January 21, 2023 — I started my Salt River quest by visiting Stewart Mountain Dam which is a popular spot on the lower river about 40 miles northeast of Phoenix. I planned to photograph the dam and perhaps the wild horses that inhabit the surrounding area.
It turned out to be more difficult than I had imagined to photograph the dam, though. At 1,260 feet long and 207 feet high, I found it impossible to take any good photos of it from the banks of the river. Nevertheless, I was able to successfully explore the tailwaters of the dam. The water flow from the dam was reduced to its winter rate of about 20 cubic feet per second so it was easy to walk the riverbanks and explore.
The riverbanks were rocky and covered with a variety of cacti along with thickets of salt cedar (also called tamarisk), which are the bane of southwestern rivers since their introduction in the 1800s. The water itself was surprisingly clear and I could see quite deep into its channels and riffles. I observed the shells of many mollusks – clams and snails – throughout the river. I also observed a lot of trash: beer cans, baseball hats, and tennis shoes. I even saw an umbrella. I figured this was debris left over from the summer tubing season, a popular sport when the temperatures soar into the 100s in nearby Phoenix.
There were many anglers trying their luck. A variety of native and non-native fish species are present in the river here with most of the anglers trying to catch a largemouth bass or rainbow trout, two species introduced by game managers. Bass and trout would probably not even have been able to survive in the river prior to the construction of the dam. I made a mental note to return with my flyrod and fish for Sonora suckers, a fish native to the ecosystem.
I camped overnight at the Coon Bluff Recreation Area, one of the few areas open to overnight camping and then only on weekends. The next morning, I set off with my camera to look for wild horses. I hiked upstream maybe a mile where I found a band of eight of them. They were unafraid of people. It is recommended to stay at least 50 yards away from them but at that distance I was able to capture a few good photos.
The horses themselves were fun to see and I observed them for a while. Watching them, it was easy to understand why they are popular with the public. On the other hand, I was struck by the damage they had done to the area. Horse trails were beaten throughout the dense thickets of salt cedar and piles of horse dung were deposited everywhere. It seemed there was little of the riparian area that had not been touched by the horses in some way.
My initial trip to the Salt only whetted my appetite for more. My confidence grew that it would indeed be a great laboratory for investigating the relationship between the natural environment and the built world.