After realizing just how amazing Lake Powell was, we couldn't just leave the next day. We had to take a day and explore. There were boat rentals for kayaks, jet skis, house boats, and all sorts and sizes of motor boats. We were thinking a 19ft powerboat would be an excellent craft to take exploring the canyon! ...until we saw the prices. We decided the double kayak, for less than fifty dollars for the whole day, was our best option. Though a motorboat would have been lots of fun, it wasn't at a reasonable price for just the two of us. The kayak did not disappoint us, and gave our arms the workout our legs were missing out on for the day.
We did a small bit of exploring on land. The sand was extremely fine and very soft, but there were many plants with thorns and spiky seeds that prevented us from going around barefoot (mind you, we found this out after we got the tiny, cactus like spines stuck in our feet). We saw different lizards running in and out of the brush and rocks. There were also a few clam shells and beachrock with old shells. At some point in the far past Lake Powell was actually about 500ft under the sea.
Lake Powell is the second largest man made lake in the US, formed by the Glen Canyon Dam. The dam was constructed between 1956-1966. It is 710 feet high. Glen Canyon was actually named by the explorer John Wesley Powell who named it after the glens, streams, and canyons he and his party discovered in the area. When the lake was formed with the dam, it was named after him. The lake has an area of over 24 million acre-feet, and a shore length of ~1900 miles.
We explored the ice cream canyon (why it was called ice cream, we never figured out). Chris paddled in the back seat and I took some photographs from the front. The rock formations were very interesting and the walls were dotted with these holey structures.
There were many side passageways to explore, some with steep walls that extended 40+ feet above the waterline.
After we returned from our four hour kayak adventure, we stopped by the Waheap Grille for pizza. We sat on the porch and watched the activity at the gigantic boat launch. You could easily fit ten cars across the bottom of the ramp with room to spare. We watched a tractor trailer pull a 50ft houseboat out of the water - very impressive.
We headed back to our tent to relax. At the time we were contemplating dinner, we made friends :) Joe and Joe, and their three kids: Elaina, Alex and Wendy. Elaina was our age, with Alex and Wendy a few years older and younger, repsectively. We were invited over for burgers on the fire, and pressed with beers and water. How could we say no? It was a fun evening. We chatted and enjoyed the food. There is just something special about the taste of a burger cooked on an open fire. We also enjoyed s'mores and Alex pulled out a guitar and played and sang for us. We watched the sun go down, the moon appear, and the stars show themselves as the clouds went away. It was a wonderful relaxing and fun evening.
The next morning we awoke and began planning just where to head next. We had a breakfast of fried eggs and toast, and tea. After packing up and going through a guide book and websites for ideas, we decided we were going to heads towards Mesa Verde National Forest, in Colorado. We said goodbye to Joe, Joe, Elaina, Wendy, and Alex as they headed of to Zion National Forest to finish their vacation. We were finally ready to head out ourselves before a giant gust of wind ripped through the campground. It was like opening a floodgate. The wind picked up and stuff was blowing everywhere! Quickly everything, us included, was coated in a fine layer of red sand. The wind was strong enough that it took a concious effort to stay standing when a gust came by. Our bicycling plans for the day were taken away by the wind. It just wasn't going to be possible to bike in weather like this. We were disappointed, but were happy to be stuck in such a pretty place, and one that had facilities as well.
There was a very pretty sunrise out over the lake that morning.
And we spent some time walking down to the beach, but didn't stay because the sand was blowing everywhere.
It was a weather-enforced relaxation day. We updated the blog (sorry we are so behind! But we are caught up now!!!)
We made jiffy pop on our pocket rocket:
We read by our tent and by the lake:
The view from our tent:
And we watched the sunset:
It was a pretty good day :)
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