Explore the wonders of Utah's Glen Canyon National Recreation Area as you kayak Lake Powell with Wilderness Inquiry. This unique area offers some of the most stunning landscapes to be found anywhere. An inland desert sea that formed when Glen Canyon Dam flooded its 'slick rock' canyon, Lake Powell has 1,900 miles of shoreline and 96 narrow side canyons to explore. Camp at the base of towering canyon walls and paddle over and under the ruins of the Anasazi Indians. This trip offers a wonderful array of scenic vistas, geologic wonders, and a panorama of human history.
Sample Itinerary
DAY 1: Your trip starts early in the morning at Hall's Crossing. After breakfast participate in a kayak orientation and load the kayaks to begin the adventure. Paddle to Moqui Canyon, where you'll camp near the end of the canyon at the base of towering walls carved out of Navajo Sandstone.
DAY 2: Paddle from deep in Moqui Canyon toward the main channel of the lake. Kayak north along the east shore of the main channel to explore narrow slot canyons. You will spend the night here on the shores of Lake Powell.
DAY 3: After a hearty breakfast, paddle to Crystal Springs Canyon for lunch. After lunch, continue north to Forgotten Canyon where you'll spend the evening.
DAY 4: Remain camped at Forgotten Canyon. From base camp you can hike along the canyon walls to ancient Anasazi ruins and explore the canyon. You could also take a day trip by kayak to nearby coves and canyons.
DAY 5: Begin the return trip south. Paddle back past Crystal Springs Canyon on the opposite side of the lake and camp in Hansen Creek or near Moqui Bar.
DAY 6: After breakfast, pack up and paddle from Hansen Creek or Moqui Bar back to Hall's Crossing. The trip ends in the afternoon. Those who use WI's van transportation can expect to arrive back in Moab, UT in the evening.
Travel, Terrain, Etc...
TERRAIN/ROUTE CHOICES: The canyonlands surrounding Lake Powell are made up of Navajo sandstone cliffs, some of which are over a thousand feet high, with side canyons leading back into narrow passages. There are sandy beaches and other designated sites along the edge of the the lake for camping. You will travel through a number of canyon areas on Lake Powell.
TYPE OF TRAVEL/DISTANCE: You will travel in 21-foot Grand San Juan sea kayaks, which hold 2 or 3 people plus all necessary gear. The average day's travel will consist of 4-6 hours of paddling, depending upon the wind and weather. Travel distances will vary from 5-15 miles per day with the exception of scheduled layover days. You may have one layover day to explore the canyons and Indian ruins. To protect the environment, WI uses minimum impact camping techniques.
WEATHER: Temperatures range from 30 F (evenings) to 90 F (days) in the spring and 45 to 110 F in the summer. Be prepared for unpredictable weather, such as sudden thunderstorms or windstorms in the summer or snow storms in the spring and fall.
LODGING/BATHROOM FACILITIES: This is a camping trip. At night you will sleep in a comfortable Eureka Timberline tent. Typically, there are 3 people per 4 person tent (although other arrangements can be made). We recommend that you bring your own personal sleeping bag and "camprest" foam core inflatable mattress (a limited number of sleeping bags and mattresses are available as loaners for individuals who need them). Bathroom facilities consist of an outhouse or a foldable commode chair set up in a privacy tent. We make every effort to ensure privacy and cleanliness. There are full bathroom/shower facilities at Hall's Crossing.
GROUP SIZE: The group size ranges from 10 to 12 participants, plus 2 or more Wilderness Inquiry staff. Each group consists of people of various ages, backgrounds and abilities, including people with disabilities.
CAMP CHORES: Our trips are cooperative in nature. WI staff will assist you in whatever areas you need, however most people pitch in where they can. Part of the adventure involves learning about daily camp activities.
EQUIPMENT AND CLOTHING: If you are new to outdoor activities, you need not spend a lot of money on gear. Wilderness Inquiry will provide all necessary kayaking and camping equipment. All you need to provide is your personal gear, such as clothing and a sleeping bag. A detailed equipment list will be sent to you upon confirmation of your participation. If you need to borrow personal gear, that can usually be arranged.
LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: No previous experience is needed to complete this trip.
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Wilderness Inquiry is proud to serve Caribou Coffee on all our trips. Great food, great coffee, and great company are just some of the ingredients that make Wilderness Inquiry trips special.
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[ Dates & Fees ]
The lake, formed by the damming of the Colorado River behind Glen Canyon dam, was named Lake Powell in honor of John Wesley Powell, who explored the river from the head of the Green to the mouth of the Colorado in 1869.
Early Spanish explorers, noting the reddish hues of the silt-laden water, called the river "colorado" or "red-colored". It was referred to as the the Grand River in the United States until 1921, when, under pressure from the Colorado State legislature, the head of the river was officially declared to be in the state of Colorado, and the river was renamed in its honor.
The significant geologic history of the land surrounding Lake Powell reaches back half a billion years when the plateau on which it rests, the Colorado Plateau, was isolated from the surrounding bedrock by faults in the earth's crust. This isolation has caused the plateau to act independently of adjoining land; for this reason the plateau country differs from anyplace else on the continent. The whole plateau is generally constructed like "a stack of saucers, tilted towards the northeast". Generally, the center is lower and the edges are higher, and the tilting helps to expose the Precambrian rocks on the southwest edge, as well as to raise that area above the Basin and Range Province on the west end. The Plateau is divided into six sections based on the general structures and land forms associated within them. Lake Powell lies in the Canyonlands section of the plateau.
In the arid environment of the Canyonlands, the lake supports a wide variety of life. The canyon walls provide nesting sites for the peregrine falcons, merlins, golden eagles and canyon wrens; rock wrens are common in the canyon bottoms. Killdeer, sage thrashers and burrowing owls are present in some of the valleys. Hawks and prairie falcons hunt the open country, and the whole Plateau is a popular winter home for bald eagles, as well as a major migratory corridor for waterfowl and a number of neo-tropical birds. The coyote is the dominant mammalian predator, but they are joined by kit fox, badgers, rattlesnakes and tarantulas. Canyon mice, canyon tree frogs, cottontails and pack rats are part of the ecological system, as are many bats, lizards and scorpions. Willow trees and cottonwoods are native to the area, and many varieties of flowers and ferns thrive hundreds of feet up along water seepage lines in the cliffs. However, an increasingly prominent plant is the tamarisk tree or "salt cedar", so named because the plant has evolved a way of ridding itself of the salt content in the soil by pumping the salt out to its leaves.
Many of the hot button issues in the area are centered around the water rights: which states get it, how much they get and what they do with it once they've got it. Though the supply of water remains constant, the population increase in the southwest requires an ever-increasing supply of both water and the energy produced by it as it flows through the dams. Other issues revolve around protecting the history of any area which is drawing ever-increasing numbers of visitors. To protect the archaeological integrity of the area, park personnel are attempting to educate visitors about the importance of leaving all artifacts and ruins as they were found. It is illegal to take any artifacts found in the region, or to deface in any way the ancient art inscribed on the rock faces. As on all of our trips, but especially trips to fragile environments such as these, Wilderness Inquiry subscribes to the "leave no trace" ethic. Look, but don't touch or move.
For more information, visit these links:
National Park Service - Official Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Website
Go-Utah.com - Lake Powell
Friends of Lake Powell
[ Dates & Fees ]
WI leads trips to Lake Powell but typically only for pre-existing groups (schools, clubs, families, friends who travel together, etc...).
If you have a group of 8 to 12 people interested, we can set up a trip to Lake Powell just for you! Typical cost for a 6-day sea kayak trip is about $845 per person, which includes everything except transportation to and from Lake Powell.
Please contact us if you are interested in a group trip to Lake Powell.
info@wildernessinquiry.org
612-676-9400
800-728-0719
(Join our waiting list to be notified when WI schedules a trip to Lake Powell Kayak)
