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I decided to leave the tent set up where it was, and to head up-river until noon and then start back. This saved me a lot of time -- the tent was damp with dew, so I would have had to wait for it to dry, then stow it and all -- but of course it severely limited my options.
I was out of my tent around 7:00, and in the water by 8:00.
I immediately headed south to the mouth of the bay, rounded the point and
turned east along the main channel. I stayed close to the north wall of the canyon
to avoid the bulk of the river traffic, which consisted of lots of speedboats,
jet skis and houseboats.
As I moved from the bay into the channel, the depth of the lake went from a few feet to several hundred feet, and the water changed from a murky green to a deep, dark blue. The canyon walls on both sides basically went straight up for 40 feet or so. (The area to the north is called "The Sand Hills" on the map, but the hills must be at the top of the cliff -- I'm sure they're accessable when the water level is up).
I had to paddle for a couple of hours before I found a break in the cliffs where it was possible to beach the kayak. The place I found was just wonderful. First of all, it's really only accesssable by kayak -- the break is to narrow and shallow for anything else, and it opens onto a small, secluded beach. If I do this trip again (and I probably will), this is where I'm going to camp.
In the picture at the right you can see my kayak beached in my little cove. Across the channel you can see how the cliffs look on both sides for most of this passage.
The border between the whitish-rock and the reddish-rock marks the high water level of the lake. The whole rock is actually red. The white look is just a thin mineral crust left behind as the lake level went down.
At around 10:30 I left my cove and pushed onwards towards Padre Bay. I kept expecting to see the entrance to Labyrinth Canyon across the channel, but I never did (later I figured out that it was hidden behind another land bridge).
After another hour of kayaking I saw a sandy spot on the other side of the channel and I worked
my way over, getting sloshed by the wakes of several speedboats (getting hit by a wake is
actually kind of fun if it doesn't capsize you, and I never got capsized).
From this beach I could look out into Padre Bay. To the right is the view from the farthest point of my travels. I believe that the butte on the left side of the picture is Gunsight Butte. I stayed on this stretch of beach for an hour or so, alternately resting and stretching my legs, and then it was time to start back the way I came -- I had to be certain that I was back at my campsite before dark!
It was on the return trip that I had my one close encounter with a speedboat. I was a way out in the channel, and a speedboat with a very high bow was bearing down on me. I couldn't see the driver at all, so I didn't know if the driver could see me. I worked to get out of the boat's way, but it altered course a bit and kept coming towards me. Usually boats veer off to one side or another in plenty of time but this one just kept coming. I waved my paddle high in the air but the boat still didn't change course. Finally, there was nothing for me to do but hope the impact didn't hurt too much. Just then, the speedboat finally veered off and sloshed me in its wake. I don't know if the driver just didn't see me or if he/she just figured it would be fun to freak the kayaker. I was suitably freaked though.
From there back to my campsite the trip was uneventful. I got in around 2:30 in the afternoon, and seriously considered trying to get all the way back to Wahweap before dark, and retrieve my sleeping bag from my car. But I was too tired to paddle any more that day. I slept away most of the afternoon, then got up and hiked around the sand hills some more.
I spent another fairly uncomfortable night, but this time I put on every piece of dry clothing I had with me, so I wasn't quite so chilly.
Heading back into the channel from Padre Bay
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