on a houseboat in utah’s grand canyons - gas grill for camping

After the flight was hit, I thought of San Francisco, Santa Fe or New Orleans with two free tickets.
My husband suggested a yacht ride on Lake Powell, Utah, to explore the side canyon of the Colorado River.
I learned from Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire: a season in the wilderness that the winding canyons surround the Colorado River system, he lamented the floods of the lost gems of the West-the beautiful Glen Canyon-all to create a reservoir for the arid states around.
Since 1963, the Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona has backed up the 186-mile river into countless canyons, valleys, and tributaries to create Lake Powell, a beautiful thing in itself
My husband's idea was to take a boat from the lake on the far kailamante River and kayak down into the canyon.
Then we can hike through the steep, arched red sandstone cliffs and go further along the winding canyon to where only the most rugged people can reach from the plateau, they hike through
So I said yes, we flew into Salt Lake City, headed south, across the Capitol Reef National Park, to the Glen Canyon National entertainment district.
As we approach, we can see that the bright blue color of Lake Powell is offset by the terracotta Islands
Former peaks of Navajo Sandstone and Mesa-
There are also cliffs of the same saturated color.
A series of white spots mark the boathouse docked in Bullfrog Bay, one of the lake's five docks, 97 miles upstream of the dam.
As the pier was too far away, we arrived the afternoon before and stayed overnight at Defiance House Lodge, the only stay outside the camp for a hundred miles.
There was no grocery store either, so we bought food in Tori, west of Capitol Reef, and put fresh vegetables and frozen meat in the fridge.
In the cabin, we learned that due to the drought in recent years, the height of the lake is below 70 feet-water mark.
This means that we may see certain waterfalls, dwellings on the cliffs of India, and rock paintings that we may be drifting through.
To our dismay, we found
We rented the hiking adventure boathouse for four days and three nights with only one engine and it took us nine hours to get to the Escalante.
So we upgraded to two faster. engine boat.
This ship is basically two.
Bedroom House trailer on Pontoons with linen, 12 plates, CD player, gas grill on front deck, recliner-
Of course, water slides from the upper deck.
Plenty of counter space in the kitchen, Pan bowl pans basin, microwave, coffee maker, full set
Size of refrigerator and freezer, gas stove and oven.
The bathroom comes with a hot shower and a toilet bowl.
There are two taps in the kitchen and bathroom, one for drinking water and cooking water, and the other for washing water in the lake.
We also rented two kayaks. (
Some people drag speed boats. )
A dock employee showed us how to use a dual engine, propane generator, and navigation system.
He then led the houseboat to the open water and jumped into a waiting boat.
We set off ourselves.
The ship was too big on the dock and soon dwarfed by the steep cliffs, hundreds of feet above the high cream beltwater mark.
However, sonar tells us that the water is several hundred feet deep.
We tried to imagine how the cliffs must have jumped from the bottom of the river before the dam was built.
We walked 29 miles along the twisted Lake Road, and after 4 hours we entered the tributary of Colorado, E scalante.
A few miles later, we became a fan-shaped wall of the Clear Creek Canyon, ending in a trough canyon called a cathedral in the desert.
Then the hardest part of the trip.
To park the boathouse on the beach, you should drag two anchors out at 60
Degrees, buried in the sand.
Because the coastline changes with rain and drought, no one can tell us where these beaches will be.
In fact, we couldn't find anything in the Clear Creek Canyon, just had a rock slide before the channel became too narrow to take a yacht.
We looked up at the cliff and knew that a recent houseboat was crushed when it was smashed by an outstretched ledge.
We dragged the heavy anchor out and wrapped it around some big stones.
After enjoying a well
Got a local beer called polygamous beer
Whose motto is "why is there only one? ’’)
On the upper level, we prepared a salad and pasta for our chicken marinade Grill and had dinner by candlelight.
Then we spent our first night in the silent canyon.
The next morning, as we climbed into the kayak from the boathouse, the cliffs were still hidden with the sun, bypassing the corners that jumped across the cliffs of the Great Church in the desert.
As we float in the salmon, the Sky swings above us --
Hundreds of years of chocolate and rust desert paint are dotted with colorful niches.
We had hoped to see a waterfall, which was shining in the sun, passing through the cliff and taking only a short noon time.
Decades later, under the waters of Lake Powell, it reappeared in the long drought of 2005, but so far the water level has risen almost again to the top of the waterfall.
Later that day, we took another three-mile boat to Davis Gucci.
Suddenly, we almost hit the canyon wall across the street.
The light that illuminates a cliff reflects from the opposite side and shines from the ancient sun, which once shone on the sand that made up the rock.
Geologists said that during the Jurassic period about 0. 15 billion years ago, the cliffs began to be blown by wind and sand.
Sediment from the deep sea glued sand to synthetic stones, adding iron, manganese and other minerals that have been oxidized to red and orange and are now coming out of the cliff.
When the winding passage became too narrow to be comfortable, we found a beach where we broke down and then slid further down the canyon.
The Trickle of Trickle flows through a ledge that was previously a waterfall, and we tie the kayak up and walk up.
The aerial garden of the Little Ferns marks the route of Spring, where the water slowly penetrates into the porous Navajo Sandstone, meets the base stone of the non-permeable kiyetta, looking for an outlet, sometimes
We climbed up a high niche looking for a pit house built by the Fremont Indians who lived here, from 500 to 1300 AD.
We didn't find it, but we saw rock paintings of goats and other creatures.
In the nearby olive sage and yellow rabbit clusters, delicate lavender flowers are grown.
When we returned to the houseboat, we had a fire in a sandy niche.
Later, we lay on the mat on the upper floor, staring at the dazzling Milky Way.
The next morning, we were driving the 50-minute Canyon in the photographer's "golden time", and the Sun brought an inspiring light to the world.
We parked our car on another wide sandy beach, then paddled the kayak through the top of the tree, the reed, and the floating wood.
When we came to the waterfall, we left the kayak, climbed up the top and advanced through another sink that reached the thigh.
Later, we reached a path leading to the edge of the canyon, and then we reached the hole on the rocky road to the West.
In the end, we turned another night under the light of fire under the stars, and then returned the ship to the dock the next afternoon.
We know that if we go back to these canyons, we will find that they have changed.
A niche we explored yesterday may be submerged in the wet season of tomorrow, or trapped high in the drought of the future. But why repeat?
There are thousands of niches, and there may even be unknown side canyons to explore. Cathryn M.
Drude can be found in Catherine. delude@gmail. com.