Unexcused Absences

Lake Powell defies proportions. Like its immediate downstream neighbor, The Grand Canyon, photos simply cannot convey the vastness and complexity of the landscape. I’ve heard the landscape described as fractal, a pattern that repeats at every scale, an accurate description. The high-walled canyons open to smaller canyons, which open to smaller canyons …

Lots of houseboats at Bullfrog, about halfway up the lake

Several years ago, our friends from Beaver Creek, Elizabeth and Michael, invited us to join them on their 60 foot (!) houseboat on Lake Powell. In September, our busy vacation schedule and their work schedules finally aligned and we were able to join them aboard the good ship MT Pockets for a week at Lake Powell.

Towing the waterski boat north on Lake Powell

What and where is Lake Powell? It’s a giant, artificial lake formed by the Colorado River. The river flows through the steep walls of Glen Canyon while passing through the desert lands of Utah and Arizona. In the 1950’s, a 600-foot high (controversial) dam was build in Glen Canyon to regulate floods, provide a stable water supply for farm irrigation, and supply electricity to the growing Southwest. Now the canyon, along with numberous side canyons, hosts a lake hundreds of feet in depth and over 150 miles long. Water laps canyon walls once inaccessible to all but the ravens and vultures.

The enormous cliffs at about mile 115

Elizabeth and Michael have been coming to the lake as a family for 26 years, although Mike has been visiting since he was a young child. They both know the lake very well. Our well-prepared hosts packed delicious food, tools and entertainment for any possible scenario we might encounter. Fortunately, we had perfect weather, no wind, no rain, highs in the 80’s and lows in the 60’s, so the sugar-cube slingshot and rainy-day card games went unused while the s’mores supplies were completely devoured.

Perfect boating conditions

After arriving and loading the boat at 2am (we were foiled by a massive peach festival which sold out nearly every hotel room in western Colorado and south-east Utah) we cruised north on our first day for about five hours to Good Hope Bay. This wide area in the lake with several side canyons sits close to the lake’s northern limit of navigability. While Mike and Kent tended the big boat, Elizabeth and I headed out in the ski boat to scout out potential anchorages.

Our “anchorage” on Good Hope Bay

A really really tall cliff

The Milky Way seen from the top deck

A sheer cliff face hundreds of feet tall

Why did we have to scout the anchorages if Elizabeth and Michael knew this section of the lake so well? Due to the Rocky Mountains’ varying level of spring snow melt, Lake Powell is unlike any other body of water; its coastline changes daily, an inch or more a day, typically changing 50 feet or more in a year. A beautiful anchorage on a sandy beach could disappear with a 3 foot rise on the lake, or hang inaccessibly high above the water line with a 5 foot drop in the lake.

Kent carrying the anchor to shore — not a typical anchoring procedure!

Anchoring was a complicated exercise, involving beaching the boat, carrying the anchors ashore and securing the boat to the shoreline by looping large lines around boulders or sinking the anchors into the sand. So, the girls scouted and identified anchorages and the boys followed in the larger boat once the anchorage was chosen. After we were settled in for the night, we fired up the grill, opened a bottle of wine and enjoyed the wild surroundings.

Our secret evening hide-away deep in a side canyon

Possibly the best part of being at Lake Powell was the night sky. The cool, clean, dry air of the desert provided excellent star gazing and satellite spotting. With a first-quarter moon, the stars and planets were soon as clear and bright as we’ve ever seen them. Sleeping on the top deck of the boat allowed us to sleep sous les belles etoiles. We lay awake, amazed, on our first night just staring at the stars. I could easily track the progress of the night by watching the milky way and constellations move across the sky.

A starry sky over moonlit rocks

When dawn arrived, it was time for the morning water ski. After a delicious breakfast of Elizabeth’s egg-and-sausage burritos, we gassed up the ski boat (with a pump from the main ship), grabbed some snacks and hit the water. Because the canyons wind and twist, it seemed it was always possible to get nearly perfect conditions to ski. And, you could ski for miles – literally. With Mike and Elizabeth’s excellent coaching, I was even able to drop a ski and try slalom for the first time.

Elizabeth during an early morning pull

The single dark cloud on our time on the Lake was an unfortunate accident when Mike separated his bicep tendon while skiing. Mike is a truly beautiful skier, and we were crushed when he severely injured his arm on the second day. We’re wishing him a speedy recovery from his surgery!

Mike has clearly done this before!

On our one cloudy day, at Mike’s suggestion, we planned a short hike to an area Elizabeth and Mike knew that contained an old uranium mine. Due to circumstances beyond our control, our one hour, mile-long hike became a “Big Hike” of around 7 miles and 4 hours. We trekked off across the open desert (fortunately we always carry extra water) and up to a small ravine our hosts knew. It contained a huge petrified tree, whose trunk was easily as wide as I am tall.

An enormous, petrified tree.

The rest of the week, our days consisted of skiing (except for Mike), exploring, hiking, skiing again, an evening meal and campfire and sleeping on the top deck under the stars. What a great way to enjoy the outdoors and the excellent company of dear friends!

Pretty good scenery for Kent’s slalom session

Some cliff dwellings at the end of a side canyon

Checking out “Defiance House”

Petroglyphs, left by Ancestral Puebloans* about 800 years ago.

A stand of trees from when it was Glenn Canyon, before it was a lake

It was with mixed emotions that we gazed at stunning canyons towering above us while floating on a boat, knowing our presence came at a price. The dam’s waters buried Indian ruins and settler’s villages along with hundreds of feet of what has been described as one of the most beautiful canyons in existence. The dam changed not only has the ecology of Glen Canyon, but the ecosystem of the Grand Canyon (just below the Glen Canyon Dam) as well. The dam provides much-needed power to the southwest (especially Phoenix), and regulates the flow of water for area agriculture. Nature has adapted to the presence of a giant lake in the middle of the desert, and huge flocks of migratory ducks, herons and grebes now visit or inhabit the lake. Humans profoundly changed the area, and we were grateful to have the opportunity to see and explore this amazing site.

Amazing anchorage, good friends, and a campfire for s’mores

Our Lake Powell vacation with Elizabeth and Michael was absolutely one of the most fantastic vacations we’ve ever taken. The combination of desert, canyon and lake must be unique on the planet. The wildness of the place, its enormous scale and the raw beauty of nature made of a heady combination. We highly recommend a trip to Lake Powell if you ever have the opportunity!

Heather drops a ski…

…gets the back foot in…

…balances…

… and skis away as a slalom skier

All alone off Red Canyon

The real desert

Filling the little boat from the big boart

A flock of water chickens

Kent tries that “other” watersport

Kent biffs a slalom turn

Our final morning at anchor

*The ancient inhabitants of this region are no longer referred to as Anasazi as this is a pejorative term coined by the non-native Navajo which roughly means “ancient ones of our enemies.” Ancestral Puebloans is the term preferred term today.