A HOUSEBOAT ON LAKE POWELL

I'm taking my break by sitting on the deck of a houseboat, which is rocking gently in a secluded cove, on the clear, deep green waters of Lake Powell, surrounded by red sandstone cliffs 100 yards/meters high. It's 90F/32C degrees in the shade and 80F/27C in the water, so during the day it feels great to just laze about in the water.  I float a little, swim a little, then I get a mask and snorkel and I dive down to see what's on the bottom.

Houseboating on Lake Powell is one of Utah's best kept recreational secrets:
A spectacular shoreline -- hundreds of miles of "slick rock" (bare red sandstone) shoreline.  Some of it is high cliffs facing the main lake, some is secluded beach, much of it is narrow deep channels wandering between lichen-covered slick rock cliffs that make huge amphitheaters that echo a dozen times.

Easy water to navigate.  The shoreline is always in sight, there are no tides, and the biggest waves are usually wake waves from passing boats.  The wind can get brisk during thunderstorms, and afternoon thunderstorms are common.  But these are not long, howling gales of winds, just a brisk blow for 10 or 15 minutes. Still ...  you have to know what you're doing when you push down on the throttle of your boat's engines, and there are still many boating accidents because there are many people here who don't.

Lake Powell is in the driest, hottest part of Utah.  In July and August the afternoon air temperature routinely soars into the nineties or hundreds F. The water temperature soars to the eighties F so it's like jumping into a heated pool. Because it's dry, your body's sweat is enormously efficient at cooling you off.  As long as you can find shade and a cool can of your favorite refreshment, the heat is not uncomfortable.

But man does not live on floating around in the water alone, not at Lake Powell.  This is water sports heaven.  We brought jet-ski, a power boat for water skiing, inflatable toys for the kids, and a "water wienie" inflatable that four people can sit on like riding a horse and get towed by the power boat.  The kids loved it. We had a mix of ages on board: one "old man" (me), five adults in forties and thirties, three teenagers, and three youngsters under six -- a classic Lake Powell outing.

Day One: a beautiful rainbow. After breakfast we launched the houseboat and headed for Moki Canyon, and a landing. Landing is a simple process: you head the houseboat straight at the shore and drive in slowly in until the bow hits ground.  Then someone hops out and carries anchors up on the shore to secure the boat in that position. We used the water weenie to ferry kids to the Giant Sand Dune a mile or so up the canyon.

The Giant Sand Dune is about 30 yards/meters high, made of soft, red sand.  It's a blast to run, jump, slide, roll down the dune, and splash into the lake at the end. If you roll down you're totally red when you hit bottom -- it was a good thing when the kids fell off the water weenie a couple times on the way back.

Night came, and we moved seat cushions up to the roof of the houseboat.  After the sun goes down the roof is coolest place on the boat, so it's the sleeping place for most of the adults.

Day Two: After breakfast I had time for a hike up the dome rock to shoot some dawn panorama pictures, and a quick swim to cool off afterward. Then we took the kids back to the Giant Sand Dune. Then we decided we should see some hanging gardens. Hanging gardens are places where water seeps out of the cliff face in a slow, but steady trickle along a wide face of rock -- it's a series
of small springs, and around the springs grows rich, green grasses and ferns.  It's quite a sight to see these delicate green plants growing in the barren red rock.

Then we headed for the Indian ruins.  But as we got back to the mouth of Forgotten Canyon, the heavens opened up and the rain came down.  The good news -- we had brought a cover for the boat. The bad news -- it came in two pieces and had zippers and snaps that needed to be fastened before it would cover.  It was quite a sight watching four adults try to figure out this cover in blowing wind and driving rain.  Yes, the boat did drift into the rocks while we were distracted, but the rocks were a vertical cliff face, and the wind was so mild that all we got was a gentle bump. To recover all we did was drive away from the face, then continue our "Keystone Kops" routine. On the way back I got some spectacular shots of rain-on-slick-rock and we saw dozens of waterfalls that appear only when it rains.

I still haven't seen an Indian ruin at Lake Powell.  It's a good excuse to come again.