More Lake Powell

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We had purchased a guidebook for exploring Lake Powell by boat. There was a recommended canyon hike only a short distance away from us by water called "Wiregrass Canyon" -- we decided to try for that one. It was maybe a 3 mile trip to the west from our campsite, just about to that end of the lake. After a bit of slow speed cruising through calm waters, we were there. The water was very shallow in the canyon, and we worked our way slowly back through a meandering stream bed between muddy banks, covered with thick brush. The rock walls surrounding this creek were sheer, and it was difficult to see how we could walk up the canyon without tromping on the muddy banks. We tried getting out and standing on the mud, but it was super gooey, and we were afraid we would get mired in the sticky, stinky glop, so we retreated. Then we tried landing in a different spot, where we could walk on rock, but after working our way inland a bit, we were stopped by the silty mud deposits again. The creek was just not at all like it was described in our book, then I realized that all these mud banks were probably deposited in the last few years, since the book was written. So we gave up, there well may be stone arches and windows farther up that canyon, but we would not be seeing them this trip.

No worries though, we headed back just a 1/2 mile or so, and we found another great spot. Also a drowned canyon, this one was all slick rock sandstone right down to the water. We worked way back in a channel between odd haystack-shaped islands and pulled up in a hidden bay. We hiked up onto the high ridges above the water and had our lunch overlooking the lake. After that we walked around for a bit just taking it all in. That may not have been the spot where they filmed Charlton Heston's spaceship sinking in the lake scene in "Planet of the Apes" but it sure looked like it. We both loved the hiking there, we agreed there is just no kind of walking in the world better than slick rock hiking. We found some really odd marks in the rocks there too, marks that I could not believe were natural, perhaps carved in there by the apes?

After that, we headed out again, around "Lone Rock Island" and then back to the campsite. The weather forecast for the next day was for strong winds and rain, so we decided to pull the boat and strap it back on truck. It was too bad the motor had acted up, but we still must have covered way over 20 miles of lake, we could never have seen that much without the motor. And, we still had a bit left in our first of the two 6 gallon gas tanks we had with us, not bad economy for one and a half cylinders!

Tomorrow, we will drive over to Lee's Ferry, in Marble Canyon, so I can try my luck fishing for the wild rainbow trout that stretch of water is famous for. It's only about 10 miles away, as the crow flies, but will require a 45 mile drive each way to get there, such is travel in canyon country!

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