Another boating season approaches, and it looks to be a good one with plentiful snow to feed the rivers in the west. Hopefully most of you either got lucky in the lotteries or know someone who did. Many rivers that have short or nonexistent seasons in most years should be running well this year.
One of those short season rivers is the Upper Salt in Arizona. We ran out of guidebooks early last year, and we postponed reprinting for two reasons. The White Mountain Apache Tribe had closed the reservation to non-members and was not issuing river permits, and severe debris flows in August 2021 rerouted the river through a thicket of vegetation, requiring a long but "easy" portage. We didn't want to print books for a river that couldn't be run. Well, the WMAT reopened the reservation and started issuing permits, and high water in August 2022 began to clear the blockage at Horseshoe Bend. We drove into Horseshoe Bend on New Years Eve to scope things out, and it appeared somewhat runnable at that time. Less than a week after our visit, the river spiked to 24,000 CFS twice and firmly reestablished a clear channel. We transmitted the files to the printer the following week, and we expect the books to arrive on March 13.