Millie H.
Yelp
AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING!!! WooW, what a GREAT time we had being on a lake in Arizona, lol! Its majestically breathtaking throughout the entire 2.5 hours of kayaking.
My girlfriends decided to come to Phoenix spontaneously and the funniest part is they are water babies..lol! Coming into the desert doesn't quite have the beach atmosphere type of activities, so I was on a quest to look for any water activities in Arizona and I am so thankful to yelp/social media I found this place, read reviews, and sent the link to my girlfriends to see if this is something they would like to do and they loved it!!!
We were of course on Hawaiian Time (which means - we will arrive late), Im running to the office telling them sorry for us being late and missing the orientation. But, the office and staff were all so nice and greeted us with open arms. We chose the 8am slot because I knew once it hits 10:30am - 11:00am, itll be hot.
We've all kayaked before and one of my girlfriends owns a few back home in honolulu. We've kayaked in the ocean but, never in a lake - so paying attention to the instructor was super important as we are now in a different environment. He was very thorough in explaining to us about some of the ripple currents we will be encountering, how to steer the kayak, and enjoyed how they made us do a test - Great Job!
And then we are off...It was so breathtaking, alot of us kind of just let the kayak roll on its own once we started because the view in the early morning was beautiful/peaceful staring at the mountains in front of us. its so quiet, water is slowly moving and its majestic. I just wanted the Kayak to stay still and not go any further but, that defeated the whole purpose..lol! Water was so nice and cool.
There were times we had a little roughness happening with the current and kinda freaky if you've never paddled in currents and my goal was "I did not want to fall in that green water on the rocks!" hahaha...So even though it was a little rough, kayak is kinda acting crazy and moving fast..Staying calm, going with the current and only paddling to stay towards the middle so I dont hit the bushes or flip over...Mind over matter! Had to go through a few of these and it just reminded me of how we go through life sometimes...Gets super rough and yet, their is calmness!
We were greeted by beautiful wild horses as we kept going down the lake and they were so sweet and super calm, staring at us while soaking up the water. It was a exciting highlight to see these beauty in the morning...
The Saguaro Guest Ranch Lake is about 40minutes until you reach the public area where there are alot of ppl coming in for tubing. It got a little crowded when we were approaching but, not as bad. Per the driver, he said after 11:00am there are thousands of ppl that come on the weekend for tubing and it gets pretty hectic, so glad we chose the earlier timeslot.
2.5 hours was good enough time of being on the lake with the heat and the crowd coming in it was time to get off and head back. We are happy that they have a van that picks us up at the end of our kayak event and take us back to the ranch. Just a beautiful time to be in the water but, not have to swim in it...lol! As it got closer to the end of our kayak trip it was really sad to see all the trash at the bottom of the lake, beer bottles, cans, and debris of rubbish... Imagine if you had to drink from that water and think the horses are drinking from that water too...
Sometimes, I wish places like this could be kept private from the public because during that 40 minute on the private ranch the lake was so clean...
Thank you for such an exceptional time, I would love to keep doing this from time to time...Early morning sesh!!! Be grateful for our beautiful environment and what it has too offer!
Also, please make sure you have cash tip monies on hand. The driver does pick us up, loads all of our gear by himself, and brings all back in an air condition van...