Whitewater rafting on the Upper Salt River is a great day or weekend trip!  Trips  departs from the Salt River Bridge off of highway 60 located 2 hours from East Phoenix and North Tucson.  The closest town to the launch location is Globe, Arizona located approximately 40 miles south.  The Salt River Canyon trips start at the bottom of Apache Falls and takes you through 2000-foot canyons showcasing 2 billion years of geology.  Explore the Salt River and tackle numerous, thrilling class III whitewater rapids, one every 5-10 minutes!  You have the choice of stepping up the level of adventure even more in an inflatable kayak (sit on top type so no need to learn how to roll).  Along with the exciting rapids, you will be treated to breathtaking scenery including colorful desert flowers, varied wildlife, and cascading waterfall.

The Salt is an intermediate river and at lower water levels is suitable for ages 8 and up, while at higher water levels ages limits generally rise to 12.  Note however, that rapids can vary within their class as water levels change. For example, at low water, a class III (wet and fun rapid) can become a -III or a II+ (splashes from the waist down). At high water, a class III can become a III+ or -IV, which means getting drenched! Water levels depend on the amount of snow melt and how fast it runs off (which in turn depends on different weather factors such as more rain or unusually cold or hot spring weather).

Half day to five-day campout options are available, the season on the salt river is generally fairly short starting in March and going through Mid-may.  A highly ranked rafting company in Trip Advisor is Wilderness Aware Rafting. They offer trips from 1/2 day to 5-days and have a nice facility at the launch point.