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The next morning didn't bring me any relief from my cold,
however, I was still awake at first light anyway, ready to start another
adventurous day on the lake. And it certainly shaped up to be a day full of
adventure.
As dawn broke across the lake, spreading rays of golden sunshine onto the
canyon walls, Erika took out the video camera to capture the moment. At the
same time, John decided to do a little fishing with Danny's fishing pole.
Erika began to film him as he cast the line into the water, narrating as the
videotape rolled, "...and here's John fishing..."
 "I've got a bite!" John exclaimed, reeling in the line. He had caught a
medium-sized striper, at least eight inches long -- a bit too small to eat,
but bigger than the fish Danny had caught the day before. After taking
pictures of him and his catch, John unhooked the little guy and threw him back
into the lake. Then we all got ready to go.
Our original plan for the morning was to go hike
The Rincon, however, since
the speedboat was almost out of gas, we decided not to risk it. Instead, John
and I went with Bill and Erika to Hall's Crossing so that we could fill up the
speed boat and the spare gas containers. We left camp at 6:30 that morning,
while Janice and Danny were still sleeping, and drove the speed boat to the
marina at Hall's Crossing.
During the trip to the marina, the waters on the lake were very calm, so John
asked if he could do some water skiing -- if he waited until later to ski, the
water would be too choppy, making it difficult for him to get up on the skis.
Of course, he still had problems getting up on slalom because the boat just
wasn't powerful enough, so he had to get up on doubles then dump the second
ski along the way. It worked, and he skied for about five minutes before he
intentionally let go of the rope and went down. After retrieving him from the
water, we continued on towards the marina, which was fifteen miles away.
We reached the marina at 7:00 a.m. that morning -- 8:00 a.m. Utah time. The
gas station had just opened for business, and we seemed to be the first
customers of the day. As we sputtered towards the dock, we could see one of
the attendants emerging from the office. His timing couldn't have been more
perfect, because at that exact moment, only a hundred yards from the dock, the
speed boat ran out of gas! We pulled out the oars and started to paddle
towards the gas station. When the attendant saw our troubles, he shouted to us
that he would tow us in. He then jumped into another boat and sailed out
towards us to rescue us. We thanked him profusely, stating that we were used
to being in situations like that.
While at Hall's Crossing, we stopped at the store so that we could purchase
more ice and film -- important things to have -- and so that I could get some
cold medicine and a new hat (to replace the one I lost on the first day). I
found one just like the one I had lost -- only this one had the words "Lake
Powell" embroidered onto it, making it a much more expensive hat.
During the return trip to the houseboat, the four of us went exploring into
the side canyons, in hopes of finding some Moki Steps -- steps that were
carved into the canyon walls to enable miners to climb to their claims. There
are lots of Moki Steps to be found in Lake Powell. According to our map, we
should have been able to find them in Long Canyon. However, we could not find
them, so we gave up and continued on towards the houseboat.
Later that morning, sometime after eleven a.m., we arrived at the Rincon,
ready to go hiking. At first, we had agreed to split into two groups: John,
Danny and I would hike the trail to the top of the butte, and the others would
hike the easy trail that wrapped around the back of the hill. At the last
minute, I decided to back out because I just wasn't feeling well enough to
climb a mountain. Then, as we approached the mountain, John, too, began to
have second thoughts about climbing the Rincon. "According to the book," he
told Danny, "there is no trail leading to the top. Basically, it's a scramble
all the way to the top. Now that I'm looking at it, it doesn't look fun."
Danny agreed with him, so they decided that we would all hike the easy trail
around the back of the mountain.
 In hindsight, we should have done this hike as a two-boat shuttle or during
the morning hours, when it wasn't so hot outside, because after hiking five
kilometers through the desert, under the baking sun, most of our group was hot
and tired. Instead of returning the way we had come, where our boats were,
John and Danny suggested that they go around the front side of the Rincon to
get the houseboat. They figured that it wouldn't be very far at all, that it
would only take them a half an hour to reach the houseboat.
An hour or so later, the rest of us were still waiting for them to come and
get us. Janice and Bill went swimming, while Erika and I sat down on a
boulder. Eventually, it began to get scary: what if one of them fell trying to
climb the mountain? Finally, Bill decided that he could no longer wait for
them, so he hitched a ride on the back of a jetski and went back to the
houseboat. Minutes later, Danny arrived in the speedboat and picked up the
rest of us.
What happened was this: John and Danny had severely misjudged the hike around
the front of the Rincon -- it was much longer than they had imagined! (In
hindsight, it would have been better to return the way they had come.) During
the hike, both John and Danny ran out of drinking water, and it was getting
too hot for them to continue. At that point, they split up; John tried to swim
it, and Danny continued on land. Only Danny made it back to the houseboat, and
from there, he hitched a ride to the speed boat, which was parked about a half
a mile away. John, on the other hand, realized that swimming wasn't such a
good idea, so he dragged himself onto shore and started flagging down people
on jetskis. A twelve year-old girl rescued him and took him back to the
houseboat at roughly the same time Bill showed up.
Once we were all together again and happy that no one had been injured, we
climbed on board the houseboat and had a late lunch. Then, we began to look
for camp for the night. Since we had to be back at Wahweap by 2:00 the next
day, we had to start heading back in that direction, meaning that we would
have to camp near the junction of the San Juan River Arm.
We set up camp in Reflection Canyon in time for dinner. That night, John and I
were in charge of cooking, so we made our favorite: chicken fajitas,
John-style! Even though he had to make them tamer than usual because his
mother doesn't do spicy food, they were still delicious.
Unfortunately, this turned out to be a miserable night for me, because I
became very sick. I had a burning fever, and I was very congested. John made
me go to bed at eight o'clock that night, and I fell asleep with him at my
side, comforting me. Return to
Another Verley Adventure. |
