Event: Lake Powell, AZ/UT - 2015

[sysinu]

Attention all West Coast jetboaters who are jealous of the Bimini and Shelbyville events !

I've talked with a couple people and it sounds like there might be interest in a get-together for those of us west of the Mississippi. The user map definitely shows a lot more anchors out east, so first things first. I was hoping to get a poll from the user base that would be interested in attending a get together (likely in 2015) at Lake Powell, South end via Stateline, Wahweap or Antelope Point marina (probably Wahweap).

I'm part owner of a houseboat down there, so if it's off peak I can probably reserve it for then (or during my prime week which is WK22, usually the first week in June). @Williamsone46 mentioned that there is a beach area near lone rock that would be ideal if we had people with camp trailers coming down.

So the ask for now is: Who's interested, and (use the poll) when works best for you and your family?

Once we understand the demand, we can take the next steps!

 

[lashburn1]

I voted 7-24-27
But July and 1/2 half of August are Options

We just got back from Powell

 

[Williamsone46]

Count me in. I voted Sept., I go on a family trip in June. So Sept. works best for me.

 

[sysinu]

Awesome! @lashburn1 - you just got back? so the weather for you was kind of stormy? Or when were you there last?

I PM'd a few people on YJB that I know are in the area as well.

 

[Andy S]

The wife and I have done or tried to do the Bimini trip over the last 4 years but the 2015 Bimini trip does not look like it is going to workout for us due to my work schedule so we need another amazing trip to replace it. Yes I have looked into the tow distance and I am crazy enough to tow the 2000 miles each way to do this trip. Powell has been on our bucket list of boating destinations for a number of years and we would love to do it with a group.

If the agreed upon dates work for me, the wife and I would definitely be interested. Based on my work schedule one option would be the last week in August, the 24th - 28th, which give us Labor Day weekend to tow back east. Other times in other months might also work, just throwing out one option. Hope the agreed upon time fits with my work schedule.

 

[lashburn1]

The wife and I have done or tried to do the Bimini trip over the last 4 years but the 2015 Bimini trip does not look like it is going to workout for us due to my work schedule so we need another amazing trip to replace it. Yes I have looked into the tow distance and I am crazy enough to tow the 2000 miles each way to do this trip. Powell has been on our bucket list of boating destinations for a number of years and we would love to do it with a group.

If the agreed upon dates work for me, the wife and I would definitely be interested. Based on my work schedule one option would be the last week in August, the 24th - 28th, which give us Labor Day weekend to tow back east. Other times in other months might also work, just throwing out one option. Hope the agreed upon time fits with my work schedule.

That's commitment

 

[sysinu]

@andy07sx230ho Awesome! I can tell you LP in August can be totally amazing! From what I gather August and September seem like front runners so far.

The difference between August and September is high and low temperatures. Late September can be one of the nicest times to be at lake Powell from a comfort perspective, but it's also the time of the year that can be hit or miss. Last year, late September was high 80's degrees for high, low 60's degrees for a low and the water temp was 77 degrees. Late august was high 90's for a high, mid 70's for a low, with the same 77 degree water temp. August is a bit more consistent in terms of weather and water temperature (with this year being the exception to that as all the monsoonal moisture has been making its way to Utah).

 

[txav8r]

We will only be able to get a September vacation and I am already considering Powell for next year. We can't get Labor Day weekend as my wife can't have the day following a holiday off. Also, holiday weekends bring more cost for everything as well as the extra people, making reservations for hotels and houseboats both more expensive and harder to get. From my study and questioning of Powell regulars, they agreed that September was one of the best and most historically predictable weather times at Powell so I think your on the money for time consideration @sysinu . It is a long haul from North Texas for us, and we don't want to pull an allnighter both directions, so we have 4 days of travel besides the time on the lake. And we won't make that trek for just a long weekend, it will be a week there minimum. We have considered half the time on the Arizona end and the other up at Bull Frog, although that just may not be doable. Many of you have advised that you can't do it all, but making the trek from one end to the other isn't out of the question! As far as a houseboat, we certainly have considered it. But without crew to help with both it and the logistics of towing the Yonder, it makes it tough. Many with kids can't do September and that is the situation with my sis and her family...they want to do it, but it has to be summer when school is out...and I can't get a summer vacation. Matter of fact, if it isn't September, I can't predict short of next February, when my vacation will be. We want to do this, but it will be the second and third weeks of September that my vacation will fall. Hopefully there will be more that want to go at that time!

 

[sysinu]

@txav8r Yeah, we never go for just a weekend. Too much to do, but for a scheduled gathering 3-4 days for the event is probably the most we can get everyone at the same time.

For example, this year I have our houseboat 8/24 - 9/2 (as off-peak weeks that I asked for in addition to my May/June weeks)... and next year I could request similar dates. This year I'm leaving it in the slip for AC (newborn will be going with us).

My opinion on houseboats for an event like this is that they are a must! Either houseboats, RV's, or people who love to tent camp. You don't really want to get a hotel in page. They are 140$/night for the courtyard on a good rate (the rest of the hotels suck) and then you're not on the water. On the North end of the lake there are cabins you can rent, and they are like 300$/night but in September they are almost always sold out a year in advance.

South end vs North end: Bullfrog is for fishing, Wahweap is for playing and having fun ;-).

Actually, what I envision for the event days is something traveling via ski boat.

There are key places at Lake Powell that if you know where you're going, they can be amazing. The biggest Points of Interest are (in order of popularity): Rainbow Bridge, GC Dam, Navajo Canyon, Cathedral of the desert, Forgotten Canyon (Defiance house), Face Canyon... Depending on motivation to see all the sites and how adverse to tent camping people are (or just sleeping on the boat) something like this would easily be possible: Launch via Wahweap

Day 1: gather in Wahweap bay or Padre Bay (depending on how many house boats/RV's). Go down navajo canyon (visit the dam on the way). If we gather in padre bay we would visit navajo on the way probably.
Day 2: drive through Face Canyon on the way and go to rainbow bridge (40 miles up lake) stopping at dangling rope on the way to refuel. Do the Rainbow Bridge Hike and then head uplake further (maybe visit hole in the wall) and camp for the night.
Day 3: finish driving up to the Escalante arm and go to cathedral of the desert. Then go up lake (stopping at hals or bullfrog to refuel) and visit Forgotten canyon. Start to head back down lake.
Day 4: finish driving back down lake, stopping at refuel locations (likely dangling rope again) based on need.

^---- this schedule is only for the highly motivated to see everything and the ambitious folk . That's a LOT of driving and fuel.


So that's why Lake Powell is usually a week+ long adventure. Try and do all that with a houseboat and you'll have a 4000$ fuel bill if not more . So usually what we do is 1/2 the lake at a time. Which means you'd see all but cathedral and forgotten canyon. My wife and I want to see Cathedral and Forgotten canyon (but only when the lake level is lower for cathedral) and when we do that, we will likely just stay in the on-lake lodges that are on the north end of the lake near Bullfrog.

Both ends of the lake are beautiful. The South end of the lake has more to see/do than the North, but not by much. There's more restaurants on the south end of the lake as well since you have Wahweap and Antelope Pt right there.


If I were to envision what the average boater would like to do, I think it would be something more like this: Launch via Wahweap

(each day going back to camp in Wahweap bay)
Day 1: Gather in Wahweap bay. Go down Navajo Canyon and anchor up/tie off and play in the canyon (such amazing pictures). Visit the Dam on the way back (for those who want to do the tour, that's an option as well).
Day 2: Wakeboarding/tubing/etc fun and socializing.
Day 3: Face Canyon, then Rainbow Bridge hike with the obligatory ice cream @ dangling rope/refuel
Day 4: More boarding/tubing/etc and some exploration (lots of slot canyons to go into)

This would provide plenty of picture and video opportunity without wiping everyone out from driving all over the lake. And usually this is about what I do whenever I am bringing someone to LP that has never been there before.


Also, note that fishing on the south end of the lake is hit/miss but when it's on ... it's ON and you can catch 50+ fish a day.

 

[txav8r]

Excellent narrative and informative as to how to break it down. We are not opposed to tent camping, although gearing up and doing it where you break down camp everyday is less appealing to us. And touring in the boat with all that gear with you seems very difficult without towing an inflatable to haul it in. We considered staying at the lodge there at Wahweap for a few days and doing that end of the lake, returning at night to it. Then moving down the lake and getting in a few nights of tent camping along the way, then a couple of nights at the lodge at Bullfrog to see the cathedral and forgotten canyon. And you could certainly combine this where the overlap of several different itineraries could provide the days for a gathering. We had pretty much discounted the houseboat thing due to the cost of moving that thing around. Seems to me, you don't want to go very far with it at all! But having the a/c with you and lodging out on the lake, without having to run the narrows past Antelope everyday would be nice. We are open to what we do and will narrow it down as we approach it. I am just glad to see that the idea is forming!

 

[Suchawittygal]

It would have to be a week-long trip for it to be worth it for us, also, the kids go back to school in August, but we could take them out for a week and a half and do independent study (as we do every year during the month of September for our vacations) PLUS...a BIG PLUS...is that ALL our birthdays are in the month of September! What a way to celebrate.

Not only that, with my very possible relocation to Washington State (or a remote possibility of Texas) our road trip may lengthen or shorten given the decision we make.

@DawgDaze..we'll have to get that Denali if we plan to do this

Long and short...we're totally in...I voted for September...any days except the holiday weekend.

 

[DawgDaze]

It would have to be a week-long trip for it to be worth it for us, also, the kids go back to school in August, but we could take them out for a week and a half and do independent study (as we do every year during the month of September for our vacations) PLUS...a BIG PLUS...is that ALL our birthdays are in the month of September! What a way to celebrate.

Not only that, with my very possible relocation to Washington State (or a remote possibility of Texas) our road trip may lengthen or shorten given the decision we make.

@DawgDaze..we'll have to get that Denali if we plan to do this

Long and short...we're totally in...I voted for September...any days except the holiday weekend.

Well SOMEBODY needs to lube up their TRIGGER so we can get this done! *LOL* I'm ready! Let's buy us a new truck!

 

[PEARCE]

I voted for June, but July would work too. We usually vacation in those months. The beginning of August could work, but only the first week. Wife is a teacher and we have two young kids, so we are getting ready for the new school year in the middle of August.

 

[sysinu]

Excellent narrative and informative as to how to break it down. We are not opposed to tent camping, although gearing up and doing it where you break down camp everyday is less appealing to us. And touring in the boat with all that gear with you seems very difficult without towing an inflatable to haul it in. We considered staying at the lodge there at Wahweap for a few days and doing that end of the lake, returning at night to it. Then moving down the lake and getting in a few nights of tent camping along the way, then a couple of nights at the lodge at Bullfrog to see the cathedral and forgotten canyon. And you could certainly combine this where the overlap of several different itineraries could provide the days for a gathering. We had pretty much discounted the houseboat thing due to the cost of moving that thing around. Seems to me, you don't want to go very far with it at all! But having the a/c with you and lodging out on the lake, without having to run the narrows past Antelope everyday would be nice. We are open to what we do and will narrow it down as we approach it. I am just glad to see that the idea is forming!

Thanks . Yeah moving a houseboat really far up lake is expensive - luckily right now the CRC is open and so we don't have to go through the channel (past antelope pt marina) unless the lake drops below 3583' elevation (it's at 3608' right now).

As it relates to staying at the lodge, that's for sure an option and I am pretty sure that I get a discount because I have a houseboat on slip through Aramark - let alone any group discounts. The lodge up north are cabins, as opposed to more hotel rooms as they are down south at Wahweap.

 

[Andy S]

If it works for us we will be there for at least 5 days, maybe more. Depending on the time frame and my wife's vacation, she might fly out and/or back and I will definitely do the driving towing the boat.

@sysinu thanks for the write ups, they are very helpful. Now time for me to get some more planning done on where to stay, house boat or hotel/cabin.

 

[sysinu]

I've never had anyone fly into Page to meet us, small airport that only gets flights in from Arizona or Denver via United (great lakes and delta fly there, but they are all connections/partner flights). The only people I have seen land in page are on private or charter jets... and those people usually own one of the end slip houseboats that have 5 levels, 4 air conditioners, etc . Maybe I'll ask on WW to see if some people have flown in and what their experience was.

Then, of course she could fly into vegas (4 hours away) or slc (6 hours away) and hitch a ride for those who are driving through .

 

[Andy S]

I've never had anyone fly into Page to meet us, small airport that only gets flights in from Arizona or Denver via United (great lakes and delta fly there, but they are all connections/partner flights). The only people I have seen land in page are on private or charter jets... and those people usually own one of the end slip houseboats that have 5 levels, 4 air conditioners, etc . Maybe I'll ask on WW to see if some people have flown in and what their experience was.

Then, of course she could fly into vegas (4 hours away) or slc (6 hours away) and hitch a ride for those who are driving through .

Like you said, she will fly into a major airport that is convenient for someone to pick her up/drop her off which will probably be her father that will be joining us. I am not one of those people with a private plane or access to a charter jet.

 

[sysinu]

so I asked some guys at WW, and they are saying that the flight through Denver with Great Lakes (and its partners) is actually pretty good and convenient. Looking at round trip flight costs, it's actually pretty much 1/2 what I expected. 350$ ish if you use a major carrier that partners w/ great lakes. here's the WW thread: http://wayneswords.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&Itemid=27&func=view&catid=5&id=83045#83057

Also, they posted a picture today that I felt the need to share! It's a double rainbow! ;-) over the small slips in Wahweap.

 

[sysinu]

I'm giving this thread a shameless bump just to see if some of the new joins might be interested, or maybe some people didn't see it when it was originally posted. .

So now that the weather is nice (LOL SLC @70 degrees in February for multiple days in a row!!!), I can't help but to keep thinking about getting out on the lake!

We've had a vast majority of people vote for September thus far (though the actual posts to the thread cast a pretty wide net).




Also, my family's first trip to LP this year is planned to be on the lake 5/30 - 6/4 if people were looking to join. As we get closer to April, I will post more details in another thread.

 

[utahrd]

Anyone contemplating a Powell trip needs to go to the Waynes Words forum. www.wayneswords.com

Lots and Lots to do there. There is no doubt in my mind that if anyone was going to make just one trip to Powell, Wahweap is the best place to stay. For all the reasons state above. I am surprised that Antelope Canyon and Navajo canyon werren't on the lists of must see... striking distance from Wahweap and Antelope Point marinas. p.s., Antelope Point Marina is pretty much the nicest marina there, but no lodging. excellent restaurant/bar.

as @txav8r says, September may be the ideal month (IMHO). October is also awesome by-the-way.