Lake Powell 2022
Lake Elevation 3536 and starting to drop fast :(
Well the Dooley crew made it to Lake Powell once again. This years crew consisted of the following:
Brent and Stephanie
Brian, Sara, Rowan and Nessie
Brandon Dooley and soon to be Bree
Bradley
Ashley, Trevon and Hayden
Dylan
Tona
Marty
Yep we had a full crew once again aboard Turquoise Bay with Laketime. We departed without any issues at 6:30 am out of Page and were put softly in the warm waters of Lake Powell by 7:00am using the new Stateline Auxiliary Ramp. With the lake so low, and Castle Rock Cut Off was high and dry so we had to motor all the way around Antelope Peninsula. This main route now has many no wake zones due to the low water. But don't fret, the lake is still almost 400' deep at the dam. But with all the no wake zones, and no CRC it took us about 4 hours to make it to our destination in Padre Bay.
With DR closed, CRC dry and gas prices high, everyone is down lake. So we ordered another freezer with Laketime. We had one full of ice downstairs and one full of ice upstairs. We also froze our empty milk and Gatorade bottles in the freezers at night. We also made sure to dump all excess trash in the receptacles at Laketime before we launched. Didn't need to make a trash run either.
This year we stayed up on the north side of Padre Bay about a mile or so from some of our previous spots. The water is so low I actually flew my drone over to see the spot we were at in 2019. It was just over a mile away. YIKES!
In the main picture above we should be about 100' below water in a normal year where the lake is usually around 3630' above sea level. And if the lake were at full pool we would be 164' under water.
We had some issues this year! First, one of our crew members came down with Covid on Monday night and another, who drove up with him, tested positive on Tuesday Morning. Both had mild symptoms, but to say the least, we were a bit concerned for the young ones and the older ones who were not vaccinated. And here is the strange thing. We were all in close quarters Sunday to Monday and not one person contracted Covid the rest of the week. Makes me really wonder what is going on. As I type this we are now on day 10 after exposure and not one person came down with Covid. Hmmmmm!
One other issues was a huge storm came over our anchorage on Thursday. Lets just say it was in the top 3 of storms to ever hit us on Lake Powell. The houseboat was well protected but I had my ski boat a bit exposed. Pic below of a rainbow that came out after the storm. I had parked the ski boat out at the front of a point to try to slow down some of the idiot ski boats, wake boats, etc from swamping us on our back end. It didn't work and when the storm came our ski boat came into shore. No damage, but as we were trying to get her off the sand a lightning bolt his so close that, one crew member who had been a Hot Shot for years, literally dropped everything and ran into the houseboat. I didn't think a human being could run that fast.
The last issue was, yes the idiot, no clue, ski boat and wake boat people that are much more prevalent in the lower lake these days. They would be flying past our stern going further into the inlet wake surfing, boarding, skiing, etc. Throwing 2 foot waves on our beach. We tried to politely ask them to stop, but it finally took my blow horn to get their attention and make them realize the damage they were doing to our beach with our small children in the water. Lesson learned. NO MORE PADRE BAY FOR US!!
One day I dropped off Brad at the entrance to Last Chance on a beautiful beach, picture below. Wish we were parked her now instead of in Padre Bay. Brad has a goal to kayak Lake Powell later this year and this was a quick test run on his kayak. He made it back to Padre Bay in less then 5 hours. I was impressed.
We made some side trips over to Face, West, Gunsight and Labyrinth canyons this year. We also just floated out the back of the boat and relaxed quite a bit this year. All and all we had another successful year at Lake Powell.
Brent and Stephanie
Brian, Sara, Rowan and Nessie
Brandon Dooley and soon to be Bree
Bradley
Ashley, Trevon and Hayden
Dylan
Tona
Marty
Yep we had a full crew once again aboard Turquoise Bay with Laketime. We departed without any issues at 6:30 am out of Page and were put softly in the warm waters of Lake Powell by 7:00am using the new Stateline Auxiliary Ramp. With the lake so low, and Castle Rock Cut Off was high and dry so we had to motor all the way around Antelope Peninsula. This main route now has many no wake zones due to the low water. But don't fret, the lake is still almost 400' deep at the dam. But with all the no wake zones, and no CRC it took us about 4 hours to make it to our destination in Padre Bay.
With DR closed, CRC dry and gas prices high, everyone is down lake. So we ordered another freezer with Laketime. We had one full of ice downstairs and one full of ice upstairs. We also froze our empty milk and Gatorade bottles in the freezers at night. We also made sure to dump all excess trash in the receptacles at Laketime before we launched. Didn't need to make a trash run either.
This year we stayed up on the north side of Padre Bay about a mile or so from some of our previous spots. The water is so low I actually flew my drone over to see the spot we were at in 2019. It was just over a mile away. YIKES!
In the main picture above we should be about 100' below water in a normal year where the lake is usually around 3630' above sea level. And if the lake were at full pool we would be 164' under water.
We had some issues this year! First, one of our crew members came down with Covid on Monday night and another, who drove up with him, tested positive on Tuesday Morning. Both had mild symptoms, but to say the least, we were a bit concerned for the young ones and the older ones who were not vaccinated. And here is the strange thing. We were all in close quarters Sunday to Monday and not one person contracted Covid the rest of the week. Makes me really wonder what is going on. As I type this we are now on day 10 after exposure and not one person came down with Covid. Hmmmmm!
One other issues was a huge storm came over our anchorage on Thursday. Lets just say it was in the top 3 of storms to ever hit us on Lake Powell. The houseboat was well protected but I had my ski boat a bit exposed. Pic below of a rainbow that came out after the storm. I had parked the ski boat out at the front of a point to try to slow down some of the idiot ski boats, wake boats, etc from swamping us on our back end. It didn't work and when the storm came our ski boat came into shore. No damage, but as we were trying to get her off the sand a lightning bolt his so close that, one crew member who had been a Hot Shot for years, literally dropped everything and ran into the houseboat. I didn't think a human being could run that fast.
The last issue was, yes the idiot, no clue, ski boat and wake boat people that are much more prevalent in the lower lake these days. They would be flying past our stern going further into the inlet wake surfing, boarding, skiing, etc. Throwing 2 foot waves on our beach. We tried to politely ask them to stop, but it finally took my blow horn to get their attention and make them realize the damage they were doing to our beach with our small children in the water. Lesson learned. NO MORE PADRE BAY FOR US!!
One day I dropped off Brad at the entrance to Last Chance on a beautiful beach, picture below. Wish we were parked her now instead of in Padre Bay. Brad has a goal to kayak Lake Powell later this year and this was a quick test run on his kayak. He made it back to Padre Bay in less then 5 hours. I was impressed.
We made some side trips over to Face, West, Gunsight and Labyrinth canyons this year. We also just floated out the back of the boat and relaxed quite a bit this year. All and all we had another successful year at Lake Powell.
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Till Next Year!
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