Henry and Joyce Wakefield's Photo Album

11 Days on Lake Powell

NO BATH
NO SHOWER
NO CHANGE OF UNDERWARE

Its not all bad when the air is 90 degrees and the water is near 80 and you just happen to fall into the lake once a day with a bar of Ivory soap.

When you get out of the water you just put on a dry swim suit.

This was our 11th year at Lake Powell where we have access to a 67 foot houseboat, "REFLECTIONS". We tow an 18 foot runabout from San Diego, a 600 mile trip each way (Vegas is on the way).

Lake Powell is on the Utah-Arizona border just upstream from the Grand Canyon. It is on the Colorado River just up river form the Grand Canyon. The lake is impounded by the Glen Canyon Dam where it is 560 feet deep. The Lake Powell is over 190 miles long with a shoreline of 1,960 miles and has 96 major side canyons.

Joyce and Henry overlooking Gunsight Butte and Padre Bay

Click on any image to see a larger view

MARINA/SLIP

The houseboat "REFLECTIONS" has a slip at Wahweap Marina, just outside Page, Arizona. In the foreground is our runabout tied up to the transom of the houseboat in the slip

FISHING

Fishing has declined over the 11 years we have been coming to the lake. When striped bass were introduced they flourished to a point where they decimated the forage fish. There are now 4 million stripers in the lake with very little to eat. The average size has declined from 8 pounds to less than 2 pounds. In an effort to reduce the number of stripers, there is no bag limit and fishermen are encouraged to keep all catches.

We use 4 1/2 foot ultralight rods with 6 lb. test. We set the drags light and have a ball with the small fish.

TRAVELING

Aw "TOE" PILOT

Towing up lake

ANCHORAGE

Houseboat anchoring is very different from conventional methods. The key is to find an good beach. An ideal beach is sandy, rather than rocky, and has a gentle slope, both above and below water. You run the bow onto the beach and then set four anchors in the dry sand, two on each side. A gang plank off the bow to the beach completes the setup.