Went to Lake Powell last week. Had a great time.
Some of you might recall my complaining about the weather before I left. A cold front came in and brought big wind for the first few days I was there and then cooler temps rolled in behind it. We arrived on Monday night and stayed in the slip. The night was gorgeous and it was good to be on the water. We then launched early Tuesday. THe castle rock cut was about 3 feet deep then, so we felt it best not to risk the houseboat through there and took the long way around. It was a good time to learn how to drive the houseboat and just to get more familiar with things.
Then we spent the better part of the morning and early afternoon looking for a place to set up camp. THe best spots all had boats in them. After scouting out a few weedy and rocky spots, we found a sandy beach at the opening of gunsight canyon. The weeds were thick, but the sand was soft and we thought we could make good of it.
About the time we got the houseboat set up, the wind started to blow, and hard. Pretty much a steady 25 MPH breeze.
After eating, then we tubed around on the water weenie and the wind was pretty much ruining all water sports. THe spray would get in your eyes so bad that even tubing was not a lot of fun.
I found a big snake right in front of the houseboat. A shovel to the head did not take care of him and I had to brutally cut the head off with a knife. He was about 5 feet long. It was probably the only thing keeping the beach free of mice, but the women folk would hear nothing about letting a snake that close to the houseboat survive.
The houseboat anchors survived the night as I slept a little bit fitfully hoping the boat would not get blown away.
BTW, my sand spike and box anchor were like rocks. The Tige never budged at all once I got her set up right. I was incredibly pleased with their performance. Worth every penny.
The next day we realized the beach we were on was so full of stickers that we were never going to be able to enjoy it. So the anchors came up and we were off to another spot. We hit the mother lode in a little corner of Padre canyon where the stickerbushes were minimal and the sand was soft. When I say minimal, I mean that you only had 2 or 3 stickers in your foot with each step, not 10+. This sand has not been under water in a long time, so the stickers were very mean.
The wind continued. I installed my WS-420 while there and the wind was blowing too hard to get anything else done. It was quite the ghetto setup, as that I really needed a drill if I was going to hide the install, and I did not have a drill. I'll post a thread in the stereo section in a few days.
We got some decent wakeboarding in, but it was never spectacular like it usually is. Surfing was fine. We did the usual trip to rainbow bridge. Dangling rope marina closes at 7:00. We barely got there in time to get gas, but the store was closed, so no ice cream.
Thursday night my wife's sisters came and brought two of my kids that were at sports camps all week. They did not get there until 10:30 at night. The GPS saved my butt again. The moon was at our back and I could not see a thing. With a person in the bow, and me navigating by GPS, we got the 20 mile trip back to Padre Canyon done just fine in the dark. I broke out the spotlight in the tight spots.
Overall it was a great trip. The water was high 60's. Amazing how cold that is when the air temp is only in the 70's. I can't wait for next year!!!!!
Some of you might recall my complaining about the weather before I left. A cold front came in and brought big wind for the first few days I was there and then cooler temps rolled in behind it. We arrived on Monday night and stayed in the slip. The night was gorgeous and it was good to be on the water. We then launched early Tuesday. THe castle rock cut was about 3 feet deep then, so we felt it best not to risk the houseboat through there and took the long way around. It was a good time to learn how to drive the houseboat and just to get more familiar with things.
Then we spent the better part of the morning and early afternoon looking for a place to set up camp. THe best spots all had boats in them. After scouting out a few weedy and rocky spots, we found a sandy beach at the opening of gunsight canyon. The weeds were thick, but the sand was soft and we thought we could make good of it.
About the time we got the houseboat set up, the wind started to blow, and hard. Pretty much a steady 25 MPH breeze.
After eating, then we tubed around on the water weenie and the wind was pretty much ruining all water sports. THe spray would get in your eyes so bad that even tubing was not a lot of fun.
I found a big snake right in front of the houseboat. A shovel to the head did not take care of him and I had to brutally cut the head off with a knife. He was about 5 feet long. It was probably the only thing keeping the beach free of mice, but the women folk would hear nothing about letting a snake that close to the houseboat survive.
The houseboat anchors survived the night as I slept a little bit fitfully hoping the boat would not get blown away.
BTW, my sand spike and box anchor were like rocks. The Tige never budged at all once I got her set up right. I was incredibly pleased with their performance. Worth every penny.
The next day we realized the beach we were on was so full of stickers that we were never going to be able to enjoy it. So the anchors came up and we were off to another spot. We hit the mother lode in a little corner of Padre canyon where the stickerbushes were minimal and the sand was soft. When I say minimal, I mean that you only had 2 or 3 stickers in your foot with each step, not 10+. This sand has not been under water in a long time, so the stickers were very mean.
The wind continued. I installed my WS-420 while there and the wind was blowing too hard to get anything else done. It was quite the ghetto setup, as that I really needed a drill if I was going to hide the install, and I did not have a drill. I'll post a thread in the stereo section in a few days.
We got some decent wakeboarding in, but it was never spectacular like it usually is. Surfing was fine. We did the usual trip to rainbow bridge. Dangling rope marina closes at 7:00. We barely got there in time to get gas, but the store was closed, so no ice cream.
Thursday night my wife's sisters came and brought two of my kids that were at sports camps all week. They did not get there until 10:30 at night. The GPS saved my butt again. The moon was at our back and I could not see a thing. With a person in the bow, and me navigating by GPS, we got the 20 mile trip back to Padre Canyon done just fine in the dark. I broke out the spotlight in the tight spots.
Overall it was a great trip. The water was high 60's. Amazing how cold that is when the air temp is only in the 70's. I can't wait for next year!!!!!
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