Lake Powell April 2013

Water Bill · Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 11:50 am Post subject:

It looks like Sue and I are going to be able to make the spring gathering at Lake Powell. I have been holding off saying anything until I was sure we could attend. We will be putting in at Halls Crossing around noon on Thursday. We will slowly make our way down the lake and meet up with everyone at Oak Canyon Friday night or on Saturday. We need to head back home on Tuesday. From what I read here, I expect to see about a half a dozen of us at Oak Canyon on Saturday.

See you on the lake.

Bill

Discovery · Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 3:33 pm Post subject:

I am taking my two Sons in Law and my Marine Grandson for a Four Day Defensive Handgun course at Frontsight in Nevada during that time frame. So we will miss the April gathering this year. We will make a trip to Powell in May after we return from the Sacramento Delta gathering.

Brent

jkidd · Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2013 8:06 pm Post subject:

I'll be driving to camp Walmart on Thursday night, launch Friday morning and head down lake as far as I can go. Should be at Oak Bay Saturday morning some time.

Water Bill · Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2013 7:46 pm Post subject: April Lake Powell Update

Thought I would fill everyone in a little on the April Lake Powell gathering. I posted photos I took in the C-Swell album under Lake Powell April 2013.

On Thursday Apr 18th Sue and I launched at Halls Crossing just before noon and had a nice cruise down to The Rincon with a side trip into Iceberg Canyon. We left our house that morning with a low of 15 degrees so the day time temperatures at Powell up in the 50's didn't seem to bad. We anchored in a cove on the north side of The Rincon Thursday night.

On Friday we left The Rincon and made a side trip up to the end of Reflection Canyon. The water is down enough that we were not able to make it as far up into the side canyons as we have in the past. We arrived at Oak Canyon in the afternoon and decided not to venture up into the actual canyon because of the cottonwoods sticking out of the water right at the entrance. We went back out into the bay and found a nice spot to anchor which would be visible to anyone looking if they came in that evening. Around 6:30PM Voyager out of Utah with Jody and Elimae his dog spotted us and dropped anchor near by. Jody came over in his kayak and told us he launched at Bullfrog around noon that day. Jody said he saw one other C-Dory on the way down but was not able to hail them on the radio. Temperatures were up in the 60's today.

Saturday C-Swell and Voyager decided to head south and go in and out of side canyons before returning to Oak Canyon Bay. Not to bore you but here are the canyons we toured. We went by Rainbow Bridge both having been there before. We went to the end of and back out of Cathedral Canyon, Mountain Sheep Canyon, Balanced Rock Canyon, Little Arch Canyon, Driftwood Canyon, coming out of Driftwood Jody spotted the miners steps, after that we went into Cascade Canyon. From here we started back to Oak Canyon Bay. As we were coming up on the island outside of Oak Bay we spotted a C-Dory. It was Amy Jo with Clint and Amy on board from Montana they also had put in at Bullfrog on Friday but spent Friday night in Cottonwood Canyon. Amy Jo was the boat Jody saw on Friday. The three of us found a nice beach to put the boats up on for the night. There was no shortage of beaches here. We had a very enjoyable visit with Jody, Clint and Amy Saturday night and Sunday morning. As it turned out no one else showed up at Oak Canyon. Temperatures made it into the 70's today.

Sunday morning Amy Jo decided they would continue south and were going to pull into Rainbow Bridge and talk to the Ranger and see if Dangling rope was open so they could refuel and not have to go all the way down to Wahweap or back to Halls Crossing or Bullfrog. Voyager and C-Swell were going to head back up to the Escalante River Arm. We went in and out of Indian Creek Canyon then into Clear Creek Canyon and the Cathedral in the Dessert, always a spectacular sight. We continued up the lake and took a run into Willow Creek Canyon looking for a place to spend the night but did not find anything. We decided we would continue up the Escalante and look for a spot at Explorer Canyon. About a half a mile from Explorer we ran into mud flats and could go no further. We both dropped our anchors and spent the night right there. It was back in the 70's again today.

Monday we headed back out of the Escalante River Arm and went all the way up to the end of Fortymile Creek Canyon, Fiftymile Creek Canyon, Davis Gulch Canyon and a nice canyon with no name across from Davis. We hit the main channel of Lake Powell after lunch and continued north went into Bowns Canyon and up the left fork saw a nice little waterfall Jody knew about. We arrived at The Rincon late afternoon and went into the same cove I anchored in on the way down. I anchored out again and Jody put Voyager on the beach. It reached into the low 80's today with the same blue skies we have been having everyday. At 10:30PM things changed. A cold front came through with some pretty good winds out of the north blowing the long way across the cove we were in. Jody and I were both up until after 1:30AM talking to each other and some boats on the south side of The Rincon. We had white caps most of the night. Jody added a anchor to his lines on the shore and my 14 lb. Delta held all night. I was concerned when the winds switched 180 degrees from when I had dropped earlier in the evening. We both made it through the night without any problem just a little short on sleep.

Tuesday morning we had both planned on leaving around 7:00 to head back to the boat ramps. The wind was still blowing with a little chop. Jody wanted to try and be at Bullfrog around 9:00 saw he left me shortly after we left The Rincon. I stayed a my 5 knot cruising speed and arrived at Halls Crossing around 11:00. We were on the road around 12:15 and back home around 4:00PM.

C-Swell with a 90 HP Suzuki had 38.1 hours on the hour meter and the flowscan gauge showed 25.7 gallons used. That works out to and average of about .67 gallons per hour.es to show how economical the C-Dory is when you keep your speed down around 5 knots.

All in all we had a great trip and enjoyed cruising with Jody and getting to meet Clint and Jody. Hope I haven't bored you all with this recap but I am sure it will interest some. We want to get back to Powell over Memorial Day weekend and make it to the September gathering.

Bill

jkidd · Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2013 11:16 am Post subject:

Bill
I had a get time too. Got to visit a few more canyons that I had never been in and visit a few that were totally different because of the water level. I need to do some gelcoat repair on the bottom of the boat due to the wind and being on the shore that night. I'll post some picture when I get a chance to look at them I came back to a pile of work.

ckcpony · Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2013 9:53 pm Post subject:

Jody, Bill and Sue, Amy and I enjoyed meeting you guys. It was a first for us (meeting up with other Brats). After parting with you on Sunday morning we continued south for the next couple of days before turning north again.We stayed another week enjoying beautiful weather , breathtaking scenery and great fishing. We pulled out at Bullfrog on Sunday Morning and arrived back home here in Montana this afternoon. When we left Powell it was 80 degrees and when we pulled in the yard at our home turf it was 40 and spitting snow.Just like it was when we left.Oh joy.
Jody maybe we will see you at Yellowstone in June. Bill and Sue we will meet again at some gathering again we hope.
Clint and Amy

Water Bill · Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2013 11:09 pm Post subject:

Clint and Amy, glad you had another week of good weather, great fishing and enjoyable sightseeing after we left you on Sunday. I am curious if you were able to get gas at Dangling Rope Marina or was it still closed. We too would enjoy meeting up with you and Amy sometime in the not to distant future.

Jody sorry to here about your gelcoat repair project. I have some of that to do myself. I'll tell you about it the next time we meet up.

Bill and Sue

ckcpony · Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 9:15 am Post subject:

Hi Bill, Dangling Rope was open and after getting gas and ice cream we worked our way south as far as Padre Canyon. The night with the heavy winds we tucked into a pretty little "hidey hole" in Dungeon Canyon and came through unscathed. One of our best trips ever. See you on the water someday.Hope Sue's leg gets better and she can join us on the beach.
Clint and Amy

jkidd · Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 10:23 pm Post subject:

Clint and Amy
It was nice to meet you. It is always more fun when there are a few more C-Dories around. Glad that you had a good trip and I hope to see you up at Yellowstone at the end of June.

Two Bears · Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 11:10 pm Post subject:

Hi Bill,
That's good information. I don't have a flowmeter and have wondered what I was getting. I do have the Suszki 90. What RPM were you using? When I've run slow I usually seem to be at 5.7 to 6.2 knots by GPS at 1900 RPM. I've wondered if I'm pushing a little up the bow wave for good efficency.

Chuck

Water Bill · Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 11:34 pm Post subject:

Chuck,

Good to hear from you. I would say we were in the 1800 to 1900 rpm range at about 5.1 knots on the gps give or take. Jody has the 115 HP Suzuki and I believe he was seeing numbers close to this also. I think Jody's over all weight was probably more than mine. I am using a 13 3/4" diameter 15" pitch aluminum prop. I would think at this speed there would not be to big a difference in rpm or gph if the props are relatively close to the same diameter and pitch.
Tell Penny hello for us.

Bill

jkidd · Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 12:51 am Post subject:

Bill
I burned 35 gallons for the trip. If I wouldn't have ran from the Rincon to Bullfrog at 18 mph I think we would have been pretty close to each other. I'm running a Solas 13-7/8" X 15 Pitch SS.