Lake Powell Day 2

The night wasn’t without incident. Seth rolled off his bed onto Nate, so Dad had to rescue Nate. Then, in the morning, Glen woke up with bite marks on the back of his arm. Apparently, Laurie dreamed he was an ogre and biting was her only defense. Despite these setbacks, we had the boat loaded and ready to go by 9 o’clock. 

Nate took a few turns driving the boat. 

Dax loves driving the boat, too. 

Seth had his turn, too, and it was super windy!

It was a full day as we made the 50 mile trek to Rainbow Bridge. Amazingly, there were very few boats on the water, and the lake was as smooth as a mirror. Glen revved it up over 40 for most of the way, and we made it in record time. It was really cold with the wind and the spray, but we were glad to be there in only 90 minutes. 

The water was super smooth.

The boys were freezing!

We were so grateful for the blanket. 

We hid under the blanket, anything to keep warm.

The hike up to Rainbow Bridge was about a mile. Dad was really excited because this was our last national site in Utah that we needed to visit. We spotted a lot of lizards along the way, and the boys even saw some fish along the dock including massive carp and some bass. Finally, we came around a corner and the bridge came into view. It was massive enough to house a twenty-five story building, and stood entirely by itself. We took a bunch of pictures, and since we had Nate with us, we even got some nice family pictures. Dad followed the trail up around the bridge to the back. There were some plaques commemorating the Native Americans, and the back of the arch looked a little different. Then he and Mom hustled down the trail to catch the boys. 

The canyon into Rainbow Bridge was pretty. 

Lake Powell was so beautiful.

Seth enjoyed the boat so much.

Mom and Nate are always good buddies.

Mark and Mom snuggled together to stay warm.

The hike to Rainbow Bridge wasn't too long,
and it was cool to come around the corner and see the bridge.

Laurie and Glen hiked part of the way with us. 

The Bridge is massive!

We were surprised no one was there.

Mom and Dad were excited to visit this site in Utah.

We love getting family pictures on vacation.

There was a beautiful dino track by Rainbow Bridge.

Dad always has to try a selfie. 

Rainbow Bridge was amazing.

The back of Rainbow Bridge looked lots different. 

We got back in the boat and headed farther down the lake to find a place for lunch. After turning up a narrow gorge, we found the perfect place to park the boat. The boys paddled around in the tube while Mom made sandwiches. We had a nice lunch and then headed deeper into the canyon. Glen was hoping that it would get narrow enough we’d be able to touch the walls, but the water in the lake is pretty low, so it only got down to about 18 feet wide. Still, the towering orange canyon walls and the deep green water was gorgeous. We traveled a good three miles up the narrow gorge before we had to turn around and sail out.

We found little alcoves to eat lunch. See the boys floating way out there?

Exploring the narrow canyons were so cool.

The colors at Lake Powell are gorgeous. 

Mark loved being the spotter in the front of the boat.

Our next stop was for gas at Dangling Rope Marina. Gas was $5.29 per gallon, but we had to have some to get back to Bullfrog, and we weren’t done exploring yet. We turned in our Junior Rangers on the dock and bought a spoon for Grandpa, but they were all sold out of ice cream. The boys enjoyed spotting some huge fish off the dock, and we all used the floating bathroom, too.

We were so lucky to catch a ranger to get our Junior Ranger badges.

Dad wore his mask to help hold his hat on. 

We tried a few more narrow canyons that were pretty cool. None got slimmer than 15 feet, but at the end of Davis Canyon in the Escalante River, we found LaGorche Arch. Farther up the river we saw some reconstructed Native American ruins. The water was too low to climb to them, though. We only made one other stop at the Hole-In-The-Rock overlook. Technically, it is more of an underlook, because you can see all the way from the water level up to the gap that the Pioneers used to access the river. It is amazing that they would even attempt such a thing, and more amazing that they made it.

LaGorche Arch

Exploring in the boat was a blast. 

Mark really wanted to use the oar to push the boat from the wall. 

Hole in the Rock 

So many different rock formations at Lake Powell.

We found another hidden arch. It's tough to see. 

We found these ancient ruins, too.

We put the bed up in the cuddy of the boat and started the long drive up to Bullfrog. It was so smooth again that Glen got the boat up over 40 miles per hour, even though there was a bit more traffic. We pulled up to the dock right as the sun went down. It was late and we didn’t finish off the pasta and meatballs until nearly eight o’clock. There was apple pie and ice cream, too. Mom really feeds us well to end our perfect days!

Mom and Dad had such a great time on this trip.

The reflection was nearly perfect.

Seth had so much fun!!