Planning a trip? Make it to Lake Powell!
After a short 16 hour drive (and a brief camping stint in the parking lot of a Blanding, Utah grocery store) my family and I found ourselves checking in to Hall's Crossing Marina. This is the port where we picked up our 53' houseboat which we would call home for the next five days. After arriving at Hall's, first off we found out that we could shave an hour and a half off of our drive to Powell by driving to Bullfrog Bay and taking a short ferry ride to Hall's Crossing. Needless to say, we did this on our way home and it saves ALOT of time (if you are travelling to Powell for the first time... take note of this).

We were all Lake Powell virgins and only knew what we had seen or read about the lake, so of course we opted for the scenic route so we could see The Rainbow Arch and many other "must see" natural wonders. This involves heading south from Hall's Crossing. Hall's is located on about mile marker 93 (the entire Lake is about 150 miles long). Now I could turn this into a recount of our vacation, but instead I will cut to the chase of what to do and where to go.

I can sum it up very quickly and save you all alot of time and gas by saying:
Go SOUTH if you want to see more of the "scenic" part of Lake Powell.
Go NORTH if you want to find glass!!!

We searched for hours, er I mean 2 days, to try to find smooth water on the southside of Lake Powell. Don't get me wrong, the scenery was very cool, but after awhile, a rock becomes a rock and we were there to wakeboard! We did find a few canyons down south that were great to ride in if you were the one taking the first run. It was so cool to ride in these canyons (much different than Carter Lake), even though the water sucked. Where is all this water we watch on the videos of guys riding on miles and miles of glass without another boat in sight? We came to a conclusion... the tourists go south! We need to talk to the locals!

We finally talked to a guy at Bullfrog Bay that basically told us the same thing... if you want the good water, GO NORTH up to Good Hope Bay and there you will find the holy grail. So we did. The problem is that NOTHING is close in Lake Powell, especially when you have a houseboat that tops out about 8-10 MPH. We spent a day driving up north and finding another campsite. Finally, we found what were there for. WOW! Words can't really explain how awesome it was when got up to the northern part of the lake. There it was.... a giant mirror surrounded by HUGE red and orange canyons. Not a ripple in sight as far as you could see, and better yet... no other boats either! The riding and skiing for our last few days at Powell was incredible.

The wakeboarding scene on Powell was pretty good. It seemed like every boat we saw had a tower, ski boat or not. We even saw people riding behind big cuddy cruisers. It was kinda funny, we walked in to a marina one day and they had a LF Helix for sale with SANDAL bindings (sweet setup). Alot of locals were shocked that there "was even wakeboarding in Nebraska". We were shocked that there were even teeth in their mouths!

Essentials you should take with you to Powell:
BEER/ALCOHOL: Bring it from home, because remember you are in UTAH and all you will find there is a poor selection of 3.2% beer.
CLOTHES: Boardshorts, boardshorts, boardshorts. Don't mess with bringing anything but shorts and tees because there are NO restaurants/bars anywhere on the lake. Bring a sweatshirt or two depending on the time of year you go down.
FOOD: Plan on eating? Bring your own because the closest grocery store is 2 hours away and you will find a better selection of meats at a shoe store. You can get dry ice to pack it in or make a daily trip to the marina for more ice.
GAS: Bring a TON of gas cans and/or a good siphoning system so you can siphon gas from your houseboat (two 88 gallon tanks on board). There are four marinas on the entire lake and let me just say... they are not close. Extra gas cans on your boat will help your boat wake anyway.
TUNES: We took along our portable PA system which came in handy at night, not only for cranking tunes throughout the canyons of Powell, but also came in handy as our "public relations" tool by announcing ourselves to every passerby. Also, I recommend taking a TV/VCR so you can watch wakeboard films at night when your resting your sore bodies.
ACCESSORIES: Take fins, screws, bolts, sloosh, etc. Like I said before... the marinas there have nothing and it's a bad place to be without binding bolts!
BEDDING: Take a sleeping bag and pillow... you'll need it.

For more info on Lake Powell:
http://www.visitlakepowell.com
http://www.powellguide.com

Directions to Lake Powell

Map of the Lake

Marina Services

Houseboats