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Summer at Powell

bcpnick

bcpnick

Nick
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Just got back from 5 days out on Lake Powell. I had to cancel a trip planned for late June, so this one was kind of a surprise. A short notice birthday trip with just my wife and I and three of our dogs for the first few days, then we picked up a friend for the last part. I was originally thinking I'd avoid Powell over the summer because I'd heard it can be a bit of a zoo with the crowds and I was a bit afraid of the 100 degree temps. To my surprise, it was better than ever. The temps aren't even a problem considering the humidity is nearly zero and there is plenty of nice 80+ degree water to play in. It was gorgeous every day with monsoonal thunderstorms each evening which were for the most part just fun to watch. The monsoons hit us here every July and August and it can be quite the sight with the big thunderheads, lightning and flash floods. Here's a few pics, more coming later. 

This was our campsite the first of the four nights. The water was really stained in this area because it is in the northern part of the lake. The big spring runoff from the Colorado River sends silt rushing through during late Spring and early Summer. We were able to get clear water the rest of the trip by going up side canyons just up lake from here. We also happened to hit nearly the peak water level for this year. It's gone up 35' since I was here in April and it hovered within 6" the whole time we were there. Great for beaching anchor management. :)

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And we moved to this spot the next day. More soon...

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Outstanding. I enjoy your write ups and the pictures. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers, Steve
 
That is beautiful.  Reminds me of a trip to several national parks in that area. 
 
Great pics as usual bcpnick!  Definitely going to get out there some day!
 
Its nice to see the other side of boating, so peaceful. Great pictures!
 
One word ..... Majestic.

Awesome pics as usual. Can't wait to see the rest.
 
Agree with all -- great pics, as usual!
 
looks like a great trip
 
Once again; Beautiful bcpnick
 
Thanks everyone! 

I just posted a full trip report with more pics and a full writeup on my website: http://backcountrypost.com/forum/threads/north-lake-powell.3383/

And the entire album of photos (more than are on my website) can be seen here: https://plus.google.com/photos/113534439307054156704/albums/6034548160093618577?authkey=CJDd56_gnfzHxQE

Here are a few more for those that don't want to go through all the rest.

My birthday sunrise. The second year in a row that I woke up to one this good. :)

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Awesome name for your portapotty!!

Oh, and the pics are outstanding too!
 
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It's your kayak inflatable? I could go for one of those...
 
Left alone in you own world. That is awesome  Love to make that type of trip, but just seeing pictures as these are, just unreal. What a beautiful country we have. Sorry we all can't see it  in person.   
 
kaydano said:
It's your kayak inflatable? I could go for one of those...
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Yep. It is a Sea Eagle Fast Track 385ft. A really impressive little boat. I have two of them right now that the manufacturer provided for us to review. I had been trying to figure out how to attach my hardshell kayaks to my boat and after trying these, I sold off the hardshells. Here's the review we did on them: http://backcountrypost.com/forum/threads/sea-eagle-fast-track-385-inflatable-kayak-review.3322/
 
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I didn't know much about Lake Powell so I goggled it to get some info.  Wikipedia should use your pictures rather than the one they use and they also said visited by 2 million people a year, how do you find all these great places that no one else goes to????
 
Ha! Thanks! I think a lot of those 2 million come in the form of tour boat traffic on the south end of the lake. Tourists come from all over the world and pay to ride up to Rainbow Bridge National Monument and back. That south end of the lake is also much busier in general so the lion's share of the other boat traffic is down that way too. So far I have only launched out of the northern marina called Bullfrog. It's a lot more remote and probably only gets half the traffic Wahweap does on the south end. I'm planning to head down to Wahweap this fall once the peak summer traffic dies off. But regardless of where you launch, it's a big lake so solitude is always out there. 2,000 miles of shoreline and something like 96 major side canyons makes it easy to get away from people. I was expecting a mad house over the 4th of July weekend, but it really wasn't bad at all. Boats coming and going but not at all hard to find our own little slice of paradise. And we only went 15 or so miles from the marina to camp. We only saw a handful of boats when we motored up to Good Hope Bay on the third day (~25 miles out). 
 
Nick - I know this thread is nearly a couple years old, but do you still use the Sea Eagles?  Any thoughts on the 330?  I have a company award to pick out, and the 330 is in the catalog, but it's the only IK offered, so its either the 330 or I don't get an IK.  Its about 1/4th the cost of your 385. 


Seems like it would still be fun to have.  I'd probably only use it for 2-3 hours at a time, which would be going with friends that have canoes (I don't) on local rivers or with my kid on a lake, or alone to fish where I can't take the Benny.  I won't be using it for a week long river adventure like you guys!
 
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kaydano said:
Nick - I know this thread is nearly a couple years old, but do you still use the Sea Eagles?  Any thoughts on the 330?  I have a company award to pick out, and the 330 is in the catalog, but it's the only IK offered, so its either the 330 or I don't get an IK.  Its about 1/4th the cost of your 385.


Seems like it would still be fun to have.  I'd probably only use it for 2-3 hours at a time, which would be going with friends that have canoes (I don't) on local rivers or with my kid on a lake, or alone to fish where I can't take the Benny.  I won't be using it for a week long river adventure like you guys!
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Damnit Dan! Now you have me thinking this is something I need too.
 
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Hey Nick, I have an idea. Have you thought about putting a photo book together and having it published? Your photos are breathtaking, and with the descriptions of the pictures included, you might just have a little money maker on your hands. Utah and Arizona might even purchase them to distribute to visitors coming into the area. 
 
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