Needed a Lake Powell Fix

"Hot Water" (our boat) needed a Lake Powell Fix. She hadn't been in the water for about 18 months! That... is how busy retirement can be... I never would have thought that before.

I was about to do a little repair and cleanup work on Hot Water and my neighbor, Sonny, came over to see what was going on. After a day and a half of hard work in the sunshine, I said "We ought to go to Lake Powell tomorrow". Turns out we both had to go to birthday parties for our grand children... so we know our limits... we decided to wait... Two weeks later we left on the 22 hour non-stop drive to Halls Crossing Utah. It would be my first tent camping trip and a new adventure. Winds were forecast to be light... yeah right...

We had just enough wind every afternoon that the lake was white capping in the wider places... and we got pounded good as we headed up the main channel. We cruised 53 miles down-lake on the first day... in search of a fantastic campsite. It was hard to find the perfect campsite, and we ended up heading down to the next marina (Dangling Rope) for gas. After a root beer float float we resumed the search. We finally settled in for a 2 night stay across the main channel from from the canyon which is home to Rainbow Bridge.







Rainbow Bridge, Lake Powell Utah. 275 feet wide and 75 feet thick at it's narrowest point.










This is the view from our first campsite... almost sunset... and the colors are getting vibrant. For scale... that dome shaped mountain is Navajo Mountain and it is 10,400 ft tall... it is about 25 miles from where this photo was taken. The elevation of the water was 3620 above sea level... 80 feet low.











Hot Water is anchored for the night.










On the 3rd day we went back to that marina for more gas and ice... and ice cream. After that we moved to the mouth of the Escalante River for our favorite campsite.

We spent most of our time exploring and did some fishing. With the wind and a full moon the fishing wasn't very good... for this guy. We met some frequent Powell fishermen who were doing pretty good... but, they were quitting because of the wind. They had fished about 55 miles from the marina... one way... we couldn't carry enough gas for that... needed our houseboat...


The video below is an example of exploring a typical canyon. It took us about a half hour or more to go to the end of Cathedral Canyon. It is both wide open and narrow... very deep (typical)... 250 down to 75 feet, before we decided it was too narrow to continue.. with a wave runner or a kayak we could have continued much further. We made this side trip in search of driftwood for our campfire... didn't find any driftwood here.


We were in a pickle below... over the years this is one of our favorite canyons... home to what we have dubbed Margarita Beach. There are lots of huge boulders just below the surface... makes for good fishing... but on the way back out of the canyon it would have been nice to see them so we could avoid them. But... the reflections were cool to look at.


This last video is a very narrow canyon with very high walls that curve over the top of you as you look up. Sonny decided it is almost a religious experience... I guess that is why someone named it Cathedral in the Desert a long time ago. This is one of the places you just have to go to... this video doesn't do it justice...

After getting pounded in the main channel for a hour or so, we settled into our last beach... about 5 miles from the boat ramp... lots of boats around... it was Friday afternoon.





The effects of civilization seeping into our senses again... and the dread of leaving seems real... Time for a glass of wine... actually wine out of a water bottle...







Time for a whiskey?