Lake Powell Maps

[Sunbeam]

It kind of makes sense for them not to have a decontamination at Powell when you take out. I mean, sure, it would be nice, but more work/expense for them, and if a boat is going on to salt water or longer term storage, not needed (as far as I understand it).

OTOH, I can see where the aforementioned "incoming" states would have a strong interest in making sure all was well, especially if one is coming from contaminated waters.

Water Bill: When I think of you on Powell I "see" C-Swell in my mind's eye in the main riverway, but waaaaaaay over along the shore puttering along (seeing really cool close-up views of the amazing rocks) I'm sure the fact that you have been going there for many many years gives you the ease in doing that (whereas I'm out in the main channel staying in that 400' deep area ). I do putter closer to shore/bottom in the side channels, but C-Swell does it along the super cool sheer rock walls in the main river

[colbysmith]

Bill, just curious, why did you use Halls over Bullfrog? Seems like coming from Colorado Bullfrog is closer. Colby

[Water Bill]

Harvey, I have never launched at either of the ramps at the New Mexico end of Navajo Lake. I always use the ramp at the Colorado end at Arboles. It is closer to Durango. If you do make it to the Four Corners area some day another nice lake but smaller is McPhee Reservoir near Dolores, Colorado.


Sunbeam, thanks for the nice comments. I still putter along at 5 knots just as you describe. We just returned from an 8 day trip that took us about as far as you could go, about 30.5 miles up the San Juan River Arm to Alcove Canyon. The water was down to 5 feet deep and real murky. Not to much floating debris yet. Saw some semi wild Navajo burros for the first time on the south shore of Piute Bay in Neskahi Wash. We anchored in a different spot every night. Went up the Escalante River arm looking for La Gorce Arch in Davis Gulch but it became to narrow before we were able see it. I think the lake rose about 2 feet while we were there. We went a total of 152 NM which included several other side canyons along the way. At 5 knots we only used 26 gallons of fuel for the whole trip.


Colby, I live about 6 miles west of Durango and I go through Dove Creek, Monticello and Blanding on the way to Halls Crossing which is about 207 miles. If I were to go around the north end of Powell, past Hite to Bullfrog it would be about 258 miles. Another plus is the Halls Crossing ramp is a lot less crowded. If you are coming through Grand Junction, Colorado it would be shorter and quicker to stay on Interstate 70 and down through Hanksville to Bullfrog, rather then making your way down to Monticello and on to Halls Crossing.

[thataway]

Bill, we made it about 5 miles further than Alcove Canyon last Sept. There was both shoaling and heavy debris. From Alcove on up there was definite gradual shoaling.

We had the two Coyote come within a few feet of the boat at Piute Bay.

[Wandering Sagebrush]

[colbysmith]

Bill, thanks for the info. Just looked at the map, and not sure what I was thinking before. (I was thinking Colorado was north of Lake Powell...and I know better!) Yes, we are coming in on I70 thru Colorado. Less crowded at Halls Crossing sounds good, but even with plans through Moab, still looks like Bullfrog is closer. (Already have the hotel at Moab reserved at both ends of our boating. Figure it'll be nice to start out with nice shower and good bed, and finish the same way. lol. Doing that also as we plan to spend a day in the Canyonlands, on the way out, and two days in the Arches on the way home.) No real plans for on the water. Figure I'd somewhat follow what I did when in the Houseboat years ago. Leave Bullfrog, go slow, sight see up some of the canyons, such as Escalante, then turn around near Dangling Rope. If we travel faster, maybe get closer to Wahweep. But I think the canyons are a bit prettier than the flat stuff, and if I remember, it starts getting flatter past Dangling Rope. (The time on the houseboat, we beached for the night in the Rincon, and Sheeps Head, turned around at Dangling Rope or Rainbow Bridge (Don't remember which is farther west without seeing a chart), then stayed in the same places on the way back. Actually, I don't think we stayed at Sheeps Head both ways, but don't remember where else we stayed. We did stay at the Rincon the first and last night.) As for charts, I've got a few from our Houseboat trip way back when. Navigating Lake Powell Map, 1996; Stan Jones Lake Powell and it's 96 Canyons Map and Guide; and Guide Map to Lake Powell and Glen Canyon NRA. (1997). And several other publications including Dowlers 5th Ed Lake Powell Boat & Tour Guide and Your Free Copy Glen Canyon Lake Powell (1998). All a bit dated, but I'm sure the history is still the same! Colby

[journey on]

Somewhere at the start of this thread, Dr Bob posted a list of relevant links for Lake Powell. I downloaded GEOLOGIC LAKE GUIDE ALONG LAKE POWELL. Finally read it. It's a comprehensive guide to the various geologic eras surrounding Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon National Recreational Area. It discusses the various layers, show how they relate, when, where, why.

We're going to the lake this fall, and I think this geologic guide is going to make this a great trip. We've gone down the Colorado by raft, toured the Grand Canyon, camped on the Colorado and never got a comprehensive tour of the geology. We'll build the trip around the various geological features and enjoy it a lot more than just the scenery (which is wonderful, don't misunderstand.)

By the way, is anybody planning a Lake Powell tour this fall? We'll be going between Sept 28 and Oct 11. Judy has a HS reunion in Las Vegas, so we'll do that and then go to Lake Powell.

Boris

[thataway]

Hi Boris,
It is quite likely that we will be on the Lake at least during some of that time. A couple of other friends, one with a C Dory, will be also on the lake during that period.

[hardee]

"Harvey, I have never launched at either of the ramps at the New Mexico end of Navajo Lake. I always use the ramp at the Colorado end at Arboles. It is closer to Durango. If you do make it to the Four Corners area some day another nice lake but smaller is McPhee Reservoir near Dolores, Colorado. "

Thanks W. Bill. I will be down there for a quick trip early July, but not with the boat this time. Thanks for the tip on McPhee Reservoir. There is also a small one close to Espinoala that look interesting.

Harvey
SleepyC

[colbysmith]

You're right Boris. I had not seen that PDF guide earlier, but linked over to it from you post. It does look like a good guide to have a long. Downloading it now to my iPad! Colby

[colbysmith]

Hi All, Just came back from 6 nights/ days on Lake Powell. Had a great time. The geological guide that was mentioned earlier was nice to have along and read about the geology of the area. (I majored in Earth Science in college, so while I enjoyed it, maybe not so interesting to all, but my wife, a nurse, enjoyed it also. I had an old Stan Jones chart that was great. Also, with my Garmin GPSMAP 840, I run Garmin charts. The latest I had on there, gave depth readings about 95 feet less than actual depth. (IOW, if the chart showed a depth of 94 feet, we saw about 1 foot of rock above the water!) The locals say the lake is at about 51%. The worse situation of the entire trip, was getting the boat off the trailer at the Bullfrog Ramp. We have the standard two axle EZloader trailer. While the ramp seemed steep enough driving down it, I suspect it shallows out where it's hitting the water right now. We were not the only ones having to back the entire tow vehicle in the water. But the Highlander doesn't sit quite as high as a 4wd pickup! With our Highlander's rear bumper touching the water, and all 4 tires backed in, with full reverse on my Merc 115hp EFI 4-stroke, and my wife and another beefy male bystander pushing the front of the boat we finally got it off the trailer. (That was after several attempts at a pretty good backing speed and slamming on the brakes, which only dislodge the boat about 4"...) And I tried most the ramp looking for any deeper spots. Loading out was much easier, with a powerload then winching. Took the boat all the way down to Wahweep Marina. I had never been on that end of the lake, but decided I had not missed much. Dangling Rope Marina (and Bullfrog) are much better marinas for friendly service and knowledge! (The couple of guys servicing at Wahweep didn't seem to know much, and reminded me more of some of the help I've gotten at the local big box hardware stores. (Sometimes they can figure out the material by reading the box... Anyway, went down by the narrows but back up by the Castle Rock cut, which was 30' deep. Only saw one other C-Dory. On the way back up, ran into Ken and his wife on the Lochsha. Chatted for a few minutes while floating close to each other. They were on their way down to Oak Canyon, where we had just spent the night. Hope you guys had a great time also if you are reading this. Forgot to ask you if you had any problems launching! BTW, if you get a chance, I'd love to have some photos of your screen set up on the front center window and entry door. (I'll have to check to see if you already have any photos loaded.) Leaving Bullfrog, we stopped first at the Visitor Center, and had a very nice chat with the NPS gal working there. I was surprised the center wasn't opened when we arrived 7 days earlier, but she explained with cost cutting, it is only open 2 half days a week. She was happy to report that next year she was being given two more employees and it would be open more! (She was also very excited about the C-dory, and very aware of the annual C-brat migration in the area...she is also a safe boating instructor. Anyway, next few days are hotelling it in Moab while we visit the Arches. I will say again I have been thoroughly impressed with not only the towing capabilities of the Highlander now (as we had no problems coming thru the Rockies), that it also does well as a AWD SUV. (If you are familiar with the Canyon lands, you will understand when I say we drove the Shafer and Long Canyon trails with out problem. (Of course, without the boat in tow!) Long Canyon was a little dicey in a few spots, but we had the necessary clearance and just pressed on, very slowly!) Colby

[kennharriet]

Thanks for the original map advice when I started the thread. I purchased the Garmin Lake Vu HD card for out Garmin 740s. It may have worked great but I did not know to upgrade the software in our chart plotter and did not realize it until we were on the water and no longer had the capability. We got by fine with Navionics on the IPad and only got scared a few times by barely submerged mountain tops.

We did have a short but good visit with Midnight Flyer. Sorry we did not have more time to get acquainted. I'll post some pics of the door and window screens you were interested in. It was defineatly needed for the bugs on this trip. We spun a prop so cut our trip short and hauled out today. We did ok launching and retrieving at Bullfrog with our long wheel base Chev. pickup.

We are cured of ever returning to Powell this time of year. Glad we did it but too many people for us. It was combat for fuel and at the ramp. The drug runner speed boats nearly ruined our day a few times in tight channels. At least you could hear them turning high octane into noise before the potential impact. To end on a positive note, we enjoyed some great hikes and caught a few smallmouth. Ken

[colbysmith]

Hi Ken, maybe all in timing. We didn't seem to have any crowding problems at the fuel docks or ramp. That's not to say the ramp wasn't busy when we launched, but we did have room. The speed boats weren't as much problem as the crazy kids that seemed to enjoy just doing donuts on their skidoos within earshot, and sometimes wake shot.... All though we did have one idiot in his larger cruiser come in to check out the cove at a higher speed than necessary. Had we not had the fan we had in our berth, it would have been miserable at night! Colby

[journey on]

Here’s what I’ve found out about Lake Powell electronic charting. Works great and can be used on Garmin or Lowrance plotters as well as tablets and phones.

First, remember that the lake level rises and falls during the course of the year. Here’s a link to the present level and a chart showing the difference: lakepowell.water-data.com. As you can see the water level changes by as much as 25’ over the year, so a rock that you can clear at high water, becomes a dangerous obstacle at low water. The Journey On’s Lowrance HDS display comes with a built in chart of Lake Powell (believe it or not), but remember that’s only at one level, which I think is at 3700’.

Next, lakepowellgpsmaps.com sell GPS maps at various lake levels. At each level, the lake level is shown and contours below are in feet of depth. Since all these custom maps depend on the US government (and other govt’s) for their data, I assume the chart is an adaptation of the US Geological Survey, which should make the data accurate. Any way, you can buy a map at the level the lake is when you go there. The lake is full at 3700’ (above sea level,) and the charts go down to 3570’. So, check the lake level and download the map ($50 ea.) There are versions for Windoze, Apple, Android and Garmin. Since I’m using a PC, I downloaded that version.

So, how do you display them? Well the maps (not charts,) are in .MP format, which is a polish format for vector maps. Hooray!!! So at geopainting.com you can download GPSMapEdit. This program displays a huge bunch of formats and certainly does well with .MP.

So, I not only use a PC, but Journey On has a Lowrance HDS Gen 2 MFD. And GPSMapEdit will not only import .MP files, but will export them both for Garmin and Navico (.lgi format) I tried that and it works a treat. Loaded the result on a SD card and tried it. Worked well. So now I have 2 choices.

Finally, how do you try it out to see if you want it? A sample free map of Wahweap is available. The download of GPSMapEdit was free, but I don’t know for how long. Certainly long enough for me to try everything discussed above.

If you have any questions, Frank Marshall (frank@marshall.ms) has been extremely helpful.

Boris