lake powell - pt. 4

We got up early again Thursday morning, managing to get our whole group of seven people, one of them six years old, trying a hike up on the slickrock above the lake at 7:30 a.m..  My brother had read about a hike that would take us to the top of Tapestry Wall, the highest point on the cliff walls of Lake Powell; that was our goal.  We all piled into the powerboat and inspected coves near Tapestry Wall until we found a place to beach and tie off the boat.

Heading up the slickrock

The immediate climb up the slickrock was pretty steep and we had to scout around for the least tricky routes.  Once up top, it was clear that we were a long way from the Wall and, with the rising sun heating things up rapidly, we weren't going to make it.  The views were pretty stunning and slickrock really is a treat to walk on - it's not slick at all when dry and grips boot soles nicely.  While the rest of the crew traipsed down a more gradual wash that led to the next cove over, H and I retraced our steps, collected the boat and drove around to pick them up.

View from the top

We cruised nearby Knowles Canyon before heading back to the houseboat, then untied the behemoth and motored to Moki Canyon.  Moki is a large, very popular canyon with a big beach at the end and several side canyons.  We had sent the powerboat on an advance scouting mission and found a lovely site down one of the left side canyons with a nice beach, overhanging cliffs for shade and a number of drowned trees, one of which would tangle a bit with our powerboat.  Once we got in and situated, however, it was clear that this was a fantastic spot.

Our campsite in a Moki side canyon

The afternoon was again spent in the water (H and my niece swam for nearly three hours straight and at the end of it, after refusing to do so all week, my niece went down the slide all by herself - twice!) and in the shade reading.  In the evening, while H and I laid low, the rest of the gang took the powerboat to the end of Moki for a hike, trying to find some of the reportedly numerous Anasazi ruins.  They didn't find any but had a good walk anyway.

The marathon swimmers

Our evening was lovely: grilled Italian sausages, [instant] grits with bacon and salad for dinner; and a campfire once the sun went down.  The moon was incredibly bright that night but it didn't keep any of us awake for very long.