Trip Report - Lake Powell September 25-28 2003

What Did Glenn Do?

After scouting out the land bridge on foot, I discovered the remains of a channel that had been dredged to keep the bays connected back when the lake level was down just 15 feet or so. The floor of the channel was now a good 8 feet above the surface of the lake, but it made for a nice, straight, wide sandy path suitable for dragging heavy kayaks.

After determining that it could be done, I made the portage in 3 trips: first carrying my two drybags, the second dragging the kayak, and the third just bringing the paddle and water jug. I stopped for a snack before putting in at Warm Creek Bay. I started the portage about 1:15 and I back in the water by 2:30.

The effort proved to be worthwhile. Wahweap Bay was extremely crowded (maybe 100 boaters), but I saw less than a dozen boaters in Warm Creek Bay.

I paddled to the opposite side of the bay, looking for a good camping spot, one that would be reasonably isolated from the houseboats, powerboats and jet skis. It was very hard to get oriented, so I ended up landing a lot farther north than I probably would have liked, leaving me a longer trip for day two.

So here is a map of the trip I actually made. I have indicated places where the lake has dried up with this color: . Of course, this is based purely on my observations from the kayak, so it's certainly horribly inaccurate, but ironically not as inaccurate as my commercial maps. Click on the map for a larger version By 4:30 I had chosen a campsite. I failed to bring the instructions for setting up my new one-man tent, so I just made my best guess (which was probably wrong because one end of it kept falling over during the night). As you can see from the picture, I found a nicely isolated spot. As you can also see, the surroundings are magnificent. I have added helpful visual aids to this picture to assist you in recognizing the important features. You can click on this image to see a larger version, without the labels.

After my camp was set up, I hiked around the area until it got dark (around 6:30). I climbed into my tent (a very difficult task, by the way), and I fell asleep almost immediately. Unfortunately, I did not sleep well. The sand was firmly packed and quite hard, and I didn't have a sleeping bag or sleeping pad. By three in the morning I was also quite cold. Not in danger of hypothermia or anything, mind you, but pretty uncomfortable.

The stars at night were the most incredible I've ever seen. The milky way shows quite clearly. There was a bit of light coming up from Page, just over the southern horizon, but otherwise the sky was pitch black. That view alone was worth the trip.

Previous Page: "Into The Water"

Next Page: "Saturday"