JFRCalifornia
Keeper of San Juan Secrets
At the current lake level, you can go about 4.7 miles in a boat beyond Gregory Butte until the navigable end of West Canyon. When the lake is full, you can go about 9.0 miles.
Choal Falls
- Thread starter Sammi
- Start date
- Status
Kachinashadow
Member
I seem to remember that, at lower than full pool, at the entrance there were quite a few obstacles at or below the surface. Is it currently pretty tight quarters at the entrance...as you can see in my icon we have a 30' boat.
JFRCalifornia
Keeper of San Juan Secrets
You ought to be able to navigate the whole distance in that 30-footer. Although it does narrow a bit, West never becomes a tight slot in the navigable parts, but of course, I've never boated up there at 3521, so I can't be 100% certain of current conditions...
When I check Sentinel Hub for a current image, it does look like it gets pretty narrow at a couple of spots toward the end...
There's also a pretty recent higher resolution image on Google Earth from 8-26-22 when then lake was at 3532, or about 11 feet higher than today. That's a pretty helpful image for sure...
Last edited:
Kachinashadow
Member
Fantastic! Thanks for the info and linkYou ought to be able to navigate the whole distance in that 30-footer. Although it does narrow a bit, West never becomes a tight slot in the navigable parts, but of course, I've never boated up there at 3521, so I can't be 100% certain of current conditions...
When I check Sentinel Hub for a current image, it does look like it gets pretty narrow at a couple of spots toward the end...
There's also a pretty recent higher resolution image on Google Earth from 8-26-22 when then lake was at 3532, or about 11 feet higher than today. That's a pretty helpful image for sure...
Todd
Escalante-Class Member
Your name isn’t Bode is it?Fantastic! Thanks for the info and link
looks like I guys boat some of us use to know.
Rivergoer
Keeper of San Juan Secrets
Early February (3,522) we spent a couple days in West and can verify @JFRCalifornia No problem with your 30’er, just take it slow and keep eyes peeled.
Kachinashadow
Member
No...it's Paul but thanks for asking
Kachinashadow
Member
Good deal...thanks for the info
In 2019, we set out for Chaol Falls on July 15 specifically to take advantage of high water for the year which was about 3620. In past years, we attempted this expedition after levels had fallen considerably and were defeated by the mud, but this time it was a totally different situation. We cruised the upper reaches of Navajo over a sandy bottom until we could go no further. We tied up the boat and walked thru the water a short distance until we were on flat moist sand with a shallow meandering creek...
This was truly one of the most beautiful hikes I've ever seen at Powell. It was blistering hot but dipping your hat in that water made all the difference in the world. It seemed like we walked a good 3 miles but never made it to Chaol. I suspect it may have been just around the next corner but we were running low on drinking water and had to turn back. This is as far as we got...
Came across some wild horses on the way back. They seemed pretty calm but we did not approach them. It was just as well as their stallion was lurking nearby and he was not tolerating any funny business.
Maybe some day if the lake ever gets back up to the mid 3600's, we'll give it another try.
This was truly one of the most beautiful hikes I've ever seen at Powell. It was blistering hot but dipping your hat in that water made all the difference in the world. It seemed like we walked a good 3 miles but never made it to Chaol. I suspect it may have been just around the next corner but we were running low on drinking water and had to turn back. This is as far as we got...
Came across some wild horses on the way back. They seemed pretty calm but we did not approach them. It was just as well as their stallion was lurking nearby and he was not tolerating any funny business.
Maybe some day if the lake ever gets back up to the mid 3600's, we'll give it another try.
Oh thanks this is really helpful! I’m hoping the lake will go up and to do it from the lake. But if not, this would be a great option!
JFRCalifornia
Keeper of San Juan Secrets
If the lake rose to 3575-3580, it would save about 1.5 miles of walking (in each direction) compared to today if you tried to hike from the lake. So what would be an 18-mile round trip now would still be 15 miles... a long hike... shorter from the land it seems...
Last edited:
Bill Sampson
Keeper of San Juan Secrets
That's a long hike for a day, especially in hot weather.
According to JFR's earlier post:
Here's the hiking distance to the swimming pool narrows from the navigable end of the canyon at different lake levels:
- 0.4 miles at 3700
- 1.7 miles at 3635
- 3.1 miles at 3600
- 4.4 miles at 3545
- 4.7 miles at 3525
Are the "swimming pool narrows" part of Chaol Falls? Of so, it looks like about 7.5 miles round trip at 3575.
Here's the hiking distance to the swimming pool narrows from the navigable end of the canyon at different lake levels:
- 0.4 miles at 3700
- 1.7 miles at 3635
- 3.1 miles at 3600
- 4.4 miles at 3545
- 4.7 miles at 3525
Are the "swimming pool narrows" part of Chaol Falls? Of so, it looks like about 7.5 miles round trip at 3575.
When the lake was up to highest point of 3707 I drove my boat to the base of Choal Falls and looked at the waterfallls while sitting in the captains seat. At low water (not as low as right now) I have also walked to the base of the falls in 4 hours. If I had my choice I would suggest that the lake be filled to full pool once more.
JFRCalifornia
Keeper of San Juan Secrets
Those are distances in West Canyon to the swimming pools there... not Navajo Canyon... a discussion of West was also part of this thread...
Here's the one-way hiking distances to Chaol Falls from the end of the lake at different levels:
3700 - pretty much right there...
3638 - 3 miles
3591 - 6 miles
3545 - 7.5 miles
3522 - 8 miles
Last edited:
OK thanks for the clarification. Looks like I still had another mile to go when we were there in 2019.
So Wayne, do you think BLM would ever risk letting the lake approach 3700 again? I heard a rumor they would start getting nervous if it reached 3675. Have you seen any official policy on ensuing there's always room for unexpected storms in the spring?When the lake was up to highest point of 3707 I drove my boat to the base of Choal Falls and looked at the waterfallls while sitting in the captains seat. At low water (not as low as right now) I have also walked to the base of the falls in 4 hours. If I had my choice I would suggest that the lake be filled to full pool once more.
I have not seen any policy on maximum lake level. Looking back at the history of lake levels there was only one year when the lake almost overfilled. The rest of the time the lake was well maintained as the spring runoff filled the lake and the summer and fall runoff lowered the lake again. In our new generation of lake filling it looks like low water will be more common than over filling.
- Status