LAKE POWELL – PADDLEBOARDING
Today was supposed to be a free day so we took our time waking up and decided what we wanted to do for the rest of the week. We made some phone calls to check prices on things and devised a plan.
After a few phone calls we decided to go to Lake Powell and rent paddleboards. After packing our lunches and snacks we left. On the way to Page, AZ we drove over Glen Canyon Dam, stopped for some photos and continued on our way. Glen Canyon Dam has a tourist center on the west side of the dam, but we didn’t go… it was good enough for us to just get a few photos and peek thru the fence.
We went to Lake Powell Paddleboard Rentals which is a nice shop full of friendly workers and souvenirs. I’m glad we had a Ford Explorer because we had to load 5 paddleboards on top of the roof, 5 lifejackets and 5 paddles into the car. Then you have to drive 15 minutes away to the actual lake.
*Make sure you have the proper car if you want to rent these*
Lake Powell is unlike any body of water I’ve ever been around. You can’t even see it from the road because it’s so far down in the canyon. There are so many winding legs off of the lake that if stretched out it would be more coastline than the eastern coast of America.
You will need your PARK PASS here to enter the area where the loading ramp was. It was the steepest longest ramp I’ve ever been on. To unload then park the car is a loooong walk.
From our understanding of the people we rented the SUP boards from, we thought this trip would take us to the Antelope Slot Canyon where the leg of this stream becomes really narrow and you can touch the canyon walls as you paddle through it. The folks at the rental place told us it would take us 30 minutes to get to the entrance of the canyon then probably another 30 minutes to get to the really neat area.
With THAT being said, we started to head out of the marina and after about 15 minutes in Dad turned around and was done with it. (he recently had both rotator cuffs fixed and just didn’t want to overdo it). *TIP: make sure the person who goes back HAS the keys so they can go back to the car or get out of the sun if they need – there is NO shade at this lake*
Mom, Lizzy, Ricky & I kept paddleboarding and we made it to the mouth of the stream, no problem. To get there you’ll need to stay close to the shoreline because you are sharing this with other boaters and jet skiers. One thing we didn’t factor in was that this slot canyon is usable by boaters and jet skiers too…. So, some of the time you are battling to get out of the way and trying to combat their wake.
From the mouth till about another 45 minutes we hoped we were getting close. We stopped a few kayakers and jet skiers to ask how much further the slot canyon was and EVERYONE we stopped said “about another 25 minutes”. By the time the 3rd person told us that we realized we were not getting any closer and we were already about 2 hours in.
Ricky and Mom had started back before Lizzy & I to give dad the keys, so he wasn’t dying in the sun… so now it was just Lizzy and I. Again, after asking a few more people how close we were, someone told us “when the water gets brown and murky, you’re close” — wellll the water was clear and blue and we knew we were not going to make it there… at least not on SUP boards.
Lizzy and I had a photoshoot (haha) then turned around to head back. We paddled and paddled and paddled and finalllly made it to the mouth of the canyon. We kept going, thinking we were close to the marina, then off in the distance Lizzy spotted Ricky and Mom who had left before us… that gave us the laughter we need to push forward. Unfortunately, when we decided to turn back the wind shifted, and we paddled into the wind BOTH WAYS!
I ended up paddling hard and I passed all of them – at that point I had flashbacks of a bike ride my mom and I did where we should have turned back a lot earlier than we did because the ride back was brutal. My motto then was “don’t stop paddling” and it was once again true here. I’m not kidding, if I would have stopped paddling, I would have just blown to shore and been done. At this point it was a mental game to not stop.
I made it do the dock and saw my dad floating in the water on his SUP. He asked where everyone was when I got back. Lizzy and Ricky were off in the distance, but mom was nowhere to be seen. By this time, it was later afternoon and the wind had really kicked up and the water was hard to paddle in.
We did all end up making it back but not without blisters on our hands, exhausted and dehydrated. It had become HOT out.
Ricky and Dad did a fantastic job of loading the boards back on top of the Explorer and we were out of there. Needless to say, we were toast and are now done with paddleboarding for the next 5 years. We’re more powersport people and should have taken kayaks or a jet ski.
The reoccurring theme here is this: In the Southwest, no one really has a clue on timing and distance…You have to KNOW and understand for YOURSELF distances and really do your research.
NOTES:
- Rent a jet ski or small boat to see the canyons. The lake is huge.
- Know the distance 100% before venturing off. We thought it was closer than it was.
- I later went and measured the distances on google map – it’s about 1 mile to the opening of the Antelope Canyon and then another 1.6 miles to get to the end of the slot canyon. 2.6miles total.
- The drive is 20 minutes away, so you need a vehicle to support the SUP’S
- The wind can pick up, just like on any lake, so make sure you’re a strong paddler.
- We see ourselves as fit individuals & it was still hard.
QUOTES:
- “I would do that again” – Mom/ All of us roll our eyes
