Lake Powell trip

I went on a weeklong trip to Lake Powell on the Utah-Arizona border. The last time I went was in 2006 and I think this is the fifth trip I have been on. We met at my grandparents’ house and were on the road at 5:20 am on July 11th. We made three stops and arrived to check in at 1:00 pm. My grandparents are partial owners of a houseboat. The maintenance crew said it would take a little while to get the boat ready, but it was a few hours before they started working on it and then they decided the water was too rough, so they had us move to the beach next to the loading docks. A little while later we saw 5 police vehicles and an ambulance and then a helicopter landed. A boat sped to the shore and apparently a father and son were both badly burned.

Before moving the houseboat, we transferred all of our belongings from the small boats into the houseboat. At one point my grandma’s boat was loosely tied to the houseboat and I was told to make sure the ropes didn’t stretch out too far, because they might snap. I was close enough to touch the houseboat and had to keep pulling the two boats together. It was very tiring and I stayed there for about 45 minutes. I told my uncle I was getting worn out and he had his sons take over. He said I lasted longer than they did and I didn’t whine about it. It’s rare for him to compliment me over his kids. Before night came, we went over to another shore and hiked to some caves. I only went into one of them that was open on both sides. The rock formation had thousands of names carved into it and I actually thought it was really cool. The battery in my uncle’s boat went out and his friend gave him a jump start.

On July 12th, my uncle went into town to buy a new battery and while he was gone the maintenance crew arrived at about 8:30 am to fix the propeller on the houseboat. Afterwards we were ready to take it out on the lake. We parked it in Rock Creek Canyon. I didn’t like the beach because it was steep and full of weeds and loose sand that was hard to walk in without slipping. At one point I tried walking barefoot to reach someone and I got a lot of stickers in my feet. We took the smaller boats out in search of slot canyons to hike. We tried a few and the water was murky and full of debris, but we finally found one to hike. It had a lot of rocks and some of the others were complaining, but it wasn’t too bad for me and I enjoy hiking. We weren’t able to stay for long because it was around 6 pm and we had to go to Dangling Rope Marina to fill up with gas.

On July 13, I helped my grandma with breakfast by cracking about 2 dozen eggs and making the orange juice. We went to Rainbow Bridge and I was on the boat with my uncle’s friend and he didn’t want to hike to it, so he just dropped me off. I waited for the other 2 boats to arrive and walked with them. Rainbow Bridge has not been named to any Wonders of the World lists, however it is considered the largest bridge in the world. Bridges and arches are defined differently and some arches are larger. When we came back to camp, most of us started swimming. There was a ledge a few hundred yards out and I wanted to swim passed it to see what was around the corner. After I was out of sight, the others started calling me back. A little while later I swam about the same distance with three others. I played Checkers with my grandma, but she had to leave early to fix dinner when I had 6 pieces and she had 5 remaining. My grandpa finished the game and I beat him by 3 pieces. My uncle’s friend and his daughter decided to leave because he wasn’t sleeping much due to the heat, his stomach hurt and he was having some problems with the steering fluid in his boat. He decided to head over to Saint George, about a 2 hour drive, to visit his brother. Originally we were expecting 21 people on the trip, but three of them cancelled and then these two left, leaving us with 16.

On July 14, I went with my grandma and aunt to Wetherill Canyon. We brought the boat in as far into a slot canyon as it would go and the water depth was still around 15 feet. I put on a life jacket and swam for about 15 minutes, but I couldn’t see an end and so I decided to turn around and come back. As we were coming out of the slot canyon with our boat, we noticed that the others had moved the houseboat into Wetherill. My uncle went back later to the same slot canyon with a large group and they managed to reach dry land and went hiking. I liked the new beach better, and I left the campsite and went hiking for about 70 minutes. I took a water bottle and a snack, but it was very hot. I had a little trouble finding my way back, because I couldn’t remember the exact path, but I managed to find it. At night I played my uncle in chess and he beat me. I only killed three of his pieces and he killed about 6 or 7 of mine. It had been a long time since I played and I made two poor beginner mistakes, but he said he hadn’t thought so hard for a while. Another of my uncles seems to be an expert at the game and apparently he taught me the basic moves when I was only 4, but I have never played very much. I took over one of the rooms in the houseboat that was now empty; previously I was sleeping on the couch.

On July 15 I went with my grandma and most of my aunt’s family to Face Canyon. At first grandma had trouble finding it, but eventually she did. The slot canyon is short and only takes about 20 minutes to reach the end, but it is beautiful. Near the end is a steep rock form about 20 feet long that you have to climb over, but it’s fairly easy. The slot canyon ends with a round room at the end and there is a large enough slit to see the sky. I didn’t go into the room, because it looked like it would be hard to get out of it. Afterwards me, and both of my grandparents went over to Dangling Rope Marina to meet my grandpa’s brother, whose family has a different houseboat. My grandma bought me a 21 ounce root beer float for $3.60.

On July 16, a small group of us went over to Forbidding Canyon. This is the same canyon where Rainbow Bridge is located, but we went to a nearby slot canyon. We took the boat into it and it was a very beautiful area with several small beach-like formations of sand and vegetation. I think the canyon has an odd name, because it is actually a very pleasant area. When we came back to camp we had lunch and then, me and three of my cousins decided we were going to try to get into the same Wetherill slot canyon that I tried two days earlier, but we wanted to find out if we could do it without a boat. We hiked for a while and then got into the water and swam, but it was too far and so we turned around. We were gone for about 4 hours and I estimate that we went about 6 miles on land and 2 miles in the water. When one of my cousins found out I was going along, he apparently told another cousin that he was glad a smart person was coming on the journey.

July 17th was our last full day on the water and we moved the houseboat into Warm Creek Bay, so it would be closer to the dock when it was time to leave. The beach was nice and had a lot of vegetation, but I was too worn out to explore it. My uncle borrowed my grandma’s boat and a group of us went over to look at the Dam. Then we went into Antelope Canyon, but stayed in the boat. It has beautiful and narrow rock walls. This is actually the most famous canyon on the lake. There is another arm you can get to only by land and there is a tour for it. Anybody can go there, but you must pass through a Navajo reservation and pay a fee. Britney Spears filmed a music video in the canyon. Afterwards we went over to the Marina Store and it was the first time I had been in there. On July 18th we headed home. In Beaver, about 200 miles away from home my uncle had problems with the cylinders in the engine of his vehicle. We found a place to store his boat and then he was able to drive home. He plans to go back and get it today.