September 30 - October 7, 2007: Lake Powell, Utah
One of many
trip reports under the
SilGro home page for Alan Silverstein and Cathie
Grow.
Email me at
ajs@frii.com.
Last update: January 10, 2024
(Previous trip report: 2007_0219_Toiletry.htm)
Following is an "incomplete" trip report. This is text I posted to
Wayne's Words
on October 11, 2007, in 4 parts, and edited later.
Our recent houseboat trip out of
Bullfrog Marina
(at
Lake Powell,
Utah):
-
Sunday: We got the boat from the previous owner mid-day in nice
conditions (wind had calmed down) and made waves down the lake as far as
the mouth of
Slick Rock Canyon
by sunset, which comes annoyingly early this time of year, around 7 pm.
-
Gorgeous light and clouds all week long, due to low sun angle and rain
often clearing the skies. Also with less boat traffic, mooring right on
the main channel was more appealing...
-
Monday, we stopped into
"Eureka Canyon"
for a few hours. (Next downstream of the
Escalante,
opposite side.) It clouded up again and drizzled all afternoon, but the
entire crew of six walked into the "cathedral". Not as impressive in
gloomy weather. Excellent cave though along the way back, worth a
detour.
-
Clearing, with wreathing clouds over
Navajo Mountain,
two of us went up the "exit" again just upstream of the canyon mouth for
a look-see. We didn't have time to explore seriously for how to get to
the flats above.
-
Continued down with the houseboat, ran out of daylight by the mouth of
Lewellyn Gulch.
Sweet spot for anchoring!
-
It rained hard a lot of Monday night. The metal awning roof over the
houseboat roof leaks a little, sigh. :-)
-
Tuesday morning, 4 of us ski-boated down to
Forbidding Canyon.
Nice stops in the previously underwater cave just downstream of the
San Juan River
mouth (opposite side), looking through the magic crack behind the huge slab by
Hidden Passage Canyon,
and watching the crescent moon through the
Eye Arch.
-
Difficult, mucky dropoff at the end of the water in
Forbidding Canyon.
The other two went over to
Bridge Canyon
for the typical hike to
Rainbow Bridge,
while I and another went 1+ hours up Forbidding. Lovely place, reminded
me of
Willow Creek Canyon,
but less overgrown. Still had to walk in/through water a lot. More
boulders, more small waterfalls due to recent rains.
-
Ran out of time at a narrow spot with a pool that approached waist-deep,
so we went back. Probably just below the full-pool mark.
-
Looking for deeper spot to get into the ski boat, dunked my old digital
camera (on my belt) a second time. Stupid. But a day later it was
dried out and working better than before, I think the lens got cleaner
inside. :-)
-
Back to the houseboat with a detour to the double bridges at the
Lehi Canyon
mouth off
Anasazi Canyon.
Water running in the back at the dryfall! Amazing. Also the usual
waterfall further up Anasazi a few turns.
-
Took the houseboat up to the east end of
Cha Bay.
Unlike summer, looking for sun, not shade; north shore too rough and
dangerous looking, but observed late sunlight hitting the cape on the
south shore just west of
Trail Canyon.
Nice place to spend a couple of nights.
-
Wednesday, perfectly positioned,
Bob Laing
and I walked off the houseboat for an 8.5-hour one-way
"Cha Bay
South Shore Grand Tour", my third time, but this time we went a lot
further south. Up around the new fall, up the hill, catch the old
Navajo livestock trail, up onto the rim, west to the 4714' high point
overlooking Cha Bay.
-
Absolutely amazing, incredible day. Clear, crisp, calm, and quiet; a
God-like perspective on the panorama. Other crew hiked up the north
cliff from
Wilson Creek,
and one guy stayed on the houseboat. Played with radios and signal
mirrors. Could talk (yell) back and forth to the houseboat (0.7 miles
GPS away), and at least hear yells from the other hikers 1.5 miles or so
distant. High-res digital telephoto shows them sitting there! Amazing
perspective.
-
We continued south and up a 5058' high point north of
Navajo Begay
(the "little" mountain)... 2.84 miles south by GPS. Great view, very
peaceful. Then west over to the south end of the left fork of
Cha Canyon,
north nearly a mile, down to catch the other livestock trail, and down
the canyon floor past the petroglyphs. At the lake before 6 pm, ski
boat pickup.
-
Thursday, most of us ski-boated to the end of the
San Juan River,
then hung out a few hours at
Neskahi Wash
until out of time and good weather. Just spectacular scenery,
especially this time of year with yellow flowers and fall scenery and
puffy clouds. The fishing half of the crew were happy too.
-
Took the houseboat back out and upstream to the cove below
"Middle Rib Canyon",
the second one upstream from
Ribbon Canyon
on the same side. Active waterfall running here from the thunderstorms
earlier! We moored in sight and sound of it, and explored above it
before dark. It ran into the night before stopping.
-
Friday, again perfectly positioned, while some folks did the
"Escalante grand tour"
by ski boat,
Bob Laing
and I walked off, up the rib in
"Middle Rib Canyon",
and around to the
Bell Tower Window
overlooking
"Twin Edens Canyon"
(next downstream); my second visit
after the first time.
-
Another spectacularly beautiful fall day. Lenticular cloud cap over
Navajo Mountain,
interesting photos. Leisurely 2:05 one way from the houseboat with lots
of photo stops. Sat atop the right pillar of the Window -- and then the
wind really picked up! We could barely stand.
-
We meandered back northeast in and out of powerful winds. Went up a
high point where you could lean into it. Saw water being blown out of
tinajas (small pools) across the slickrock. Went north to overlook
"Walking Rock Canyon"
(third upstream of Ribbon), then a fast 10 minutes back to the exit
point, and down into "Middle Rib" again. Total only about 6 hours round
trip.
-
Moved the houseboat upstream toward the marina as far as
Slick Rock Canyon.
Went into the canyon seeking a lee, but this was nearly
disastrous... Demonic, tornadic winds, sporadically losing control of
the boat with two little boats in tow. Shoved it hard onto shore to get
control and detach the little boats. Finally moored in relative calm on
river-left around the corner from the mouth. Windy, bouncy night.
-
Saturday (Oct 6), tired of hiking, I finally took out my kayak
for 2.5 hours, up to the end of the water, walked 10 minutes further so
I could see where we moored in 1989, then out across the main channel,
up the peninsula rocks, and back.
-
Also I cleaned up a pigsty campsite near the houseboat; half a trash bag
full of burned cans and bottles, plus a big hex tent in decent condition
in a shredded stuff bag, and a kid's plastic shovel.
-
To
Halls Marina
by 4:45 (fuel dock closed at 5), for gas, propane, water, sewage;
interesting maneuvering in continuing strong winds, but no incidents.
-
Got to the
Bullfrog buoy
(501) for the night just before too dark. Nice but windy night there.
-
Sunday, all departed by ski boat for the long drive back to
Colorado...
Later I added:
We had a nocturnal visitor, a ringtail cat, the first night of
our trip... (Very rare, only ever saw one over ~30 years.)
The game started in the middle of the night when someone else sleeping
on the roof informed me he heard noises and felt something run over his
legs. I thought: That would have to be a ringtail cat, probably not a
kangaroo rat, but I've never seen the former on the boat, only the
latter once, years ago. Anyway, I tried to go back to sleep.
A minute later he told me that he'd gone downstairs and seen a bushy
tail sticking out from under a hallway bunk... I had to drag myself out
of the sleeping bag at that point.
We think the cat (which is really more like a skunk) must have gone down
the "mousewalk" (narrow catwalk alongside the boat) and up the spiral
stairs to the roof, since the back door was closed, then returned the
same way. Not sure how it got into the cabin, but the helm window was
open. So we left everything closed except the front door open a few
inches, and never saw it again that morning or after.
Fortunately it did no visible damage. To my surprise it didn't touch
various food that was sitting out, not even a broken potato chip on the
floor, although it did nibble on a plum a little, and possible even
moved it. Also it took a greasy paper towel out of the trash, over to
near the couch.
And later I added:
We had gorgeous dark skies each evening, with the waning moon rising
later and later toward morning. Spectacular conjunction with
Venus early Sunday morning at the buoy. Milky Way right
overhead each night.
We only got to see one Iridium flare, but despite the sometimes
cloudy conditions, we saw the International Space Station pass by
every night Tuesday through Saturday!
(Next trip report: 2008_0128-0204_DeathValley.htm)