Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Lake Powell Houseboat; 6-2/5.

Gunsight Canyon in Padre Bay, spent last night there.

Julie looking out from bow of boat.

Mary Kay at the helm.

The upper deck, great for viewing.

Another shot of Gunsight Canyon.

WOW! 
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Everything I’d hoped for and more: great trip, great crew, great scenery, great weather.  The people/personality dynamic is unknown and unknowable until individuals meet and interact.  In this case I can’t imagine the dynamic being any better.  Good humor & conversation, a pitch in and help attitude, and lots of good old joie de vivre.
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For some, the highlight of the trip was a run up a narrow slot canyon that our orientation guy recommended as a good place to spend the night.  Not!  I drove the boat up the narrow slot canyon, expecting it to open up any second to reveal a sandy beach for anchoring.  It never did open up.  It got narrower and narrower until finally we all agreed we couldn’t make the next turn.  At that point we had 2’ of clearance on each side, with sheer rock walls extending upward 100’ or more.  Couldn’t turn around, had to back out. 
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The boat was 53’ long.  Backing that big mother out of that slot canyon for a ¼ mile around hairpin turns was one tricky sumbitch.  Crew members in all four corners were fending us off the canyon walls with broom handles and kayak poles.  Finally, we got to a spot about 10’ wider than the boat length and I was able to do a power turn by reversing one engine and forwarding the other.  Since I was driving, I couldn’t take any pix but Trish took several.  I’ve asked her to do a guest blog and include the pix.  Stay tuned.
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Another Lake Powell adventure is a very likely possibility, probably a more northerly stretch in a smaller boat.

1 comment:

  1. I expect you'll be sending a postcard to the guy that sent you up the canyon.
    It makes me tense just thinking about backing it out, let alone the turns. Good job!

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