iPad Navonics GPS Tracker, Lake Powell

Making Our Way Back to Wahweap Marina

Our time on Lake Powell came to a close today as we made our way back to Wahweap Marina and civilization. We would highly recommend Lake Powell as a cruising destination for adventurous boaters, whether you bring your own boat or you rent a houseboat. We enjoyed using our iPad with the Navionics app to navigate Lake Powell. Great tool, way outperformed our expectations. This (below) was our carefully saved garbage from our ten-day trip. We also stowed the extra anchor and line we used while on Lake Powell, we won't need it again for a while. We spent one…

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Kismet Beach Anchored, Padre Bay Canyon, Lake Powell

Back to Padre Bay Canyon – Last Night at Anchor in Lake Powell

We spent our last night in Lake Powell anchored in Padre Bay, the same area we anchored our first night out. This time we found a little cove that was quite a bit more protected just over the hill from our first anchorage site. With a very clean, sandy beach off our bow the site was closely protected on three sides. Jim is an old pro at burying the anchor now. It seems like it only takes a few minutes now to get settled versus the 45 min. we started out with. Here (above) you can see how our back…

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Boat Beach Anchored, Dungeon Canyon. Lake Powell

Dungeon Canyon Took Our Breaths Away

We found Dungeon Canyon to be quite impressive. It's another wide open area with lots of sites to beach anchor, and plenty of space between boats for added privacy. As the day progressed, we enjoyed watching the way the light changed on the different rock faces surrounding us as the sun set and the warm, gold glow in the canyon turned more to a pinkish yellow before it cooled off and finally set just before the canyon turned dark. The view at dusk off the stern of Kismet. (Above)     Jim is giving a demonstration (above and below) on how…

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Twilight-Driftwood-MntSheet-Canyon. Lake Powell

Cruising Twilight, Driftwood and Mountain Sheep Canyons

Exploring Twilight, Driftwood, and Mountain Sheep Canyons today. We found this small arch (below) forming just inside one of the canyons. We traveled back as far as we could in each canyon, not many anchor spots available here, so we eventually headed over to Dungeon Canyon to camp for the night. Canyon cruising is very entertaining, before you know it the day is half over.

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Boats Beach Anchored, Oak Bay, Lake Powell

Back to Oak Bay for a Peaceful Night

We would have loved to beach anchor in Davis Gulch today after our tour of it, but the only available site was already taken, so back to Oak Bay for us tonight. As we mentioned before this is a popular spot and even though it is off-season there were a few houseboats already beached when we arrived.

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Canyon Wall, Lake Powell

Canyon Walls of Lake Powell

Here are just a few examples of the variety of wall shapes and colors you might see while cruising Lake Powell. We couldn't help but wonder what they faced to become so sculptured and colored. We saw walls with huge jagged pieces clearly pulling away from their mother rock – we imagined they might soon succumb to the elements and make their final descent disappearing below the deep, dark blue water below.

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Cruising Davis-Lewellen Gulch, Lake Powell

Davis Gulch – A Visual Delight

We were the first boat into Davis Gulch this morning and because of that, this is what we found... eerily still waters mirroring the sculptured rocks and dark blue skies. The rock face took on gigantic organic shapes, a few suggesting arrows pointing into the canyon. Absolutely breathtaking.

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Cottonwood Canyon, Lake Powell

Good Morning Cottonwood Canyon

Our last morning in Cottonwood Canyon was as still as could be. This made it even harder to leave this beach anchorage, but we knew we would have a morning full of visual delights as we headed out toward our day's destination, Davis Gulch, and Llewellyn Gulch. The sky and water could not be bluer and the rock walls stood in high contrast as the sun slowly turned them bright orange.

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Lisa Cottonwood Canyon, Lake Powell, Utah

Just the Two of Us in Cottonwood Canyon

Our anchorage in Cottonwood Canyon was my personal favorite. It was such a beautiful spot, we spent two nights there; I could have spent more. With so much to see, and not knowing what surprises lay ahead of us, we did eventually, but reluctantly, move on, but what a wonderful two days of solitude and peace we had in this spectacular canyon. I don't know exactly what grabbed at my heartstrings while tucked into this isolated, natural harbor, but I felt like we had been transported to another world. To climb high up the rocky shore and look down at…

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Kismet cruising to Rainbow Bridge, Lake Powell

On Our Way to Rainbow Bridge

This is what it looked like (above) from inside the boat as we negotiated the narrow canyons on our way to Rainbow Bridge National Monument. Each canyon, off the main river route, is marked with these buoy-type signs (below-right) that way boaters unfamiliar with Lake Powell, like us, will have a better chance of NOT getting lost. The last tour boat of the day passed us as we traveled up the canyon. We thought this was probably a good thing as the dock and trail won't be as busy when we get there. Only a few boats were tied up…

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Kismet Beach Anchored, Oak Bay, Lake Powell

Two-Night Stay in Oak Bay

On our fourth day out, we found the well-protected, but wide-open, Oak Bay for a couple of nights' stay, we shared a beach with only one other houseboat. This is one of the most popular bays for boaters in Lake Powell. Today we were more comfortable with picking a spot on the beach and it only took us a few minutes to tie ourselves down, mostly because we'd left our lines and spare anchor tied in place on the boat. Most days, we’d leave our beach anchorage to explore new canyons. Later, about mid-day, we’d start looking for a new…

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Kismet Cruising Cathedral Canyon, Lake Powell

Cruising Cathedral and Secret Canyons

The mystery of the unknown is one of the most compelling reasons why we love exploring new (to us) boating destinations. Lake Powell more than satisfied our quest to be inundated with awe-inspiring sights as we made our way up the lake, around the crested buttes and all the rock canyons that the lake has to offer. At 186 miles long, with 2,000 miles of shoreline and 96 uniquely named, and flooded canyons, there was always something new to see, just around the next bend. Our first narrow canyon cruising exploration came on our third full day on the lake.  While…

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Padre Bay Canyon, Lake Powell

Canyon Cruising

The Amazing Lake Powell Lisa and I have talked for a long time about our mutual interest in cruising Lake Powell on a houseboat, it's been on our to-do list for quite some time. For one reason or another, it never worked out until now, although it won't be on a houseboat but on our very own tug boat, Kismet. Prior to the building of the Glen Canyon Dam, which was completed in 1963, Lake Powell did not exist and boating was nothing like it is today. It took 17 years to fill the canyons up to their full pool…

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