't want to rest at all.  Instead, she wanted to climb all over the white rocks.  She climbed until we could no longer see her, and that was when John went after her; he took an alternate route, through the brush, to see if he could get ahead of her.  (I think he was trying to startle her!)

When they returned from their little excursion, it was time for us to hike back to the boat.  The return trip was much easier, now that we knew the right paths to take.  It took us only about thirty minutes to get back to the canoe, where our lunch was waiting for us.

It had turned into a beautiful day; the clouds had finally burned off, and the sun was shining brightly overhead.  It became so warm that we were able to strip down to shorts and T-shirts.  We basked in the sunshine on a rock in the middle of the creek as we ate our lunch.

After we were done eating, we loaded everything back into the canoe and shoved off.  As we left the cove, we could hear speedboats out on the lake.  John instructed us to paddle perpendicular to the wake created by the boats, to minimize the effects of the wave on the canoe.  Mary, of course, asked the question, "How come?" (She never uses "Why?"; it's always "How come?")

So, naturally, John had to show her why; he turned the canoe so that we were parallel to the wake, and we were soon rocking side-to-side!  Mary laughed hysterically; she thought it was fun!

We spent the next hour paddling slowly to the other side of the lake, back towards the boat ramp.  We beached the canoe one more time en route, though, on a small island not far from the boat ramp.  We climbed up to the top of the island and took pictures in the warm afternoon sun; then we shoved off again.

Instead of returning to the same boat ramp at which we had put in, John decided that it would make more sense to go around to the next cove, to a place that was closer to where he had parked the 4Runner.  We beached the canoe as close to the 4Runner as possible; then John brought the truck down and we loaded everything up.

And so ended the successful maiden voyage of the Verley Canoe: the first of many water adventures that are soon to come.

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