Salt River Tubing in Arizona

Sit, Float, and Enjoy the Ride

Anne Masuda
Anne Masuda, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Aug 22, 2005 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."
Tubing. I had no idea what tubing was until I discovered that it was a popular recreational activity in Arizona. Salt River Tubing is what the activity is called to be exact and is simply a 4-5 hour ride down the Salt River in Mesa, Arizona. Yes, a leisurely ride, literally floating down the long stretch of river on an individual rubber tube with lots of friends. Add a tube with a cooler filled with booze and snacks into the mix and you got yourself an amazing time! And the best part? It only costs $13 per person, which includes the tube rental and shuttle bus ride to the top of the river.

So what makes this simple activity of floating down a river in the blazing heat (the temperature in Mesa can reach well into the 100's in the Summer) so much fun? The experience of enjoying the outdoors with friends and escaping the real life for a few hours. For people who need to get away from the city for a day or two, this is a perfect economical trip. There are inexpensive inns and motels around the area for about $50 a night and you get to experience the small town feel where during my weekend stay in Mesa, I came across only one Starbucks. That was a strange sight considering I come from Los Angeles, where there is a Starbucks on every block. Also in contrast to a big city, the land was flat…no tall buildings, structures, or fancy architecture. Just simple shopping plazas amidst the flat lands of the Arizona deserts. For someone who was born and raised in the city, being in Arizona and tubing in Salt River made me feel like I was in touch with nature. After all, I was surrounded by mountains, canyons, and a natural river and made no use of anything electrical or technological.

Here are some helpful guidelines to make the most of Salt River Tubing:

1. Make sure to go with a group of adventurous and funny friends! Their crazy antics will sure to make the ride more enjoyable.
2. Bring a cooler full of ice, beer, liquor, and cocktails. Oh, and plenty of water to prevent dehydration.
3. Bring lots of snacks.
4. Wear a swimsuit, and if not, clothes that you would not mind having to discard. This is because the algae in the water will stain the clothes.
5. As obvious as this may sound, do not bring valuables. Do not be like my friend who wore her sister's Gucci sunglasses that fell of her head and sunk in to the bottom of the streaming river.
6. Wear layers and layers of sunscreen, as you will be in the sun for hours.
7. Wear sandals or shoes, since the rocky bottom of the river will easily scrape your feet.

In a few words, just relax and enjoy the ride!

Published by Anne Masuda

Having been born and raised in Los Angeles, I have been exposed to an array of interesting people, scenes, and situations, all having some relation to Entertainment and Pop Culture. I want to share my though...  View profile

  • Salt River Tubing is an inexpensive activity
  • Located in Mesa, near the major cities in Arizona
  • In a few words, just relax and enjoy the ride!
Allows you to experience nature without actually camping

7 Comments

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  • AzChick3/14/2009

    The river is nice for a day out but I'd hardly call it getting in touch with nature with it being a 10 minute drive from the 37th largest city in the US, that happens to a suburb of Phoenix, 4-5 million people. I have 6 Starbucks within a mile of my house in Mesa, so your coffee radar must have been glitching in the heat.

    Next time you're in town looking for the wilderness, take a 3 hour drive in just about any direction and you'll hit something rustic. Try Rawhide or Old Tucson, I hear they have real cowboys still.

  • Kathleen6/25/2007

    ...and the natural environment around them. The scenery was beautiful, but I couldn't wait to get out of there. If you really must go, go on a day that most people are working.

  • Kathleen6/25/2007

    I was really disappointed by what I saw yesterday while tubing down the Salt River. There were a ton of idiots screaming, littering, and being super vulgar. It was very distracting and took so much away from what could be a very relaxing and pretty ride. I'm young, and I'm definitely not a party pooper at all, as our group was drinking and having fun too...but I simply got tired of drunk men shouting at me and other women to show them our chests. I would not recommend that anyone take children, as people throw beers at young girls, obnoxious and inappropriate language is used, cigarettes, garbage and beer cans are allover the river, dumb people cliff dive and cause a little too much chaos for tubers. Not to mention, we were very offended by the group flying confederate flags and being overly obtrusive. It didn't make a welcoming place for all the different kinds of people there. What are people thinking?! Maybe 15 percent of the people tubing had a pleasant regard for other visitors an

  • Zack5/26/2007

    Uh Alchohol is not only allowed but it is incouraged by the park rangers tube rental staff and bus drivers. I was there early today and was talking to a park ranger who inspected our cooler not to find alcohol but to make sure that our alcohol was in plastic bottles or cans. As long as it's not in glass it's OK

  • Michael5/13/2006

    Let me tell ya about tubing the Salt. First time was in '76. Way before all the idiots got there. I've walked it, crossed it, swam it, drank it, jumped and dived off the cliffs, camped it, tubed at night under a full moon, got burned redder than a lobster, drank all night and drank all day on it. We lost 5 sets of cars keys on it that day. I once took a 500 watt Kenwood down it. I don't regret any of it. I once partied all night then went tubing then went to work that night. That was 16 yrs. ago. The last time I went. FYI. Know how to swim. Take your own car & leave keys in a mag box. Don't tie tubes. Take your own cooler w/goodies. Wear a shirt, shorts and tennis shoes. If you get drunk, you won't know it 'til you get off the river. Go tubing in the middle of the week. Less assholes and more enjoyment. Try a midnight run. It's quiet and more relaxing. I'll be going back again this summer. let me know if you wanna go along.

  • Jack Cactus8/27/2005

    Anne: you have no idea of what you are mis-communicating --
    BEER AND ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES ARE NOT ALLOWED ON THE SALT RIVER just inside the Tonto National Forest.
    Unfortunately, the operators of the lpermit are foisting a exploitate image for the great resource - Arizona's Wet & Wild Beach Party...tubing is basically an unsafe activity comlicated on that portion of the Salt River by rowdy and drunk "kids" who scare away other people that should be able to enjoy that riparian habitate.
    TONS OF GARBAGE are created and there are numerous injuries, accidents, and even deaths associated with abuse of the waterway ...

  • Graham8/22/2005

    I've never been tubing in arizona, but I've been tubing in colorado and ohio. It's hella fun! I like kabrewing too, but you can't always take beer tubing. :(

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