lake powell,az
 

who has taken any of the cruises on lake powell and are they worth the time?
we have one day in lake powell and my husband really wants to go on the boat trip to rainbow bridge .

we will have my dad, a 9 and 11 year old with us.

Melissa

My grown daughter and I enjoyed our boat trip (8 am to 4 pm) to Rainbow Bridge, but with the low water level, you feel very enclosed during the trip. Also it's something like a two mile round trip walk to Rainbow Bridge. The bridge itself is beautiful but you only stay about five minutes. I would have preferred to rent a boat and do my own thing.

Suggest you rent a small houseboat for 2 days with your children. A one-day trip to Rainbow Bridge is not enough time to enjoy Lake Powell, its canyons,and retrace indian lore.

If you want less of a time commitment, you can take the 2 hour Antelope Canyon boatride. We did this last spring, and it was memorable. The boat cruises deep into the water filled side of Antelope Canyon, there are stark white and pink canyon walls on each side of the boat, almost close enough to touch.

We've done the tour to Rainbow Bridge twice and loved both times. I use to highly recommend this trip.

Unfortunately, with the lake levels so low it makes it hard to get to Rainbow Bridge. The last I heard the trail to Rainbow Bridge was a 3 mile round trip hike. Also they have had to close the path to Rainbow Bridge for repairs so ask before you go. If you go in the summer temps reach 100 degrees so be forwarned.

I still think a tour boat trip on Lake Powell might be worth it just to see the beautiful lake. Or you might try the float trip on the Colorado River that starts in Page, AZ. This was the highlight of last years vacation. Very beautiful and no rapids....except for when our driver drove us right into the wake of the other floatune just to get us wet;)

As for renting a boat. We went last year with my BIL and his ski boat. With the lake so low you have to go thought Antelope Canyon (this is not the slots canyon) and it's like being on the open ocean. We got beat up really bad for a good half hour each way and we were going slow. It also take a long time to get to the canyon where Rainbow Bridge is located. We used up most of our day just coming and going. I DO NOT recommend renting a boat while the lake is low.

Our Pictures of Rainbow Bridge Boat Tour & Area 2001:

http://www.utahtea.lithium.com/lakepowell2001.htm

Lake Powell Boat Trip 2003:

http://www.utahtea.lithium.com/vacat...oat%20trip.htm

Float Trip 2003:

http://www.utahtea.lithium.com/vacation2003/float.htm

Utahtea

When I was there the Rainbow boat was not an option. I don't remember was it closed due to security issues, or our tour did not have enough time to allow that trip. I did take the Antelope canyon tour, and was I glad I did! It was wonderful! You feel like you left the Earth and landed on the moon. Awesome!

FainaAgain,

I do know that they have had to close the trail for repairs last year.

Utahtea

Oh, so it was closed for repairs? It must've been the Glenn Dam closed for security reason. I was on a tour, so I got them a bit mixed up. Thank, TEA.

This info is helping me also since we will be at Lake Powell in July, '04, for 2 nights coming from the grand canyon. Checked into renting a houseboat, but too expensive for me. Sounds like the 2 hr. Antelope Canyon boat trip is good for 1 day. We also plan on a float trip. Does it leave from anywhere near Wahweap Lodge, when, and how long does it take? Thanks for input.

I am reading this thread with great interest. When we use FF miles, we have to plan a year in advance, and we're thinking of maybe a Grand Canyon/Zion/Lake Powell trip with my 2 boys in June 2005. We were considering such a trip for this summer, but were very concerned about the low water levels.
Utahtea- when you say you got beat up going through Antelope Canyon, what did you mean? I'm assuming whatever problems you encountered would be worse in a large houseboat?
My husband would love for us to go houseboating for a few days, but I'd be happy to do the float trip and maybe do a boat trip to Rainbow Bridge (not where we rent the boat ourselves). If we did rent a houseboat, how much time would we need to get out and back to Rainbow Bridge and the Indian Ruins (the name escapes me right now)?

I suspect Utahtea was referring to the common experience of a small boat on a big lake banging through the choppy water. With the water level down, some of the more sheltered side channels at the lower end may not be usable. If that was the issue, you wouldn't be bothered much by it at houseboat speeds.

A couple of years ago when we rented a 20ft ski boat for the day at Lake Powell, I took a look at the chart and wind conditions and decided it wasn't worth it to go up to Rainbow Bridge, so we spent the day in the more sheltered arms of the lake (and had a great time).

The main boating route is now land locked because of the low water levels. You have to take any boat, jet ski, tour boat or houseboat thought Antelope Canyon which is 8 miles long.

Antelope Canyon is very deep and so the water is very choppy. This was how the park ranger explained it to me. The tour boats are a lot bigger so you won't feel the choppy water as bad.

Once we left Antelope Canyon it was much smoother going and we could go a lot faster. It's still another 40 miles to Rainbow Bridge and that takes a lot longer in a boat when top speed is about 35 MPH!

You can not go as far down the little finger canyons so many of the arches and ruins were not reachable.

BTW, I think house boats only travel about 5 or 10 mph so I believe it will take days to reach Rainbow Bridge.

Utahtea

To Momof3boys,

You catch the Antelope Boat tours at Waheap Marina and the Colorado Float Trip in Page, AZ and they bus you down to the base of the dam and after the float trip they bus you back to Page.

Utahtea

We have rented houseboats the past 2 summers...We loved it, but its very expensive & takes a lot of planning because of all the food & supplies you need to bring. You can't really count on the marina stores always being stocked either..Last summer Bullfrog did not have milk the day we left.(thankfully we had some, but would have liked one more just in case) The lake levels are low but that does not mean you can't enjoy the lake. You just can't get into the canyons all the way, but we used the power boat to do that anyways. We left from Bullfrog & made it to the RB in one day, i believe in about 4-5 hrs. We loved the hike into RB and we were there longer than 5min. we talked to the Ranger on duty.
I think the shortest time you can rent a houseboat is 3days & even that will cost over $1500, not including gas &food.,plus you need able bodied people for parking the boat...that means jumping off into the water and trying to find a place to tie up or sink the anchors. You don't always end up with a sandy beach, so you have to wrap the ropes on rocks. Our first night out in 2002 we thought we were held fast,till at 2am HUGE winds blew thru and we dislodged...lots of fun re-anchoring in the dark! Learned a lesson & almost everynight around 2am the wind came back.
Its been one of our favorite vacations, but lots of planning & prep!