09/21 Lake Powell September 2013 Gathering

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Just got into Page an hour ago. We brought the dirt boat, and are currently in the Page RV park.

Our dear Congress saw fit to close all of the sites we wanted to see around Four Corners, so we came over to this side to visit some the sites that the rotten #%!¥¥€'s can't shut down. A few days here, then maybe some state parks in Nevada, then perhaps home. I'm so mad, I find it hard to think of Congress in any civil terms.

I did speak to an aide in my Rep's office before leaving Blanding, and the report was not optimistic for a settlement. While I am just pissed off and disappointed, I feel bad for the people who's livelihood depends on a funded government, and for the nice foreign visitors we've met, who've spent thousands to visit our national treasures, only to have the congressional cretins slam the door in their face.

OK, rant finished. If any of the brats are still around, give me a shout. I'll spring for a beer or cuppa tea/java.

[Sunbeam]

We just heard about this. We're still on the lake, and have heard "through the grapevine" that the marinas/fuel/stores are shut down. We heard that people not yet on the lake will be allowed access to their property (e.g. a boat in the water) but will not be allowed to leave the dock to go onto the lake. Not sure what the situation is/will be re: retrieving at the ramp when we get back. Our tow vehicle/trailer are in storage off of park property.... sure hope we'll be able to get them back in to pick up the boat. We do have enough fuel to get back to Wahweap.... but what about those who don't?

We've heard that law enforcement is still on the lake, so maybe there will be some sort of crew at some fuel docks (I say that because when were were at Dangling Rope fueling the other day, the law enforcement boat was fueling right alongside us at the regular "public" fuel pump.

We have around 15 gallons of water and enough dry stores for awhile, but just ran out of ice and milk and are getting low on "fun" food (Dangling Rope was out of milk and block ice a few days ago... wonder if they were letting stocks run low on purpose?).

I'm glad we are able to get online where we are, as otherwise we would have had no idea what was going on. (Of course now we have to use fuel to recharge our "device" batteries, so we'll be watching our state of charge.)

Wandering Sagebrush: I'm so sorry to hear your trip has been affected.

[Fun Patrol]

I was planning on launching Thursday, October 3 at Wahweap but....

Obama and his "team" chose National Parks and National Recreation Areas as agencies to (partially) close until we see things his way. At Powell you will be allowed in, but may not launch or buy fuel at a marina. I've got friends currently mid-lake I was supposed to meet. Got through to them via ham and cell...they had no idea and are now aware they must conserve fuel and leave enough to get back to the ramp. The LEOs, Law Enforecement Officers, are supposedly the only employees that will be on-duty and will advise all they come in contact with to exit the lake. They claim, however, they will not seek out those already on the lake. Somehow they have coerced the concessionaires at the fuel docks to go along with this fanny-spanking.

You'd think Obamacare wouldn't screw up our boating would you?

There is dabate over the possibility of launching at Antelope Point on Indian Land, but...you would still need the mussel inspection. (That used to be a self-inspection before the "we know what's best for you" politicians got hold of it.

An off-topic sidebar: A group of veterans knocked down the barricades to the War Memorial at the National Mall and went on with their long-planned visit. Go vets!

This got me off my butt long enough to call my congressional rep and both CA senators. Ok, ok...so we have Feinstein and Boxer, but I called them anyway.

Have fun out there...

Roy

[jkidd]

Don't you find it interesting that they turn the revenue off too.

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Roy, there are just as many or more of us that know President Obama is not the problem, nor is the Affordable Care Act. Lets both not be assigning blame to one side or the other.

Let's go back to the only rule in the C Brats...

[hardee]

OK, I'm not touching the politics. They all need a really good sound spanking, and then get told to go to work for free until they learn to get the job done.

So, how are conditions on the lake now that the wind has died down, if it still is?

Rob, nice pix and cool map. Great job there. Really puts it into perspective for those of use who have not been there. Thnaks.

Harvey
SleepyC

[beermanPDX]

[ldraker]

Wow, Sunbeam, we loved your descriptions, your narrative, AND the pictures you posted! Great job!
And Jody's robo-helicopter photo of the boats on the beach is fabulous.
It's great fun reading everyone's reports. We haven't looked at Rob's maps yet, but we're looking forward to it (and perhaps learning to do that ourselves.)
It was super meeting everyone, some for the second time, and many new folks.

When we left Forgotten Canyon, we HAD planned to go stay a night in Annie's Canyon, but, as Sunbeam mentioned, it has NO place to camp, though it's still one of our favorites. We looked through a couple of others, hunting a site to stay out of the wind predicted for the next day, but nothing looked promising. We finally chose Slick Rock Canyon. A houseboat was in the opening, and a small boat, about our size with an older couple about our age did NOT look friendly, so we went back near the opening and chose a fairly sheltered spot just inside the canyon. (When I walked Lindy later, up on the shelf, I saw why the older couple didn't offer to share their beach--they were skinny-dipping off their boat! LOL)

We'd only planned to stay one night, but the wind was so high the next morning that we stayed another night. We had plenty of blowing sand to contend with, but it was definitely better than being out in the main channel. We left there the next morning (was that Thursday?), with the intention of getting to Dangling Rope for more gas and to empty our portapotti and then head farther toward Wahweap, but the wind just got higher and higher. It was from the southwest, so we tried getting closer to the southwest side wall of the main canyon, thinking it would block the wind somewhat, but NO! The waves were really bad, not good in a 16', so we turned in to a couple of canyons, including Reflection Canyon, looking for a campsite before we settled on one in Hidden Passage Canyon. With the water level so low this year, the maps and info that are "normal" for the lake are not accurate, so it was kind of hit or miss.

But even in Hidden Passage, with all its winding around, etc., the wind blew HARD, almost ALL DAY, first from one direction and then from another. We did not put up our camperback, figuring it would just make a great sail and really slam us around. We did have the bimini up and lowered the back canvas-and-and plastic curtains behind the seats, so we spent a lot of the day in a really small space. (Thanks again to Rob from Portland, who gave us some Gorilla Duct Tape, which allowed us to use our bimini, even after major zipper failure.) Of course we got sand in our ears, teeth, and noses, in our clothes, in our hair! It was the pits. But we worked sudoku puzzles and played Farkle and Phase 10 Dice and read a bit, so we had some distraction. The beach of our campsite was about half as long as a football field, much higher at the center, blocked at the back by about a 40-foot high canyon wall and water at either end. We walked Lindy around on her leash on the beach and then let her go run free for about an hour. She's a runner, so we normally can't do that, so she loved it, even with the sand blowing, etc. After a time, she came back to us, so it was fun for us to see that she was wanting to be near us. Maybe she'll learn not to run away!

The wind continued to blow almost all night, but Lyle had the boat anchored by three lines--tied to two anchors and a downed tree, and so See-Saw was secure, though we DID worry! The next morning--Friday?--we got up to NO wind, so we took off quickly, headed out. We reached Dangling Rope right after it opened.

We got gas, dumped the portapotti, and a lady walked past and up the dock with a bald eagle on her arm. I went and talked with her, and she invited me to come close. She has a wildlife-and-ecology conservation thingy in Southern California. She got the eagle when it was 5 months old, with a badly broken wing, which was fixed enough that she can fly but not well enough to be able to hunt and sustain herself. Her name is Kenai because she was found in Kenai, Alaska. (She's now 5 years old and is like a dog, as far as following commands, wanting to be with this lady, etc. I got within a foot of the bird; she's gorgeous!) A man named Gregory Colbert is the "best" nature photographer working, and he owns the largest art collection in the world (or so the lady says), and they had a big crew (several houseboats, etc.) there and were getting ready to start filming videos of that eagle (and others of the lady's birds, I think she said) flying through the canyons of the lake. Then there will be a big art exhibit of the video and still shots from it, with a simultaneous opening in 8 American cities in one day. So that will be something for us to watch for.

We had a beautiful trip back to Wahweap--bright sun, little wind, reminders of why we are C-Brats. (We'll try to get some photos posted soon.) Meeting with Marcia, Nick, Boomer, Diane, and Heinz for lunch was a final treat at the end of the trip. We spent that night at the campground at Wahweap, unloaded stuff from the boat back to our pickup camper, had a NICE LONG shower, and then headed out to our next destination--Bryce Canyon, another gorgeous site! After a couple of days there, we timed our departure with the government shutdown, headed across southern Utah, through gorgeous Grand Staircase-Escalante, and across Hite Crossing of the northern end of Lake Powell, to Blanding, and on southeastward. We're now in Albuquerque, before heading home to Amarillo on Friday.

What tales we C-Brats can share!

Janda, Lyle, and Lindy

[Wandering Sagebrush]

I took this at the entrance to Stateline Marina, but it's the same sign all over Glen Canyon. We took a ride down to Navajo Bridge and Lees Ferry, just to see if there were any condors in the area. I didn't see any of these magnificent birds, but did notice a couple of NPS Rangers that were having to deal with a group of about 20 highly irate rafters that wanted on the river.

[potter water]

Have we truly become so totally dependent upon government that an intelligent people can't access their public lands without government oversight? I recall many an outing on public lands and parks like Yellowstone in the 50's when you were pretty much on your own once you were inside the park. Yes, I know, Yellowstone needs more oversight. But access to Lake Powell needn't be fully restricted. Calling in a team of retired NPS or even very experienced Lake Powell boat folks could easily open up Wahweep. But, there is major paranoia among the Public Employee unions about volunteerism threatening their jobs.

I'm just grumpy today I guess.

[Wandering Sagebrush]

[Sunbeam]

See-Saw: Great to read your report, especially the part after Forgotten Canyon. We thought it would be a lot more fun to be "stuck" in the same anchorage with you for that two-day blow; and here you were just one canyon over in Slickrock (so you were the TX boat that the kayaker told us about). We almost went into Slickrock to check, too, but then it was close to dusk and we figured we'd better go with what we knew (Iceberg). Doesn't sound like spots abounded in Slickrock either though.

Wasn't that blowing sand annoying? Sheesh. Last night we had another blow and we anchored well out from shore. No sand

Nice cap to the trip to meet up with a few other C-Brats for lunch at Wahweap on take-out day And good timing on Bryce!

(We stopped at Bryce on our way north earlier this year. I had never been there but had always wanted to. It actually wasn't in the plan, but then the road we were going to take looked too steep/curvy for trailers, and our "Plan B" practically went right by Bryce, so... we swung through. Nabbed the last available campsite that evening, but had to be out by 11 a.m. the next day. So we got up at 5 a.m. and hiked one of the longer loops through the hoodoos. Was really cool to be there as the sun came up. Amazing place. Got back to the campsite by 10:30 a.m. and were out before the deadline (not bad for a night owl )

[DaveS]

[thataway]

Talking with one of my friends who left the Lake a day or so ago. There was one ranger, and he said he was the only ranger on duty. Seemed to understand that "those up lake would have no way of knowing the lake was closed, and they were not going to look for them".

There were two boats together, and some of you may have seen them: Grey trim C Dory 22 "E Ticker, owned by Eric and Sue, the other was a beautiful restored and repurposed 22 foot Glaspar of the 70's with an I/O named vollita. Dick and Judy. If you ever see them on the Lake, say "HI" from Bob and Marie. They saw several of the C Dory group. They are usually up there in the spring and fall. I won't say that any of these folks were skinny dipping--but a lot of us go off in out of the way places and go for a swim to get clean....

Which leads into another thread I will start.

[Chris]

The Powell trip was cut a bit short for us this year. Terry woke up Sunday morning after the potluck with what appeared to be three mosquito bites above her eye…little tiny dots with welts. Her eye lid was swelling. Lyle had some Benadryl which didn’t seem to help. The swelling got worse and then the redness set in. Looking at the weather it looked like we would very likely get pinned down out on the lake for a few days. I decided to high tail it back to Wahweap…about a 110 mile trip…and get off the lake. Glad I did. The ER at Page Hospital hooked Terry up to IV antibiotics and some other stuff…wrote her some prescriptions for pills and said either come back to the ER or see her own doctor the next day. Diagnoses… MRSA infection. High tailed it for home and saw her doctor the next day. Terry was feeling poorly but the doc didn’t seem overly concerned…said it would take time. Next day Terry is worse…vomiting…fever…so another ER visit…hooked her up to more IV antibiotics…a bunch of testing…and admitted her to the hospital. Tests upon tests…cultures…CT scans…x-rays…but no findings as to what she had. She continued to get worse…no appetite…couldn’t walk…breathing problems…short on sleep…body covered with welts…probably an allergic reaction to one of the drugs. After a couple of days an ambulance ride to transfer her to a different hospital and a new doctor…who changed the drugs being administered. Finally some improvement. Still lots of testing…but no conclusions. Discharged from the hospital late Friday. She is back to work today…probably for a half day…still has no stamina…and still on the drugs for several more days. Official diagnosis…Facial Cellulitis…no idea what caused it…other than it was probably a staph or strep of some kind.
Dr. Bob’s posts on infections on boats very timely!