Monday, June 8, 2009

Bob - More on Glen Canyon & Rainbow Bridge-June 4, 2009

Well I'm going to do another catch-up post because I wanted to share some more pictures from our all day boat tour on Lake Powell. This was a spectacular trip. We had about 20-25 people on a boat that probably had 70 seats on two levels. The top deck was open air and uncovered. The lower deck was enclosed but had large windows. Our tour started at 9AM while it was still quite comfortably cool, though the sun was already intense. The tour went up the Lake from the Wahweap marina.



The lake was about 70 feet below full pool, but we learned this was much better than 3 years ago when the lake was 158 feet below full pool. Our driver and tour guide said that Lake Powell was not meant to always reach full pool every year.


With the dramatic steep rock shorelines we saw, there was little if any detrimental impact of the lower water level.


It did prevent us from going as far back into one of the side channels as we might have otherwise.


The first and primary destination was Rainbow Bridge.


Due to the lake level we disembarked about 2/3 of a mile from the bridge and walked to the viewing area.


About the first 1/3 of this distance was on a floating trail managed by the National Park Service which oversees Lake Powell National Recreation Area.


In addition to going up the Rainbow Bridge Canyon we went deep into Twilight Canyon and Crystal Springs Canyon.


Had the water level been a little higher it would have been possible to see the "beach" at the end of Crystal Spring Canyon.



We stopped at Dangling Rope Marina on the return trip. This marina is a floating NPS facility in a steep rock walled cove. There is no land access to it at all. Marina and NPS housing is on a ledge on the "shore", but everything else is floating. All supplies come in by water with the exception of electricity which is generated by some 800 solar panels placed inconspicuously around the cove walls. The trip back down the lake was a little long and by then it was hot and we were tired, so several of us retreated to the lower deck for the return ride.

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1 comment:

  1. UnknownJune 9, 2009 at 2:18 PM

    When we went to Lake Powell three years ago, it was much lower as you noted. We just had about one hundred yards on a floating trail on our hike. I guess the trail we walked on is now mostly underwater. It is a fascinating landscape.
    Likewise, on our return trip at the end of the day it got very hot and people retreated to the lower level of the boat. We were on the boat with a group of Italians, mostly women, several of whom who got so warm they took off their shirts/blouses and were just wearing their bras -- and they sang Strangers in the Night very loudly. It was a memorable trip.

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