Lake Powell Boat Trip

On a few slow evenings during night shift, I started investigating what would be required in order to do some exploring around Padre Bay via boat.  I found a rental place in Big Water that had decent prices, and thought that if I split the cost between two other engineers, it would be easily affordable.

I made a few calls, and reserved a boat for our next day off.  The weather wasn’t cooperative however.  It had been sunny and somewhat warm for several days prior, but some cold clouds moved on in and there was very little sunlight, and chilly temperatures.

Me, Joe, and Luis piled into Joe’s pickup truck with some snacks for the day and made our way to Big Water to pick up the boat.  After filling out the paperwork, the rental boat refused to start.  I had flashbacks of the old Dodge Van, and I didn't want to be stranded in the middle of Lake Powell not being able to start the engine, so we ended up swapping boats.  All in all, it delayed us by about an hour, so the kind rental lady said we could be back an hour later or so.  They were very appreciative of our laid back attitude. 

We launched the boat and headed out to Rainbow Bridge first thing.  We tried to keep our speed around 20mph, which was about cruising speed for the boat we were on.  It could go up to about 45, but it would guzzle gas that way.  The air was COLD, and I was glad I brought all my extra clothes and warm stuff.  The FiveFingers shoes I was wearing got wet during the launching procedure, and the cool air had since made my feet go completely numb.  I removed the saturated shoes, and put on some synthetic socks.  Ahhh.  GPS helped tremendously.  It would be easy to get lost out on that lake since so many places look the same with vertical sandstone walls.  The lighting was pretty flat and boring because of the overcast that didn't burn off until around 4pm. It took a little while to find the sweet spot for cruising and the right depth/angle for the propeller, but it was fun to play around with.

There were very few other boats out on the lake.  Maybe 2 houseboats, a handful of kayaks, and 1 other small boat like ours on the whole trip.  When we finally pulled into the canyon that led to Rainbow bridge, the ride got pretty exciting.  It was fun navigating through very narrow sections of the canyon, tight turns, and the towering walls all around.  Keeping things fairly slow, we puttered our way to the courtesy dock, and roped the boat up.  After being on a boat in the cold air for so long everyone was more than enthusiastic to start moving on warm dry land again. 

It was only a 15 minute hike to the bridge, and it was impressive in size.  It was hard to get a good sense of scale for it without getting pretty close.  I took lots of photos, and broke the Navajo Taboo by going under the bridge to the other side for another perspective.  Joe did the same so I could get a photo with him next to it for scale.  We figure the Navajo spirits punished our insensitivity by causing the ravens to devour our lunch we left hidden in the boat.  Ravens got into Joe’s food and also mine we were out hiking to Rainbow Bridge.  Ate all my cookies, snacks, and even all the gummy bears!  Luis did not offend the Navajo spirits, and therefore the ravens left his stash alone. 

On the way back we refueled at Dangling Rope Marina especially since our gas gauge on the rental boat didn't work, so we had no idea on how much gas we used (or how much gas was in the tank when we first started).   There was a nice attendant there who was more than happy to have something to do, and people to talk with.  It was expensive gas, but it was worth the sense of relaxation of not being stranded somewhere on the lake.

 Later we explored a few canyons, did some more sight seeing, and tried to compare that 1955 photo with the horizon.  We thought we got REALLY close, but would need to descend about 40 feet down.  We suspect it is near the southern arm of Cookiejar Butte where that photo was taken. Then went past where the crossing of the fathers was, but the horizon looked very different to that of the photo.  No sign of any roads, or trails.  We continued.  For a moment I was near the bow of the boat while another engineer was slowly piloting, when I spotted GROUND below!  It was all the sudden, shallow water.  By the time I shouted to stop, turn or do something, we had already passed into deeper water.  Just some random sandstone spire out in the bay, and nearly gave me a heart attack.  We stopped for a break in Padre Bay on a sandy beach and wandered around for a bit as the sun made a brief appearance.  Took the long way back around the other arm of Lake Powell near Page past Antelope Canyon.  Didn't have time to explore it, but did a driveby of the Glenn Canyon Dam, and then back to the Marina (which closed at 5pm) and loaded up the boat, gassed it up, and got it back to the rental place by around 6:10pm  They were happy that we had a good time and even threw in a big discount which nearly paid for the gas bill in filling it back up. 

Afterward I was very tired, wind burnt, and head bobbing with the waves even on dry land.  After getting to the hotel, we all met back up to go out for some dinner later on.  I tried to keep awake until late as to not screw up my sleeping schedule too much, but I only made it to about 2 or 3am.
Doing that trip again would be fun with warmer conditions, or at least direct sunlight.