Desert Dory - Lake Powell 16-21 May 2020

[Desert Dory]

Well, my very first LP trip is done and all I can say is WOW!! What a place!

Me and a buddy of mine had been planning to go to Powell for a few months and, after a couple week delay for the CV19 closure, we were off and running the morning of Saturday, May 16th.

After the 7 hour drive from my house in Tucson we launched at Wahweap at 3pm that afternoon. Up the lake we went, ending up just past Dangling Rope before finding a little cut to spend the night. Just enough beach and out away from the main lake and wind.





After a great night on the boat we woke the next morning, had our coffee and breakfast, and set course for Halls Crossing. After stopping there for some gas my buddy wanted to keep going uplake. Not what I had in mind (can't see it all in one trip), so I reined him in and told him "No! We're going back downriver to Escalante!" We poked around Annie's and a couple other places and ended up in Iceberg Canyon where we spent the second night.






Day three we headed into the Escalante arm and poked around there for a bit until we got to the end of Willow Creek Canyon. Spectacular! It was a bit early but, we called it a day, raised the engine, pulled the boat up as far as we could go and spent the night up there at the end of the canyon.






A bit later that evening a guy in a rental houseboat tried to get up to a beach across from us and totally grounded the boat on a sandbar. They were safe, undamaged, and in a really nice spot so I told them to hang there, enjoy the spot, and we'll get word to the marina ASAP.

VHF and cell phones were useless so I ended up sending a message with the Garmin inReach to my wife asking her to call Bullfrog marina the following morning to see if they would send someone out to assist. Bullfrog said they would try to get someone out Tuesday afternoon but they were concerned with the wind forecast (gusts 40+ on the main lake body).

Long story short, the rental guy said they Bullfrog never came out so they ended up spending about 6 hours Wednesday morning digging the boat out. They did finally get it off the bar and spent the last couple days of their trip at another location. Once it was over they said it was quite the adventure.



After leaving Willow Creek we poked around the rest of the arms in Escalante and made the mistake of heading down lake Tuesday afternoon during the 40+ mph wind event. It was "Sporty" to say the least and, although the boat handled it fine, we made it a short distance and decided to duck into the cut where the sunken boat is. Spent night four there at the sunken boat.







The next day we hit Reflection, Rainbow Bridge, and a couple other places before stopping at Dangling Rope for gas and ice.

Pulling in to Rainbow Bridge we had the place to ourselves, at least until right before we left. Pretty sweet.







After leaving Dangling Rope we headed down river for night five. We wanted to be fairly close to Wahweap as we were leaving the next day and had a long drive back to Tucson. We found a nice little spot up in Last Chance Canyon to spend our final night.








In conclusion, being my first trip to LP, all I can say is WOW! I can't wait to get back there!

Cheers, Desert Dory

 

[hardee]

Great lake, super trip report and photos. Incredible scenery. Very impressive. Thanks for sharing that.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

 

[thataway]

Thanks for the narrative and great photos. It must be wonderful to be on the lake with so few house boats and wake board/PWC's. We are glad to see the lake open and how beautiful it is.

We were driving near Powell one Memorial Day a number of years back and I had a marine radio (listening only) on my RV--there were more Maydays than I have ever heard in one short stretch of time, as over 50mph squalls hit the lake. It can get rough very fast.

 

[bobjarrard]

I spent two weeks on a very small Patio Cruiser houseboat (25') with a small Boston Whaler with an 8hp motor. Never moved the houseboat, used the dink to go from the Wahweap area (Ice Cream Canyon - only a few minutes from Wahweap - saved a lot of gas) and went all the way to Rainbow in the small boat. I would not hesitate to small boat camp Powell, just watch the wind. Shore camping out of an open boat would be no hassle and I cooked on an open fire almost every day. We live next to Lake Mead and only 30 minutes to Havasu (Willow Beach). Sure is nice to be clean all day and not salty, lived at the Beach in Cali most of my life, do not miss it one bit!!! Bob

 

[Desert Dory]

Great lake, super trip report and photos. Incredible scenery. Very impressive. Thanks for sharing that.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

Hey Harvey,
For whatever reason, my reply to your PM won't leave my outbox, so here you go.

"Good morning Harvey,
Thank you for the nice comment on my Powell trip. Being a Powell virgin I was totally in awe and can't wait to go back.

My Tundra is a 2010 SR5 4x4 with the 5.7 and I bought it not quite 3 years ago for the express purpose of eventually towing a C-Dory.

I absolutely love the truck. It's not fancy and it tows my 22 cruise with very little effort. It's my daily driver and we use it for some off road adventures also. I've had zero issues with it so far, which is a huge plus for me. I've also found that it's very easy to work on and mod. If it were to get wrecked I would replace it with another in a heartbeat.

Disclaimer: I'm a huge Toyota fan and prior to the Tundra I drove a 2000 Tacoma. Every vehicle has issues but I've found Toyota's to be pretty rock solid.

Cheers, Allen"

 

[bobjarrard]

Now it is Powell, Mead, Mohave, and then Havasu (and then our favorite dentist, Pancho, in Algodones - Mexico). Bob

 

[hardee]

Thanks Allen, I think it is that I was not on the site before you checked so I had not picked up your PM yet. I bet if you look now it has moved to the next box.
Thanks for the reply.

I just upgraded my 01 to an 07 Tundra and liking it so far.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

 

[bobjarrard]

I sold my 2006 Tundra Limited with 350,000 trouble free miles, not once to the dealer. Over 100 oil changes!!!! I bought another 2006 Tundra SR5 same color and body style/rear shell with 62,000 miles on the odometer. Ready for the first timing belt as I am at 90,000 miles plus - this is the only down side of this V8 - it is an interference design and should have had a timing chain. Good towing and happy boating. Bob

 

[Tony Ferris]

Looks like you had a great time. Lake Powell is a pretty nice place. Hopefully I can get there soon.

 

[Desert Dory]

We were driving near Powell one Memorial Day a number of years back and I had a marine radio (listening only) on my RV--there were more Maydays than I have ever heard in one short stretch of time, as over 50mph squalls hit the lake. It can get rough very fast.

Yeah, at least the wind we had on Tuesday was predicted a week ahead and they were spot on. It was pretty wild out there on the main lake body.

Living in Tucson, we get the monsoon thunderstorms from about mid July thru mid September and the winds can be pretty severe. We had one storm several years ago that weather vaned (spun) some old C-141 transport aircraft stored out at the Boneyard at DM. Those 141's are NOT small aircraft and it was pretty amazing to see the power those storms can generate.

As far as VHF, my boat didn't have it so I purchased a Standard Horizon HX890 handheld a couple weeks before the trip. Other than marina chatter on 16, there really wasn't much going on. I think the star of the show was the Garmin inReach. It got the message out when the VHF and cell phones were pretty much useless.

 

[Desert Dory]

Thanks Allen, I think it is that I was not on the site before you checked so I had not picked up your PM yet. I bet if you look now it has moved to the next box.
Thanks for the reply.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

It did

 

[TyBoo]

That was an excellent adventure! Thank you for the great report and pictures.

Lake Powell is on my list, and your story as a first timer moved it up several notches!

 

[Desert Dory]

While we're on the subject of Tundra's, I took advantage of a deal last month to finally swap out my chrome grill for a color matched grill. Frivolous I know, but, I like it!



Before


After

 

[easy does it]

Wow, thank you so much! I am in ST George Utah just getting to know my boat for our 1st trip out, Lake Powell for 1 week or 2. Just loving your photos I AM PUMPED!!! i like your racks, I have 2 eddyline kayaks on top and wanting the 2 SUP as well but I dunno pretty difficult if not dangerous. I will try to post a picture of my yakima racks onto the chrome bars, the lower PVC pipe is a roller to get the kayak in and out of the boat, can't seem to at pictures yet

 

[Desert Dory]

Wow, thank you so much! I am in ST George Utah just getting to know my boat for our 1st trip out, Lake Powell for 1 week or 2. Just loving your photos I AM PUMPED!!! i like your racks, I have 2 eddyline kayaks on top and wanting the 2 SUP as well but I dunno pretty difficult if not dangerous. I will try to post a picture of my yakima racks onto the chrome bars, the lower PVC pipe is a roller to get the kayak in and out of the boat, can't seem to at pictures yet

You're going to love it. I'd do 2 weeks if you can pull it off. We could have easily spent 2 weeks there had we not had work and other adulting responsibilities to attend to.

The kayak! I really don't think I'd take mine again. It sat on the roof the entire time we were there. Never put it the water. Part of that was, there was really never a place we ended up, or wanted to get up into, that we couldn't sneak the Dory into without a little care and diligence. The other part was laziness. Once we got on a beach for the rest of the day it was time for relaxation, a cold one, thinking about dinner, backgammon, cards, sundowner, etc, etc... Or, just sitting in awe of our surroundings.

I'm pretty sure mine will be staying home next time. I should have brought one of the SUP's though. That might have been fun. Although, at 69.87 degrees, the water was a bit chilly for my liking.

 

[thataway]

A kayak or dinghy can get you to a place where you can get cell phone reception. If you can see Navajo Mountain--(and you can see the cell towers on a good day) There are some places where it is impossible to take the c Dory on Powell, where a Kayak of Dinghy are of great value. We always took a dinghy. We have friends who go there just for the Kayaking--use their boat as a base and do day trips- We all have different goals.

We usually spent a month each time we went to Powell. The biggest issue is getting good ice if you want cold drinks or keep certain foods. We saw some folks from England who were on the lake for over a week--they had camping gear and rented PWC's. They went as far as possible on the Main River, on the San Juan arm and up Escalante. Back pack type of food, purified the river water, We have also run into groups kayak beach camping, with no primary vessel.

Powell is truly a magnificent place!!

 

[Hunkydory]

Desert Dory, excellent report & photos from your first trip. I just got back today from a week solo there out of Bullfrog. 245 miles exploring on the C-Dory & 50 or so more on the Kaboat. Perfect Temperature ranging for the most part in the upper 70’s. I got on the lake the day before you left. It would have been good to cross wakes with you. You must of had some hot days as the water was warmer then late last September. Very few House boats at Oak Canyon, where I saw George & a friend camped with his 22CD Nancy D. Also at Oak Canyon, I saw a guy tent camping by his float plane.

Jay

 

[Desert Dory]

Desert Dory, excellent report & photos from your first trip. I just got back today from a week solo there out of Bullfrog. 245 miles exploring on the C-Dory & 50 or so more on the Kaboat. Perfect Temperature ranging for the most part in the upper 70’s. I got on the lake the day before you left. It would have been good to cross wakes with you. You must of had some hot days as the water was warmer then late last September. Very few House boats at Oak Canyon, where I saw George & a friend camped with his 22CD Nancy D. Also at Oak Canyon, I saw a guy tent camping by his float plane.

Jay

Well, that's a bummer! I would have loved to have chatted with you for a bit. We never did make it into Oak Canyon. Next time maybe.

Yes, the first few days our weather was what you northerners might consider "hot". For us, it was perfect! Between 85 and 90. Then the front came thru on Tuesday and Wednesday morning was a bit cool for us (e.g. me wearing a sweatshirt in the Rainbow Bridge pic).

It looks like we were pretty close on mileage too. We came back into the ramp at Wahweap, our start point, at exactly 275 miles.

This was my first "big" trip with the Dory and I was pretty impressed with the 90 ETEC. When the water was somewhat smooth we could run at 4500 rpm/25 mph/ getting 4.9 mpg. This seemed to be our best "fast" cruise speed after playing with trim/rpm and watching fuel flow. Best slow cruise seemed to be 6 mph getting between 10.5 and 11 mpg.

Allen

 

[Desert Dory]

A kayak or dinghy can get you to a place where you can get cell phone reception. If you can see Navajo Mountain--(and you can see the cell towers on a good day) There are some places where it is impossible to take the c Dory on Powell, where a Kayak of Dinghy are of great value. We always took a dinghy. We have friends who go there just for the Kayaking--use their boat as a base and do day trips- We all have different goals.

Powell is truly a magnificent place!!

I totally agree Bob and I was just stating what worked, or didn't work for my particular case. Our Yak is a tandem and a bit cumbersome at times. If it were a single I probably would have used it for a bit of fishing. As it was, I probably caught about a dozen smallies each evening just walking the shoreline when we were stopped for the night. I wouldn't try to dissuade anybody from taking what they think they need. Just, in my case, it wasn't needed.

As you said "We all have different goals".

As far as cell coverage, it was VERY spotty, at best, even when we could see the mountain. That might be a carrier issue as much as anything. I have T-Mobile and it's definitely not the best in remote areas. They are getting better though. I pretty much just left my phone in airplane mode and used to stream music to a bluetooth speaker.

The Garmin inReach is was effective in this situation. I have preset messages that I send to my family every morning, evening, and at various points along my route. They get a text message, and email, with a message telling them I'm ok, having a great time, blah, blah, blah along with my GPS coordinates at the time the message was sent. They can click on the message and it takes them to a map showing my location.

This worked great to get a message to my wife to contact the Bullfrog marina concerning the grounded houseboat and it was the first time I used it for a situation where someone actually needed some help. My wife was very grateful to know that it would actually work to get the message out in an emergency situation, even though this wasn't a real "emergency".

Cheers, Allen

 

[tennawalker]

We met you just as you were headed to Bullfrog. We were the burgundy CD out for our maiden voyage. Guess what? We are now a C-Brat Your boat looked great.