Our Lake Powell Adventures

OK, my last adventure was my 100 miler bike ride for MS. As a result of all this stress I came down with an outbreak of shingles which afflicted my left chest rotating around to the back spine. At least Heidi attributes it to my ride.

So on July 22nd through the 28th we headed to Lake Powell with some friends, the Kings, and another couple Cara and Jeff Edwards. The Kings also had their two college age kids and their cousin. We started the trip auspiciously with a boat trailer blowout right before the last Provo exit (lucky us) which delayed us an hour. After a six hour ride finally arrived at Bullfrog Basin at 4:00 p.m. and about 105 degrees. Heidi managed to acquire a migraine headache. After a fireman drill of offloading the cars and on loading the house boat (we also had a nice ski boat and two jet skies and two kayaks).

Our intent was to motor up to Good Hope Bay which is way up stream, but due to late arrival we pulled in for the night for a temporary one nighter. Mother was getting over her migraine and I was coming down with some stomach flu. That night I slept poorly and woke up feeling absolutely punk. We headed out for our final camp at Good Hope and after two hours were set at our location for the week. What a beautiful setting (see pic). A huge Bay almost to ourselves, calm water and beautiful backdrop. That night was our assignment for dinner. We did a dutch oven lasagna which and a cherry cobbler which was a great hit (unfortunately I hardly ate a bite due to my stomach).

That week the temperatures were all in excess of 100 degrees and the house boat had no AC so we spent alot of time jumping in for a cool down. This was fine except that some fish in the lake likes to nibble at human flesh! I was still recovering from my biking accident (elbow) and the fish seemed to like sluffing off scabs.

Anyway with two jet skis and boat and lots of food and drink, we were all set. After the first full day I felt alot better. The heat was oppressive and the evenings were very warm. Of course the stars were spectacular. One night a storm came in and we were forces to sleep "in". It was soooo stifling and hot some were jumping into the lake in the middle of the night for relief.

On Sunday, we had to take one of our party back to Bullfrog as he needed to be back to work for Monday. We all (ten at that point) took the boat. While there a storm started to brew (see pic) and the ride back up promised to be a rough one. As we head up up channel the water became very rough so we found a side canyon to take refuge in. I think it was Spring Creek. As we went further we looked for a shady overhang as the sun was still blazing where we were. Eventually we found this fantastic amplitheater. Some of us elected to take the opportunity to bathe (we had biodegradable soap). While floating on my back, staring at the roof of this desert cathedral we put "Miserie" by the Thomas Tallis Singers on. This soaring choral music was fantastic as we rolled and reverberated off the rock and the natural amplitheater was a natural amplifier.

After a couple of hours we headed back up channel to our camp. It had pored on the camp and chairs were strewn around and wet. But by the time we arrived the sun was out and the lake soon turned to glass. That night we had alot of fun doing strobe photos of summersalts off the diving board.

On one of our side canyon trips we encountered this shallow cave. I soon dubbed it Gatorade Grotto for the lime green water. The reflection of sun and water and the dark shaddow cave were really surreal. Unfortunately some fish took exception to our presence and soon nipped us out of there.

It was fun to be with friends who were kind and generous to invite us. The dinners were almost gormet. So after a wonderful week we headed home...for a wonderful respite from the heat.