04/08/02 Paddling Lake Powell (Antelope Point):
Very high winds last night. The truck was rockin' and rollin'. Temperature in the upper 40's/lower 50's. Laying in bed this morning I was thinking about moving to Zion National Park in Utah when I realized the wind wasn't blowing... at least not much. So I got myself moving and drove down to Wahweap Bay. The wind seemed to be picking up there so I continued on to Antelope Point on the other side of Page.
While at Wahweap Bay I thought the water level seemed a little low. That was confirmed when I got to Antelope Point. The boat ramp there was closed because the water was more than 100 feet from it. They've had the bulldozers working and I think they may be getting ready to extend the ramp while the water is down. This is, after all, the driest winter in Arizona recorded history.
I pulled the kayak down over red sand to the water edge at 8:30am. I figured with no boat ramp I would have a nice, quiet, peaceful paddle. Wrong! If it wasn't airplanes droning overhead it was a houseboat with a whiney engine going by 1/2mph faster than I was. If it wasn't the houseboat it was the fishing boats roaring to where ever they were headed.
Heading east into the sun I felt a small breeze in my face but that was about all I felt all day. To the south are low, red hills. Red sandstone bluffs rise and fall along the north shore. Where they're lower you can see nice views of buttes, mesas, peaks and various rock formations.
A mile or so into the trip red and white layered bluffs appear. Almost vertical to the south, the north shore is more tiered or terraced. By now the temperature was in the 70's with no wind and a hot sun.
Another mile brought more hilly areas and great views of steep ridges in the distance. I paddled 4 miles or so and could have gone on quite a distance in this direction. My shoulders started to feel the strain after 1.5 hours or so I turned back.
I had quite a time dragging the kayak back up to the boat ramp. Deep sand and having to climb a hill made it difficult. I dunno if I want to do that again so tomorrow is iffy.
04/09/02 Paddling Antelope Island (north):
By the time I got back to my camping area yesterday the wind had picked up again and blew fairly hard most of the night. Towards morning it let up and I had another nice day of paddling.
Didn't feel like dragging the kayak around at Antelope Point again so launched from Wahweap Marina and paddled due north along Antelope Island across Wahweap and Warm Spring Bays. This section of Antelope Island is mostly rolling, semi-arid, red, hills. To the north and west is a different story altogether. Beautiful multi-colored cliffs are everywhere in that direction.
1.5 hours brought me to the end of Warm Spring Bay but Lake Powell swings off to the east here along the north side of Antelope Island. 30 minutes more brought me to Crossing of the Fathers and a street sign indicating Rainbow Bridge to the left and Glen Canyon dam to the right.
I could see great looking peaks, buttes and ridges to the left so that's the direction I chose. Rainbow Bridge is a large, natural rock bridge some miles up the lake. They made a national monument out of it so it must be pretty spectacular. I had no hope of paddling that far, in fact I only paddled another half hour in that direction before turning back.