Lake Powell in May Anyone?

[Stella Maris]

Anyone interested in doing Lake Powell the second week of May. The weather will be in the 80's during the day, 50's at night. The water will be too cold to swim but the stripers should be biting. We are launching out of Page heading north to Rainbow bridge and back. We plan to be on the water for at least seven days. Currently the plan is to drive over and launch on the 9th coming off of the water on the 16th.

 

[notaclue]

solitude, sounds inviting, the last time i was there was in the mid 80's my wife and i rented an 18 ft runabout with a 75 evenrude [or was it a johnson/] and headed for rainbow bridge. half way there i managed to change the prop into what looked like a sacrificial anode with 3 little wings, paying as much atention to the brochure , passed off as a chart, as i could. we limped into the marina at rainbow, changed the prop and made it back to page with assurances of the shop at rainbow that our cost would depend on how bad the prop was. said prop managed to find it's way to davey jones locker before we returned.[i"d like to make things right, abeit 2 decades later if we get down there. i have heard lake powell is drying up, even though the colorado mnts around steamboat springs got 45 feet of snow last winter. are electronic charts available for lake powell. i am heavily dependant on my raymarine [aka mr peabody] to keep me out of skinny water. whattaya think?? skipper steve...i have..notaclue

 

[Stella Maris]

Skipper Steve,
I am not sure if electronic charts are available. In the past ten years, I have spent close to sixty days sailing on Lake Powell. Not once in those days have I unintentionally hit bottom. Even with the lake being down, it is still hundreds of feet deep. I have been into some of the side canyons that are so narrow you have to position a person on each side of the boat to keep you centered. In these canyons, the water was over 200 feet deep!

Normally when I spot a "small" cove that I want to anchor in, I will temporarily drop the anchor and then either take the kayak or the dingy in to check it out.

Powell is an incredible place that is unlike any other.
David

 

[notaclue]

good evening dave, regarding lake powell, as per my last questions, we are looking for a place to for a shake down cruise with our 2 dogs, tucker [golden lab] and cuevro [a red dog] and were curious about going ashore, we have a zodiac 11 ft dingy with a 15 merc, 2 stroke. is it worth the hassle of taking it along from sac, not that much of a hassle, it fits niceley in the back of the pick-up. how long does 30 galons of water last on lake powell? are there a lot of flat areas to take them? we were only there for 10 hrs 20 years ago.. talk us into hooking up. skipper steve and tina........we have.....notaclue

 

[Stella Maris]

Skipper Steve,
There are numerous areas that you can get your dogs ashore. It will limit some of your anchoring at times though but I would not let this deter you.

If you use the water out of your tank for cooking and dishes, you can get it to last the week. The lake is clean enough to use for bathing. A solar shower will heat the water to a comfortable level at this time of year.

During the summer months when it is really hot, I plan on 12 1 liter bottles of water per person minimum. As it is not going to be more than about 90 (at the very most, the average high is low 80's) I would plan 4 to 5 bottles per person per day. You can top off your water tank at Dangling Rope Marina half way up the lake (two to three days each way).

To see more information on the lake, go to "Waynes Word" home page. Wayne works at the lake and has a great websight that gives you everything from the lake level to fuel prices to the average weather to how great the fishing is.

Anyone that has ever been to this lake understands that draw that it has. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.
David

 

[Stella Maris]

Skipper Steve,
I missed a very important part of your question, that was on whether or not to bring a dingy of some sort. By all means you need to have your dingy on Lake Powell. There are numerous side canyons that you would not be able to explore with out one. The other thing that I like to do is to run into some of the canyons to check on the anchoring situation. Some of the canyons are so narrow that you would have to back out. Others though open into a large pool at the end that you can turn around in.
David