Advertisement
Published: March 21st 2018
Edit Blog Post
We awoke to cool temperatures and stormy skies at our camp above Lake Powell. After a quick breakfast, we headed out in Moby Dodge for Lee's Ferry to do some fishing. We drove back out of Page the way we had come in, but we stopped at the horseshoe turn overlook this time, to well, overlook it. The view from there was stunning, over a thousand feet down into Marble Canyon, the deep sandstone cleft just upstream of the Grand Canyon. We could see kayakers down there, and fishermen in jet boats, casting for rainbow trout WAY DOWN THERE. There were lots of other folks there, and we were astounded by the casual attitude some of the people were taking to the edge of that awesome drop. We saw one young girl sitting on the edge with her legs dangling over. From the side where we were, we could see that the sandstone she was betting her life on was no more than 2 inches thick. I know we both were thinking about the sandstone ridges we were walking on at Antelope Island, and how they broke under our weight. Cathy couldn't take it, and went over and asked the girl
to move back, and she did -- unnerving!
After that, we headed on our way to the fishing grounds, a long but beautiful 45 mile drive. The scenery at the "walk-in" fishing spot was eye-popping. Tall, red sandstone cliffs, wrapped in wispy clouds that came and went. Sometimes it was sunny, then the clouds would return with cold rain. I fished a fast riffle area, out in the water with my waders. This was big water, running high and cold. As a young fellow, I might have waded out to waist deep or more here, but now I restricted myself to knee-deep, not further -- call me Mr Chicken if you will. This water comes out of the bottom of Lake Powell at the Glen Canyon Dam, and it is clear and cold, a constant 43F all year. Rainbow trout were introduced here after the lake filled, and they are now a wild and self-propagating resource here.
I fished it hard, searching for likely "hold" spots, and concentrating very hard on my strike indicator, waiting for a hit, but to no avail. I think I had one strike that I missed, due to a slack line (my fault)
but that was it. You might expect that I would be disappointed, but I can honestly say that I was not in the least. This was unquestionably the most beautiful spot I've ever fished, and I loved every cast, every waded step in that water. I would gladly do it all again, and I hope I get the chance some time.
It's funny, and unnatural, that these trout are here at all. The Colorado River was naturally an extremely silty stream. After all, this river was the tool that cut Marble Canyon, and Glen Canyon, and the Grand Canyon. When a person first sees the Grand Canyon, the question that comes to mind is "Where did this stuff all go?" The answer is that the fast, brown Colorado River cut it away, bit by bit, and carried it all the way to the huge delta at the top of the Sea of Cortez, behind the Baja Peninsula. Now, this water in Marble Canyon comes out from under the dam without any silt, cold, clear, and perfect for trout. So where is the silt?
That is a great question, and it relates back to our exploration problems at Wiregrass
Canyon. What we have built with Lake Powell is, other than a water reserve, and a recreation resource, is an enormous slit trap. The same slit that is plugging Wiregrass, is, in fact, filling the whole lake. There is a difference of opinion about how long it will take (some say 700 years, some as little as 80) but the lake will fill with silt, the dam's gates and spillways will be plugged, and the Glen Canyon Dam will become the worlds tallest man-made waterfall. And then? It will not last long, it will erode, be undercut, and fail. After that? All Glen Canyons "Lost Treasures" will be flushed out, the silt and sand carried downstream, and nature will resume it's business, and the artistic creation it has been working on for millions of years will continue. The natural world laughs at our human time frame.
Tomorrow, we will break camp here at Wahweap, and head south and east to view the Petrified Forrest, and the Painted Desert. After that we hop on to I 40, point Moby Dodge's nose east, and head for the barn, as they say. It's been fun, but PBF is calling us.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.278s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 9; qc: 55; dbt: 0.0797s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb