Planning a trip to Powell

Ok Im trying to get some info together to plan a week long trip to Lake Powell any time next year. I was hopeing some of you that go there could help a brother out we were thinking of renting a houseboat. But if there is any other option's like, House's for rent or Motel's on the water I would like to know about them as well, here are some of my question's Thanks G"

1. When is the best time to go there
2. Where is the best part to lauch from
3 Thing's to do and see.

Grant,
Go to google and type in "houseboat lake powell", this will give you all kinds of info on renting houseboats. Antelope marina which is by Wahweap marina has the newest and nicest houseboats for rent. Currently the water is low and there are only 3 marinas to launch from. BullFrog ( way up the river), Wahweap and Antelope. There are no Hotels or anything on the Lake itself. There is Wahweap Lodge which is located above the marina and it is nice but you really dont get much Flavor of the river by staying there ( but it is cheaper than a houseboat). The best place to launch from in my opinion is Antelope or Wahweap. If you rent from Antelope they will launch your boat for you and they will also help you shuttle and load up your houseboat. The good thing about launching from Antelope is that you dont have to navigate through the narrows ( huge Chop and when the wind is up it is really dangerous).

The best time to go is obviously in the summer but if you can do it, after labor day is great. The water is still in the mid 70's and the air is in the 80's. There is a lot less of a crowd then as well. Also after Labor day (sept 2nd or so ). Your paying off season rates for the houseboat which could save you a couple thousand if you get the big 70' houseboat.

Lake Powell in itself is great to see. But you can go down Navahoe canyon, Go see Rainbow Bridge, and Dangling Rope Marina is a nice Pitstop that has Gas, ICE and snacks, no launch there.

Things do do. WAKEBOARD AND WAKESURF.

Here is a good link to Antelope marina . this will get you a good start on things. Have fun !! I will be out there 3 weeks next summer and I can't wait
www.azmarinas.com/AntelopePoint/default.asp

Erik thanks for the info. In the past we have houseboated during the super saver times of the year. The first weekend after Memorial day weekend and the weekend after labor day,when the rates drop. Yes $7,800 for a houseboat for a week is kind of steep. So if you can save a few thousand just by planing during the right weekend that will work out fine with me. So lets say we plan to do it in September.
Do you think the water level will be back up by next September? And lets say we want to stay at the Wahweap Lodge, Is there a safe place to keep the boat at night?

before i was in my school my parents would go in september, and the crowds r way down then. But only a week its kinda short, id want to do atleast a 10 day trip to make the drive worth while. just my 2 cents

Grant,
I can only hope the water will be high enough to LAunch at Wahweap. Just have to pray for alot of rain and a big snow pack in Utah and Colorado.
Wahweap lodge has boat parking , and although i have never stayed there it should be fairly safe to leave your boat out. You are actually inside the state park there, so people would actually have to pay to get in there to screw with your boat. I am going in September as well. Thats why from antelope you have a better cjance to launch if the water goes down more than it is right now. It really should not be a problem either way.
Good luck

We rented out of Wahweap last year. Normally, you pick up your houseboat at 8AM, but you can save a ton of time and make life easier if you check-in and prebaord the night before. It costs ~350 to do it, but you can save lodging for the night that way, and take off early in the morning to avoid the chop in the narrows.



It worked well for the drive out there too. We left socal at 7AM, and were at wahweap by 5PM. We checked in, loaded the houseboat, and went food shopping. We kept our boats on trailers in a dirt lot near houseboat in the marina. Next morning, we launched the boats, and motored the houseboat out of the marina. We found a great cove by 11AM...

go in late august or just after labor day:
...air temps cooler, water is warmer, less crowds, and better rates

rainbow bridge is a natural rock formation that is 20 minute hike after driving your boat there, a touristy thing to see, but worth it at least once.

There are some sand dunes, and cool channels to explore..
I think the best part is just finding your own cove and hanging out there.

Check Costco.com for some rate deals...AAA has them as well.

(Message edited by bobbymucic on October 20, 2004)

Bobby: great info as well. What does Costco, & AAA have deals on Hotels Houseboats

this is from costco's web page for trips 9/1/04 to 12/31/04...maybe similar deals for spring or next year...

Sample vacation includes: Six days and five nights aboard houseboat and houseboat tax.

46' Voyager
(maximum 10 passengers, sleeps 8)
Sample price from $1,543*

54' Adventurer & Adventurer XL (maximum 12 passengers, sleeps 12) Sample price from $2,995*

59' Discovery
(maximum 12 passengers, sleeps 12) Sample price from $2,995*


Inventory is limited and promotion is not valid with any other offer
Pre-cruise night at Lake Powell Resort is available at an additional cost...

I am not sure about AAA's...

Grant, I can email you a powerpoint file, with a bit of info about organizing a powell trip. It may be old news to you, since you have houseboated before, but it does have some detail about budgeting for food and gas.

Holy crap! I just paid $1500.00 for 7 nights / 8 Days at Oroville.

Mid summer rates for a 59 foot boat were over $6000 in 2003. Shasta is less than powell...

Could any of you guys give me some insight on what the weather and conditions might be like out there in April / May? I'm trying to plan a trip and we're aiming for sometime in the spring. Any things I should knwo about that time of year?

http://www.utah.com/nationalsites/glen_canyon.htm

Air and Water Temperatures

Month High Low Water
January 45 24 47
February 53 31 46
March 61 36 52
April 72 46 54
May 82 53 62
June 90 62 70
July 97 71 76
August 94 69 80
September 88 60 76
October 77 46 69
November 59 36 62
December 45 25

some good descriptions here: http://www.canyon-country.com/lakepowell/weather.htm

Springtime (March, April & May) can be very windy and the water is still cold (you'll need a wetsuit for skiing)

Bobby thats great Info. The rates seem super cheep. Can you please send that to grantwest@gmail.com I will look at what Costco has today. But that is way cheeper than the rates I saw on the web they wanted like almost 8,000 for a week for the big daddy boat

Everything said is great advice. Last year we hiked up Antelope Canyon from the lake, which was very cool. Antelope Canyon is just outside of Page, AZ, next to Wahweap. The other option with Antelope Canyon is to pay for a guided tour, still very very cool.

Our trip next year is scheduled for June 3 - 9. Can't Wait! We bought a share of a houseboat, and it'll be our first time using it.

Grant,

I just sent the powerpoint file. I used it to plan for a 15 person trip. The estimates were pretty good. For a 5 night, 6 day 59ft houseboat, gas for the car and boats, all the food and drink..it was ~700 bucks a person. It really was more like a 7 day vacation since it took a day to get there and a day to get back, and we got on the boat the first night... Hard to beat that for an active vacation....

We also did some cool stuff with digital cameras, a laptop, and a portable projector. We hung a sheet from the canopy of the houesboat and watched slideshows and DVD's at night....

The costco rates are off-season. But maybe they will have deals for summer. Often you can get package deals with a room for the first night, and some gas credit.

Grant ,

I was in POWELL in july and they said the water so the lowest it has been in 30 years !!! Awesome lake lot's to do and nice house boat's out of w.w.
Kim

Bobby: Some times the weekends that I talked about above are concierd off season rates, But Ill check into it.
bdehaan : when you said you hiked into Antelope Canyon . you parked your boat and got off for a hike. or did you drive to Antelope Canyon, That would be cool to take you boat and then hike from there. What about the photos where the show the sand dunes, Is that anywhere close,
another thing is there somwhere I can get a map of the lake that shows some of the points of intrest that you all are talking about. Thanks

Bobby: I got the Powerpoint thanks allot. I have planned 4 houseboat trips and can apreciate the work it takes for one to put a trip together. Your power point document is off the hook. Im guessing that I wont have a big croud. less then 10 people that want to travel that far and stay for that long.

BTW: I was loooking threw your costs and saw your estimate of $65 worth of Ice, Did you stick to that because that seems cheep. Our last trip to lake McClure we went threw $300 dollars worth of Ice in 3 days, This is what we were keep cool,

Grant,

check out
http://www.riverlakes.com/private_hiding_places.htm
there is some GPS coordinates and other good info

this site has info about specific coves, but the water level drops may cloud it up...
http://www.elakepowell.com/freds/index.htm

Grant there's still room for three more half racks what's up?? Only kidding that is an amazing amount of beer. Didn't want to mix it up a bit huh.

I was able to decrease the cost of ice drastically by using blocks this year. Some of them lasted the entire week.

I'm probably heading out there with about 8 oter female riders, anything you guys would suggest we can't possibly miss seeing or doing?

Thanks for the comment about the trip planning. I wish I would have updated the file after the trip. We did go in for ice and gas almost every day. But we had three huge coolers, and some dry ice. Once cooler was ice-only, with the dry ice too.

The big unknowns that I wish I kept better track of was houseboat gas/generator use. If I remember, we ran the A/C a few hours at night, but the generator about 8-10 hours a day. We used about half the houseboat gas to get to face canyon, hangout, and get back. I wonder if we could have avoided taking the ski-boat to the gas dock every day and just pumped out gas from the houseboat. We also brought plastic gas cans. We wakeboarded at least 5 hours every day, so we burned gas.

Here is a link to some pics of the trip

http://thecrew.smugmug.com/gallery/59708

Grant,
Alot of the big houseboats have full size refridgerators and Freezers and most of the new ones have Ice Makers as well. Take that into consideration when renting. Also another thing to look for are TOY TANKS. These are gas tanks on the houseboat for refilling your boat or
sea-doos. Some hold up to 400 gallons, and are filled up while drydocked where gas is much cheaper than on the lake ( about a $1.25 cheaper a gallon). When we were at Powell in September gas was $319 on the lake and $1.89 on land.

sorry $3.19 a gallon

Bobby great photo's you guys looked like you rocked it. I love the cliff diving photo's and the 3 guys about to go down the slide LOL. Was there anything you didnt jump off of That would explain the Diving warning in you Powerpoint document.LOL

With three digital cameras we took over 500 photos..I couldn't post them all, and my friend manages that smugmug thing..

The three guys going down the slide cracks me up too...one guy actually hurt his leg during that slide...

As you probably saw from the powerpoint stuff, I was pretty anal about things. I lifeguarded in catalina island for a few years and saw some crazy stuff..I've also been sued for a wakeboard related accident (a girl broke her femur trying to get up on a wakeboard, and my insurance settled the claim)...That is why I had disclaimers and collected insurance and contact info for people...


My next houseboat trip will be family style..My wife, our infant, and a few relative/close friends with kids.. I will miss ringing the "beer bell" on the houseboat at 8AM.

Erik: Did you use the These "toy tanks" are they somthing that you can rent or comes with the houseboat rental. They sound like a great Idea. I hate buring threw 1/4 tank just to go get gas and being that you are on a lake that you dont know when your going to get your next gas its a great Idea. I have never heard of a Houseboat that has a Ice maker that can keep up with what you would normaly use, I would think a large ice maker would need the power/generator going 24/7 I know the fridge has a small Ice maker but that not what your talking about correct.

Bobby: You had a girl sue you for breaking her leg while behind your boat??? WTF I never thought about a waver Im lucky, Great Idea. Where do you get these. (this should be another thread) When I saw the 3 man slide photo I instantly thought someones gonna get f"ed up on this one. A buddy of my'n thought it would be a great Idea to try to stand up while going down the slide, He made it all the way down standing up till he hit the bottom and g-ee-d out and his feet flew out from under him bashing his head on the slide, Woop's we all leard not to mess with the slide. LOL

Grant,

I didn't do a waiver, I don't think it would hold up in court. I just wanted a disclaimer statement to let people know that they could get f'd up if they are stupid.

The broken leg thing was such a bad deal. She was a friend of a friend, and I guess very fragile. Seriously, she was maybe going 5 mph trying to get up and broke her leg. She really tried to get as much money as possible..granted, she was pretty hurt, but she had did the uncool thing and tried to blame it on me. She could have gotten 2 grand medical, but she opted to go liability and milk out 50 grand. I wish we would have gone to court, just to prove her wrong. She was lucky to have people experienced in water accidents with her, we were able to move her without much trauma, being that the break was near the femoral artery. she was also lucky it was a very calm day at lake mead, we were able to make the 4 miles back to the marina in only 35 minutes. They air-lifted her out via helicopter.

Standing on a slide is guarenteed comedy. Another good one is when someone doesn't realize that the slide needs to be wet, and they come to a skin-buring screeching halt half-way down...

You can also rent those water-trampolines at powell.. At first we thought it would be fun, then we realized that someone would try to jump from the top of the houseboat onto the tramp...might of been funny to watch....

make sure you post pictures of your trip next..I want to see powell done bling-bling style.!

Grant the toy tanks are actually a part of the Houseboat not something that is rented. The Boat we were on had 2 enormous Generators under the back deck and you cloud barely hear them and yes they did make enough for us but if you guys are big drinkers ( the crowd I run with are not) then you may need to make some runs. Another idea that we use is by a couple of blocks of dryice and put regular Ice on top of it and it will stay frozen for a good 5 days. The good thing with antelope Marina is that it is close to Padre Bay and Wark Creek Bay . SO you dont have to drive all the way down to Dangling rope or to Wahweap.

As for the 3 guys laying on top of each other on the slide. I wont even touch that with a stick
!!!!!!!!

Hey hows it going. I live in colorado and me and my family go to lake powell about 7 times a year. We own a houseboat that is at Halls Marina (right near Bullfrog). I went down there a week ago and the weather was a little chilly but there were little crowds. We launch at bullfrog which dosent have a cement ramp in the water but it has a reasonable dirt launch. The water is nearly 170 ft. low in the lake, but beaches are still available. If anyone lives near colorado tell me b/c im always looking for a ride. If u have anymore questions just ask I've gone to lake powell nearly 80 times so I can probabley answer anything u need. Rock on, Brett

Grant:
Late response I know, but we hiked up Antelope Canyon from the Lake. Either way, Antelope Canyon is a must see.

Bobby:
Very cool pics!

Lake Powell ROCKS! I went on the 59' Discovery last year and in '05 we have a Voyager and a XL Discovery. It is my crews' new vacation spot. The new XL boats have gas pumps on the back of them allowing to pump directly out of you houseboat gas tanks. It is expensive but very very worth it. Any earlier the June expect some short storms. the wind gets bottle-necked in the canyons. Going to Powell as a rookie houseboater will be very exciting but if there is one peice of advice I could give it would be to make sure you have your houseboat tied up properly. The wind gets nasty