Lake Powell Postscript

Thus ends this journal of Pat and Patty's (and Baxter's) Lake Powell vacation on the C-Dory 25 Cruiser Daydream!

Due to the way Blogger works, if you are just coming on to this blog, this is the post you will see first.

Since I was not able to post each day as I wrote it, multiple days have been batch posted as our internet connection allowed. Some of the posts are under the September archive and the rest of them are under October.

If you are a glutton for punishment, open the September archive and start down at the bottom with Day 1. If you would like to read the most interesting days with the most interesting photos, I would recommend Day 5, Bullfrog Bay to Slick Rock Canyon, Day 6, Smith Fork Canyon to Bullfrog Bay, Day 7, Bullfrog Bay to Slick Rock Canyon, Day 8, Slick Rock Canyon to the Rincon, Day 9, The Rincon to Oak Canyon, Day 10, Oak Canyon, Day 12, Oak Canyon to Iceberg Canyon, and Day 13, Iceberg Canyon.

Our Lake Powell vacation is over for this year, it was wonderful, and we have no doubt we will return to Lake Powell yet again next year. The drive was just over 1,100 miles each direction, and the Titan averaged 8.3 miles per gallon towing Daydream.

On the lake Daydream used 57 gallons of gas over 176 miles, averaging almost exactly 3.0 miles per gallon. Our average cruise speed was about 7.5 knots (8.6 miles per hour). If we had been willing to slow down a knot, our economy would have been significantly better, but cruise speed and economy are always a compromise. Our Navman fuel flow meter was significantly off, as it indicated we had used only 44 gallons. Apparently we need to re-calibrate this puppy.

We got the boat mostly unloaded last night, and today is our day to clean it – there is plenty to do in that regard! I need to take the kayaks and the kayak rack off, and I think I will take the 15 watt solar panel off as well – I want to replace it with two 30 watt panels for a total of 60 watts, which should be able to keep up with the load on the house battery. The 15 watt solar panel for the Airhead fan worked perfectly for its intended purpose however.

We didn’t miss the Wallas (a diesel stove / cabin heater for those not familiar). We cooked on a little Gasone portable butane stove that we stowed under the galley each evening, and it performed wonderfully. When we needed to take the chill off the cabin in the mornings, which we did a couple of times, our little propane-fired Mr. Heater Buddy did a great job. But for extended cruising in cold climates, we definitely need a more robust cabin heater. The solution seems to be to sell the Wallas, which is back from Scan Marine with a clean bill of health, and use the money to purchase an Espar forced air diesel furnace.

We had a couple of issues on the boat. The Airhead, well, the odor was uncharacteristically embarrassing for much of the time, with a very strong ammonia odor that made Patty’s eyes burn. We had not experienced this before during the five years we have owned it. I think I fixed it. I had blocked a hole that was apparently the air inlet, and the process probably went anaerobic, causing the ammonia odor. When I removed the plug, the ammonia odor quickly went away. Unfortunately I did not figure that out until our vacation was nearly over!

Another big issue is that we did not have enough 12 volt power in the house battery to use our fridge. We had to use the cooler with block ice exclusively for anything we needed to keep cool. I am not sure if this is the cheap Walmart deep cycle marine battery (two prior ones have failed and Walmart replaced them both, don't want a fourth) or if we have something drawing power in the boat that we are not aware of. The voltage drop overnight with no apparently load is much greater than it should be. Either way, we need to figure this out so we will have adequate power. I plan on buying two new NAPA deep cycle marine batteries. If new batteries don't solve the problem, I guess I will check out the boat circuits, one by one, with my little multimeter. Also, I think beefier solar panels will help keep the house battery up for extended periods at anchor.

Little issues, the noodles on the boat-top rack don't stay in place when I put the kayaks up, and the noodles on the boarding ladder split.

All in all, though, this vacation was everything we hoped it would be and more!

OVER AND OUT

Lake Powell, Day 17. Ontario, OR, to Fall City, WA

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Just a driving day, treated ourselves to a Mickie D breakfast, Sausage McMuffin with Egg, hashbrowns and a small orange juice. It seems every Walmart has a McDonald’s either inside it or just across the street!

We were in Prosser, WA, around lunch time but the Prosser Rest Stop parking area for trucks and trailers was completely full, so we drove 50 more miles to Yakima and lunched in the Walmart parking lot where we had spent our first night!

From Yakima, it was an easy drive home to Fall City, the I-90 construction at Easton didn’t slow us down, and we were back in our driveway, where the whole trip had started, at 4:45 p.m.

We got the cooler and our duffel bags off the boat, but tomorrow is the real heavy duty clean-up day!

OUT

Lake Powell, Day 16. Price, UT, to Ontario, OR

Friday, October 1

Our original plan was to spend the first night in Ogden, and make Ontario, OR, the following day. Since we had only got to Price the first day, we thought we would only make it to Caldwell, ID, and probably stay the last night in Yakima and get home Sunday morning.

Outside Tremonton, UT, we heard a loud pop, so I pulled over, and darn if we did not have another flat tire! So put the spare we had just purchased in Price on and we went into Tremonton looking for a tire store. Patty was able to find a Big O tire store using Google on her risen-from-the-dead BlackBerry. The new spare at Big O was only $116 – quite a bit less than Les Schwab had charged us. We may become former Les Schwab customers!

We had lunch at the first rest stop across the Idaho border, and only stayed half an hour to make up some time.

After the excitement of the flat tire, I just drove and Patty knitted – she has been knitting the whole trip. Our future granddaughter Harper Eleanor Hamilton, due in November, will have more hand-knitted sweaters, hats, slipper socks and whatever than any other child every born!

It was only 5 p.m. as we were passing through Boise, and it was only another hour and a half to Ontario, so we decided to push on. We arrived at the Ontario Camp Walmart at only 6:30 p.m. We calculated that we covered 502 miles today, our greatest distance ever, and it was a little tedious but not really too difficult.

Baxter has been a great traveler, both on the boat and in his crate in the Titan. This evening though, to our surprise, he decided to jump off the boat in the Walmart parking lot and go exploring a bit on his own. We looked around and noticed he was gone, and set out to look for him. Our Camp Walmart neighbor, a guy in a VW Vanagon camper, brought him back quickly. But now it looks like he needs his leash whenever he is out on the cockpit.

Drinks and one of my favorites, Mabo Tofu, for dinner and off to bed.

OUT

Lake Powell, Day 15. Bullfrog Bay to Price, UT

Thursday, September 30, 2010

It is early morning at Bullfrog Bay with Daydream still rafted to Traveler and Katmai, which is one of the original Cape Cruisers - this is a very nice boat! Last photos on the lake!

Last coffee on the cockpit – coffee in the morning and sundowners in the evening in the cockpit are our two favorite times of the day! A little Brendan’s Irish Cream in the coffee is a nice touch too.

We left for the ramp about 8:30 a.m. – retrieval did not go well, not one of my finer moments Patty tells me. We tried to power the boat on, just could not get it on the trailer straight to save our souls. We ended up using the electric winch manually, which I simply do not have the strength for when the boat has to come up a long distance. We need to get a geared strap winch if we are not going to be powering on for retrieval. Also need to move the guides in so they actually guide the boat onto the trailer. Also considering changing from rollers to bunks. Or maybe we just need a new trailer! We did not get away from Bullfrog Marina until about 11 a.m.

We stopped for lunch at Stan’s Burger Bar in Hanksville with Russ and Toni. Stan's is fun, an old time burger joint, with lots of corn, like the sign that says "Lost husband and dog. Reward for dog" and "Losing a wife can be difficult. In my case it was impossible." The “fresh lime” drink, really a Green River, was especially refreshing and did a fine job of washing down my bacon double cheeseburger!

We had come down through Richfield and then through Loa, Bicknell and Capitol Reef National Park, which is very scenic, but we decided to take the Price route home. Not only is it shorter, it also has better roads with fewer reduced speed limit areas. We are pretty much settled on this route from here on in.

Our original goal was to get to Ogden from Bullfrog, but between Hanksville and Price, the driver of a passing car was pointing back to our trailer, so I pulled over. The right rear tire was flat – the plastic fender had come loose and had been rubbing on it, the tire wore a hole in the fender before self-destructing. I did not even feel it driving. Plastic fenders – another reason we might need a new trailer. So we pulled over, repaired the tire and used cable ties to hold the fender up, proceeded on to Price, found the Les Schwab store and bought a new spare - $167.

I discovered in Price that my BlackBerry had died for no apparent reason. Patty’s had revived after a couple of days, likewise for no apparent reason, so at least we had one working phone. But these BlackBerrys just have to go.

Between the late start and the time spent dealing with the flat tire, we decided just to stay in Price for the night, so we parked Daydream and Traveler on the far edge of the Camp Walmart in Price – this Camp Walmart deal is really great!

Russ and Toni treated us to a Mexican dinner at Los 2 Amigos, and then back to the boats for the night.

OUT

Lake Powell, Day 14. Iceberg Canyon to Bullfrog Bay

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

This is our last day on Lake Powell, since we decided to pull out early tomorrow (Thursday) morning and be traveling Thursday, Friday and Saturday. That way, we can have next Sunday to unload, clean the boat and generally sort of decompress. It has indeed gone all too fast, but has been exactly what we wanted - sunshine, swimming, kayaking, hiking and just generally having a relaxing time, with no set itinerary or schedule. Recreation, pure and simple. We have enjoyed Russ and Toni's company immensely.

The fishing was not nearly as good as last year but I caught my three good sized fish at Oak Canyon, so I am glad we brought fishing rods this year.

Being out of cell phone and internet range most of the time has been kind of a mixed blessing!

Up early to write the journal and edit photos. Breakfast of Mexican hash, and then underway for Halls Crossing Marina to top off water and buy ice, which we will need for the trip home.

Traveler and Daydream rafted up in Bullfrog Bay after coming across from Halls Crossing. We had lunch and a swim, our usual routine! Casey joined us on Katmai, and all three boats rafted up for our last night on the lake. Patty and Toni took one last dinghy ride to fish, and Patty got her fish! A little smallmouth bass, but big enough for Russ to fillet - so she was not skunked after all!

We finished the evening with a bass dinner, and lots of conversation over Casey’s port and a bit of Evan Williams! Very pleasant evening, great ending to a great vacation!

OUT

Lake Powell, Day 13. Iceberg Canyon

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Our anchorage at Iceberg Canyon was absolutely spectacular.

There was a sand castle on the beach that we imagined was an Anasazi sand castle!

This was also the perfect day on Lake Powell, what we came for! Up early for Baxter duty, no fish jumping here. French toast and fried Spam (!) for breakfast, then to the kayaks for a short paddle up this branch of Iceberg Canyon, and another hike to the bowl at the end, which we climbed up into for a rest. It was an easier hike than the others because most of it was in the shade, and just great scenery. These excursions usually take a few hours, in this case I think we headed out about 9:30 a.m. and were back around 1:30 p.m.

A detour here, some thoughts on photographing Lake Powell. It is at once incredibly simple and impossibly hard. You can get great shots randomly pointing your camera just about anywhere. But to capture the grandeur of the high cliffs right next to you or the bowl you are approaching is extremely difficult. The big things have to be photographed from a good vantage point at the right distance, with the right lens. More often than not, those attempts are disappointing. I have taken to carrying just a pocket camera and trying to take mostly pictures of us, our boats, our kayaks and Baxter and let the scenic background show in the background.

And no day would be complete without a "Baxter Barrett Anderson, Dog of the Desert" shot!

Anyway, when we got back to the boat, we had a wonderful refreshing swim followed by lunch.

After lunch about 3 p.m. or so, it was back to the kayaks to go paddling to a different arm of the canyon. Unlike many other canyons, Iceberg has many arms and some of the arms have arms of their own! This particular arm was dammed near its end by a rock slide in the 1980s, and has great cottonwood trees in the water, which make a great backdrop for kayak pictures!

We took a short walk around the dam to see the lake that had formed behind the dam. The lake was full of carp swimming with their fins breaking the surface. When we returned to the kayaks from the lake, a woman was bare climbing a rock wall and we watched her for a bit. Then back to the boats. We checked the distance by GPS later, and our roundtrip paddle was 2.6 miles! Our little Pelican Pursuit kayaks are perfect for here!

This is such a great spot anchored in our little pool here that we decided to stay a second night rather than pushing on. After drinks and dinner, we were all pretty exhausted from the days activities, so we just we all just star-gazed, Patty, Baxter and I on the bow of Daydream and Russ and Toni on the bow of Traveler.

OUT

Lake Powell, Day 12. Oak Canyon to Iceberg Canyon

Monday, September 27, 2010

Got up about 6 a.m. to catch up on journal writing, it is still dark but I could hear fish jumping all over close to the boat. So I went out and cast a few times, but shortly was snagged on a fender line on Traveler! I could have gone on their swim step to retrieve it, but that would probably have awakened them, so I decided not to. Crap!

Everybody was up around 7 a.m., so I unsnagged my line and resumed fishing. The drought is over! I caught three nice small mouth bass much larger than the previous two casting from the bow! Gary Yamamoto lime green grubs pushed up over a big jig head, tied directly on the end of the line, no swivel and no sinkers. Now five fish total, averaged over my Utah fishing license, they are now down to $6 each! I tried filleting one, but my knife was too dull and I of course have no touch, so I turned the job over to Russ, who had them filleted in nothing flat.

We decided to head for Cha Canyon on the San Juan River Arm because a copy of a recent Wayne's Words posted at Dangling Rope Marina discussing the spotty fishing this year proclaimed the fishing at Cha Canyon "excellent." We never got there. Engine trouble bedeviled Traveler, a leaky hose causing overheating. Russ and Toni could see water spraying out in the engine compartment but could not see where it was coming from because the hose was in an inaccessible spot.

Traveler was able to run by adding about a gallon of water every five minutes. We cruised very slowly down to Iceberg Canyon, where we got a great spot. Best dinner yet, fresh small mouth bass with a squeeze of lemon that Patty cooked perfectly in butter. We finished up with another movie, Master and Commander, with Russell Crowe, which had a bit too much blood and gore for our tastes but still a good film.

OUT

Lake Powell, Day 11. Oak Canyon to Dangling Rope and Back

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Our friends Bill and El from Halcyon joined us aboard Daydream for a leisurely breakfast - pancakes with lingonberry jam. Boats began leaving to enjoy the rest of their time on the lake. A few stayed on the beach at Oak Canyon, some left by themselves or another boat, and a group was headed with Chris on Rana Verde to Explorer Canyon on the Escalante River.

Our first year on Lake Powell, 2008, we cruised with Chris, who is the designated "cruise leader," but as Chris says, leading a group of C-brats is like herding cats! Chris will make sure that the group sees all the "must see" sights, such as Cathedral in the Desert, Rainbow Bridge and Defiance House. They will also enjoy Bill's running commentary over the radio from Halcyon on the geology of Lake Powell. Bill is a former professor and the author of The Geology of the Great Basin, a geology text that is still in use. Since we have seen all these sights, twice, we elected not to go with that group. We are having too much fun playing!

We spent the morning fishing from our kayaks, which we just love - they are perfect for Lake Powell, both for paddling up narrow canyon creeks and for fishing. Again, fishing, no catching. Tex somehow manages to catch three fish twice a day, but I am pretty sure I could be standing next to him casting exactly the same lure and still come up dry while he catches fish. Oh, well.

This is Navajo Mountain from the bay at Oak Canyon. Navajo Mountain is where the cell tower lives. Cell phones, iPads, and aircards all come out when we can see the mountain. A sad commentary I think.

We decided to head down the lake to Dangling Rope Marina to top off our water and buy some more beer and a loaf of bread. It is about nine miles, which is a bit over an hour at our usual 7.5 knots.

Dangling Rope Marina is more or less halfway between Wahweap, near Page, Arizona, and Bullfrog Marina, which is about 100 miles up the lake in Utah. It is unusual in that it is a completely floating marina, and is not served by any road - everything comes in by barge, Still, they have a pretty full range of services, including fuel, water, pump out, garbage disposal and a store. The pickings were pretty slim at the store though, since apparently near the end of the season they let stocks run down.

Dangling Rope, we are told, was in a canyon originally named "Dangling Noose," but that did not seem very appropriate to the National Park Service, so they renamed it! We got our water and made our purchases in the store and talked about where to spend the night. Some of the scenery in the main channel was interesting.

On the way down to Dangling Rope, Jim and Marti from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, passed us in C-Idaho.

We thought about a few places but slow cruise speed and our style of anchoring Traveler and rafting Daydream imposes a few limits. There is a nice pool near the end of Oak Canyon creek, so we decided to head back there. There were some folks on the little sandy beach with jet skis waiting for their houseboat to come in, but we were able to get anchored with room for the houseboat to get by.

Naturally we fished. Success! I caught another little small mouth bass casting off the bow! This is an old trick - make a small fish look little bigger by sticking it way out in front! But in general, the fishing is nothing like last year for anybody, anywhere - last year it seemed like there were striper boils everywhere, and the fish were nearly jumping into boats. There are lots of explanations apparently, but it is definitely an off year for fishing. We will keep trying though!

Shaving, as you can see, was not high on my priority list!

We finished off the evening with drinks, a dinner of spaghetti and meat balls followed by a movie on Traveler. I could get used to a Ranger 27 with a flat screen TV! The Ranger Tug has clearly been the "buzz boat" on Lake Powell this year, drawing crowds everywhere. The movie was The Bucket List with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, with ice cream with Ryan's Irish Cream over it for dessert during the movie. Not bad!

OUT

Lake Powell, Day 10. Oak Canyon

September 25, 2010

Up at 5:30 a.m. to catch up on picture editing and journal writing! No internet service for a long time, so will have to batch these posts later.

We had the small mouth bass I caught for breakfast with scrambled eggs and toast, the fish was indeed a tasty morsel!

After breakfast, we paddled out to the Ranger. Russ and Toni joined us and we decided to paddle to the end of the creek in Oak Canyon and hike to the end of the canyon. I paddled out to the middle of Oak Canyon to see if I could get a connection on the BlackBerry, and although I could clearly see Navajo Mountain looming right over us, there was no service. Patty's BlackBerry died yesterday, and I am pretty fed up, I think there are either Droids or iPhones in our fairly immediate future.

After paddling about a mile, we then hiked to the end of Oak Canyon, which is perhaps another mile. Oak Canyon has a lot of good sized trees, a little forest really, which is quite unusual in the canyons of Lake Powell. We saw not only the scrub oak for which it is named, but juniper trees laden with berries and even one cedar tree. We had done this hike last year but were not really prepared for it then. Patty was wearing rubber sandals and I was wearing Crocs This year we were ready with decent footwear, and a backpack with plenty of water and some snacks for energy!

There is an easy path on one side but we took off on the other side and kind of blazed our own trail back to the end. It was deja vu all over again seeing the deep pool in the rock creek bed and the steep rock face we scrambled up last year. We finally got to the large bowl at the end and climbed to a large ledge about half way up, which must have been an Anasazi abode 700 years ago. Although it is not restored, it is just too perfect not to have been. Baxter is a natural mountain goat dog, running back and forth along the edge of the ledge, giving me fits. He is really in his element on the trails here!

Shortly after we got back in the afternoon, everyone else had arrived. There are 25 boats here - 24 C-Dorys and one Ranger Tug. In the evening, we had the fabulous potluck we have come to expect at C-Dory Get-Togethers. No doubt about it, Tex Allen's fresh bass ceviche was the highlight, but there was lots and lots of good stuff. Tex also had a hand-crank ice cream maker, so all had a cup of ice cream, which we improved with a bit of Ryan's Irish Cream that Bill and El of Halcyon had given us. We moved all the folding chairs up around the fire pit and finished the evening off with a dandy campfire. All in all, a nearly perfect day!

OUT

Lake Powell, Day 9. The Rincon to Oak Canyon

Friday, September 24, 2010

We had a nice communal breakfast at The Rincon, brats, hashbrowns and fried eggs. Fished a bit after breakfast. After 1,000 futile casts, I finally caught a fish! Not on a cast, though. Patty was just playing around with her hook in the water a few feet deep behind the motorwell, and saw a fish following it. So I put my line in the water and dinked round dragging it back and forth, and wham, a small mouth bass hit it! So, no longer skunked!

"Rincon" means an abandoned meander in a river that forms a wide valley. This is really only evident here looking at aerial photos. Unfortunately, we did not have a plane!

Russ and Toni, Jody and his dog Ellie, and Patty, Baxter and I went on our daily hike about 9:40 a.m., which was supposed to be two kilometers to see some remnants of a uranium mining operation. The trail at The Rincon is really a jeep road, and the view is not really terribly interesting. We walked more than two kilometers without seeing much of anything except a dusty jeep road.

We decided to walk back via the creek bed, which was much more interesting. If Slick Rock is about the verdure, then The Rincon is about rocks - the creek bed walls were mud with embedded rocks and quite a few of those looked none too stable. There was also an interesting "mushroom rock" and some rocks that looked like they had been sliced with an electric knife.

Baxter always seems to assume some regal pose each year for the annual Lake Powell portrait of "Baxter Barrett Anderson, Dog of the Desert"!

We were once again pretty worn out and hot after the hike, so went swimming before a late lunch. We decided to head out about 2 p.m. for Oak Canyon for the big C-Brat gathering on Saturday.

We arrived at Oak Canyon about 5:30 p.m., and lots of C-Dorys were already here nosed up to the beach. We beached and secured our lines, complete with frisbees to keep the mice off, while Russ and Toni anchored out due to their deeper draft in the Ranger Tug.

We had a very pleasant evening sitting in our folding chairs on the beach in a big circle catching up with a lot of C-Dory friends. No internet here, since although we are very close to Navajo Mountain, we don't have the necessary line of sight. Back to the boat for dinner, read a bit and turned in for the night.

OUT

Lake Powell, Day 8. Slick Rock Canyon to The Rincon

Thursday, September 23, 2010

We awakened to a beautiful day in Slick Rock Canyon, and decided we would kayak as far as we could in the canyon and hike for a bit after that, especially to see the Anasazi ruins farther up the canyon. There are in fact restored Anasazi ruins right above where most of the houseboats beach, just before the point where the water in the canyon starts to narrow and becomes obstructed by dead trees. Most people don't see anything farther up the canyon than that. Our kayaks and backpack with water and snacks and willingness to hike allowed us to see things that most people never see.









Our progress in the kayaks was stopped by a beaver dam, so we beached the kayaks and continued up the canyon on foot. After a while we came to the restored Anasazi ruins called "Mistake Alcove Ruins." The mistake was not the Anasazi's but the National Parks Service's. The ruins were restored in 1972 but as water levels rose, particularly in 1999, they were far too accessible, and too many visitors seriously degraded them. They are now fenced off with chain link and razor wire. We climbed up to read the plaque, no mean feat for me because I am terrified of heights. Baxter it turns out is part mountain goat, a great climber and evidently fearless.









We continued on a bit, and we saw that there was a side canyon that looked like it might be interesting, so Russ, Toni and I climbed up a steep incline to it while Patty rested. The view back down Slick Rock Canyon from that vantage point was pretty amazing. The side canyon itself turned out not to be all that interesting. Baxter had climbed up with us, but I think he was worried about Patty and took off all on his own to go back to where she was resting. He is having the time of his life being off leash on these hikes!





Slick Rock Canyon is unique among all the Lake Powell Canyons in that it shows no evidence of being washed out - the terrain and verdure is much like it would have been when the Anasazi Indians inhabited it. I made this composite photo of some of the incredible vegetation in this little part of the desert.



When we returned to the boats, we swam a bit, had lunch, and continued our futile efforts fishing (will we ever learn?). We decided about 4 p.m. to head out for our next destination, The Rincon. We arrived and anchored, and were soon joined by C-Swell, Bill and Sue from Colorado. Just after dark, our friend Jody Kidd from Centerville, Utah, arrived on Voyager and we had a pleasant evening sitting in our cockpits with three boats rafted.

OUT