If you’re a northern Arizona resident with a paddle board, kayak, pack raft… any kind of recreational watercraft, odds are pretty high that you’ve been to Clear Creek Reservoir.
(Hey, have I mentioned that I bought a new inflatable paddle board?)
Riiiight before the Pipeline/Haywire/Double Fire complex broke out on my forest (more on that later), I had the chance to head on a day trip to Clear Creek with a few of my friends. It was (unsurprisingly) a blast.
I mentioned it in my post about my back-to-back day trips to Lake Mary, but my friends Jody, Jim and I had been talking about making the hour drive to Winslow to paddle Clear Creek a few weekends ago.
Our friends Jeff and Lauren hopped on board, and we made a day of it.
This is a pretty short post because there’s not too much to write about, but I just wanted to say: If you get the chance to paddle Clear Creek… do it.
Clear Creek lives up to its name. It’s a gorgeous Little Colorado River tributary that runs through a canyon. It’s backed up by two dams, which create a mellow, narrow lake bordered by towering (and climbable!) sandstone walls.
We parked at McHood Park in Winslow and then paddled upstream.
The wind was crazy intense though. The five of us ended up using our paddle board leashes to form a convoy to make it upstream. It’s not dumb if it works, right?
Jody had the foresight to pack her climbing shoes and chalk bag. Lauren worked on her tan, Jim repeatedly cannonballed into the water and I tried (key word: tried) perfecting my chaturangas.
It was a HUGE bummer that the day got interrupted by the Pipeline Fire. We cut things short so I could book it back to Flagstaff and head into the office to work.
But, hey. It’s good to have friends with SUPs because we’ve already talked about going back.
And I’ll bring my climbing shoes this time!
