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................................--- Lake Powell -- Hite Crossing ---
........................................................................--- Sept 1-3, 2009 ---
We took friends from Belgium out on Lake Powell for 3 days starting on September 01, 2009. Actually we had one afternoon on the water, then one whole day and then the following morning before returning home.
We were going to put in at Halls Crossing, but I'd called a couple days earlier and there was going to be no one there to do the Zebra Mussel check and they wanted us to tow an extra 100 miles to Bull Frog or spend $80-$100 to take the ferry over to that side. That didn't set well with us so we went to Hite at the north end of the lake and put in there where at that time you still self-certified your boat (no more).
........Of course the cement ramp there is out of the water due to low lake levels, but the rock ramp proved to be no problem at all for the Mac. We went to the secondary one after talking to the ranger as there is a courtesy dock there. It is out of view behind the suburban and there was brush growth between where you put the boat in and the dock that was a little bit of a mess.
We really liked this end of the lake though and will definitely go back. We only saw maybe 5-8 other boats on the water in the 3 days and none were ever by us except to maybe be going up or down the lake past us. It was like having the whole place to ourselves.
Here are a couple pictures of the view from our first night's anchorage tucked back into a rock walled side cove.....
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........The wind was good the first day and we were able to tack about 4-5 miles down the lake to this anchorage.
The next day there wasn't much wind and we ran on the motor as we wanted to show Francois and Mia as much scenery as possible.
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This was our lunch stop the second day and we also went swimming again. I like hot water and the water wasn't hot, but really, really nice. The best swim I've had in about 30 years. Ruth also got some swimming lessons wearing a life jacket and is progressing very nicely and feeling more comfortable in the water.
We then sailed a mile or two in a very light wind with the Genoa, back towards the direction of our first nights anchorage. When the winds diminished we had to go back on the motor to get back near the first nights anchorage.
Here is the 2nd anchorage when we got there....
....................at dusk and then a .............
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..............view as the sun was going down behind the canyon walls to the west of us..........
This was probably the prettiest setting we have ever anchored in. Idaho and Canada were great, but this was spectacular. Both nights we tied off to rocks on the bow and stern. The stern rock here was actually a small arch and the line ran through the arch in the rock.
In the morning I took the Zodiac and untied the stern line from the rock and then pull the Kera Jane over to the shore rock and climbed off the bow and undid that line and stepped back down from the rock back onto the bow and pushed off and Ruth motored us back out into the lake.
Not long after the above picture a really big lightening storm moved past.
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It was beautiful, but still scary. The lightening appeared to be close at times, but never got within 2 miles of us. It rained a few drops, but that was all.
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There was some smoke in the air from a Utah fire and the Calif. fires, but not as noticeable the 2nd and 3rd day.
Here are some more scenery shots from the trip.
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The main channel of the lake goes straight down the canyon in the center of the picture. In this area you can see 3 different mountain tops in the back ground. They make up the south end of the Henry Mountain Range that is to the west and north of the north end of Lake Powell.
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A lot of the water in this part of the lake has high walls on just one side which seems to result in more wind on the lake surface. In one narrower section the walls were high on both sides of the lake sheltering the lake more from winds. If you are patient though I don't see why you couldn't sail a lot of this lake with good results. I guess the key is if you are only on the lake for a few days and want to see as much of it as you can, as was the case with us on this trip.
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The last few photos were taken by Francois.
If you are thinking about Lake Powell at all give some consideration to putting in at Hite. There is a lot of very open water for sailing at this end of the lake. We finally turned around at Good Hope Bay that is about 1 mile wide and I think about 5-6 miles long. Even the narrower parts of the lake before that were sail-able as we found the first day. The trip was way too short and we will return in another couple weeks for a much longer trip on the lake putting in down at the dam at Page and trying to work our way up the length of the lake to the north end at Hite again.
We made some more mods to the boat between the Idaho/Canada trip and this one that are posted on the site. We now have storage above the sink with 3 drawers to the right of it, a courtesy curtain that fits over the open companionway for when we have company and someone wants to use the head that is in the main cabin and a few other things. We only have a few more things to do and the boat will be really nice for cruising.
c ya,
Sum and Ruth
