A Grand Adventure - Day 6 (Day on Lake Powell and Rainbow Bridge)

I was both extremely excited and very nervous for today's planned activity.  We were renting a 19 foot speedboat and driving it 50 miles on Lake Powell to see a very cool natural rock structure called Rainbow Bridge.

Jen was less excited about this activity than me, telling me privately as we planned it, "I'm just not a boat person." I had studied the map and looking from the google map view it didn't look too hard to navigate where we needed to go. Jen disagreed with me (and as usual she turned out to be right).

Possibly because of nerves, I woke up early today.  I was rewarded with a very pretty sunrise.

We arrived at the marina at 8:00 to fill out the paperwork for the boat.  Something we had learned about Lake Powell is that they hired a lot of foreign employees in the summer, kind of like they do at Cedar Point.  Our boat instructor was a young Russian.  Greg and I did our best to interpret his rudimentary directions on running the boat ("Dis button move dee prop up and down, yes?")  Feeling full of confidence (that's sarcasm), we loaded up the family and shoved off. 

A three hour tour, a three hour tour

It was a long ride and navigating the lake without getting turned around was a bigger challenge than we expected. We had to reorient a couple times, but for the most part Greg and Jen took us there brilliantly. Fortunately, I had downloaded the Lake Powell app, and luckily I was able to get a cell signal so it would work.  

Here's a video to show you some of the sights on the way:

The views all along the trip were breathtaking. It took us about 3 hrs. to make it the 50 miles to rainbow bridge. The last part of the ride I had to guide us through a narrow, winding canyon with high rock walls.  When the lake was higher, the water in the canyon would actually flow under the bridge, but now a section is dried up.

We docked the boat (always an adventure) and then hiked about 3/4 of a mile to the arch. It was dangerously hot with temps in the 110's. We had filled our water bottles with ice, and it was melted even before we got off the dock. Our water on the walk back was warm enough to use for tea and was unpleasant to drink. 

After a short walk (3/4 mile) we were rewarded with the awesome sight of Rainbow Bridge.

Like most of these sights, the bridge is even bigger and more impressive than it looks in pictures. For scale, here is a picture with me standing closer to the bridge.

Whoa!  This thing is big!

Jen and Mikah decided to continue on the trail to see the arch from the other side.  Inadvertently, they went past where they were supposed to. I waited (impatiently) for them to return while the others eventually went back to the boat.

While waiting for Jen and Mikah someone pointed out a dinosaur trace fossil in the rock.  (I'm not sure why I didn't take a picture of it.)  Meanwhile, Jen had to stop taking pictures on her hike at some point because her iPhone gave her this message:

That's a new one.

The boat ride back went pretty smoothly.  We stopped to fill up the gas tank at Dangling Rope and continued on back toward the marina.  When we got within sight of the marina we decided to find a spot in an alcove to go for a swim.  Everyone jumped in and the water felt great!

 A short video of us swimming:

We fueled up a final time and then returned the boat.  We didn't get lost and I didn't break the boat!  Success!

It was still really hot so we decided to find somewhere to eat that had air conditioning.  We ate dinner at Wahweep grill (Bulgarian sever).  While letting our food settle, we heard our trip theme song, "On the Road Again" by Canned Heat.

Because of the heat that evening, we tried to brainstorm something to do inside instead.  We considered a movie (Pirates of the Caribbean), but not everyone was interested in that. We settled on going bowling at place in Page called "The Bowl."  It was a real townie dive bar, but we didn't really care.  The locals were very friendly, including the owner.  While the kids bowled, Greg and I played a game of pool. 

As we hung out, we noticed some people playing this unusual swinging ring and hook game.  Most of us tried it and found it to be more challenging than it looks.   It was pretty fun, too!
 

One of the locals showed me how to do a trick shot and nailed it the first try.  He shouted with excitement as I high-fived him.  When we walked outside to leave, we saw our most beautiful sunset of the trip.

To top the day off we went for ice cream at a place called "Big Dipper" before we called it a day.  That night Rogan and I slept with the van doors and windows open to stay cool.  What a change from the night before.

Tomorrow we head into Utah to see Bryce and Zion National Parks.  Can't wait!