Bullfrog Eclipse Visit - 10/14/23

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nzaugg

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After a summer visit in July that was a bit of a mixed bag due to extreme heat, animal bites, mechanical issues, carbon monoxide alarms, etc. I felt like we were owed something from the lake. Boy did we get repayment and then some. This one will stick in my mind as one of the most memorable (in a good way) trips I have ever had to Lake Powell. I got in around 9:30pm Friday night to Bullfrog where we met the rest of our crew at one of the Family Housing units. By the way, they are decent, but the mattresses are quite hard. I was glad to have the hard mattresses though because I just bought a new bed at home and my wife has been complaining about how hard it is and the Bullfrog mattress was even harder, so when we got home, my wife decided the new bed is quite comfortable and has relented on keeping it.

Saturday, we were anxious about a line at the boat ramp, but since we saw so few boats in the Ticaboo lot and elsewhere in the park, we decided we could wait until 8:00 to launch and still make it to Tapestry Wall for the eclipse. Though it was cold, we drove up lake and had very few others out (though there were a few boats with 1-2 people) until we got up to the bend before Crystal, where we were passed by 2 boats with lots of people like ours (14 total in our boat). We made it to Forgotten before the eclipse started. We took a peak at the moon starting to cover the sun and then continued up to Tapestry where we watched the eclipse and enjoyed our favorite area of the lake.

After watching the ring of fire, we were not sure what to do, so we started discussing options and settled on hiking the crack. Getting over there, we found a handy rope that helped facilitate the 10 ft climb up to the path. I stayed with the boat but everyone else had a great time. On the way back down, there is a 10 ft drop that has another rope to help you get down. Whoever put the ropes there is an angel.

After the hike, we motored through Smith Fork and Moki and then made our way home from a too short stay. We stopped by Goblin Valley on the way home to allow my 22 year old son who had just bought a Goblin Valley shirt at Stan's to say he had been there and then drove home.

Between the fabulous sunset we had Friday night driving in, the amazing day on the lake, and the beautiful trip home, I would say we got more than our money's worth this time!
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Thanks, @nzaugg ! At that water level, was it difficult getting onto the shelf leading up to the crack? We get bummed on the low years when its been too hard to try and get up onto the shelf. Seems like my kids want to do this every year now.
There was a pretty good rope to help you make your way up. Not the easiest thing to get up, but not too difficult either thanks to the knots and loops. There is enough terrain and grade on that section that even the 9-year old in our group was able to make it up.

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There was a pretty good rope to help you make your way up.
In low water years, we've actually done it backwards - starting at the (south) west end instead which ends in a rock pile. A bit tougher to scramble up over that one big drop, but doable. That said, if there had been a rope on the (north) east end, we would have used that instead. Backwards is not for the faint of heart. 🤣

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In low water years, we've actually done it backwards - starting at the (south) west end instead which ends in a rock pile. A bit tougher to scramble up over that one big drop, but doable. That said, if there had been a rope on the (north) east end, we would have used that instead. Backwards is not for the faint of heart. 🤣

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When my wife got to the big drop she told me she was done, that she was just going to stay there, and to make sure the kids had a good life because she wasn't going to make it 😆

Once they were done they all agreed that we had picked the correct direction to make it through.
 
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