Working on my 2019 goal to spend 1 week a month at Powell from April through Sept. This trip we are hanging out in the Halls buoy field. Wish we could make a SJ run to check the donkeys, but it’s out of my gas range.
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powellobsessed
Active Member
I feel spoiled that I get 2 trips this year. With my 2nd upcoming trip at the end of the month. When I retire I’ll see those numbers your doing.
birdsnest
Keeper of San Juan Secrets
Maybe we should contribute to your SJ trip cause we all care about the donkeys and who better than y'all to make sure they are well. I'm in far at least a dollar. If 500 of us give, you are on your way. Some charitable contributions are better than others. Please take pictures.
We don’t have spare gas cans and I don’t think the speedboat has the range to go Halls to Neshki on 1 tank. We’ll be back on the SJ Sept 13th, but I don’t think that helps the donkeys
BreteThomas
Active Member
I've had five, 3-day weekends on Powell this year. It's been nice. Last Sunday we went 40 miles up river from Hite. We were surprised to see virtually no rapids in spite of above average flows.
That sounds like a lot of fun! What kind of watercraft did you take up river?
We went up as far as we dared in our 25' open bow back in 2000 or so when the lake was near full. We went until there was a warning sign that said "rapids ahead" and we could hear the rapids around the corner but could not see them. The current was fast and water was cold - I don't recall what the depth got down to, but it was uncomfortable captaining, but fun, and quite the experience.
BreteThomas
Active Member
An 11' Zodiac (inflatable w/15hp 2-stroke)
We could tell we were in uncharted territory. All the river guides were looking at us like we were crazy and some of them signaling rapids ahead, although we didn't encounter anything very scary -- then again we were in a raft, so to speak. I only need 18" of water to run it in with the short shaft.
Wow, that sounds like a whole lot of fun! I would love to do that. I have a 14' AVON inflatable...hummm, I think I have a new adventure to plan, thanks to you. 40 miles is a long way! I would have thought for sure you would have run into rapids by then. Do you know what the general water depth was? And how did you decide that you had gone far enough? You are the first I've read about doing such a trip that far up. Cudos to you!! -Doug
BreteThomas
Active Member
I based my 40 miles on fuel consumption. Looking at my GPS it was 30 miles up. It was flowing hard enough to have a pretty significant impact on fuel. I was with a boating newbie and didn't want to wear her out. Good thing. We went from Hite to Halls Crossing the next day, with a stop over at Defiance House.
dallas massie
Escalante-Class Member
How far up does the Green River and Colorado meet , did you go past .
BreteThomas
Active Member
Looks like the confluence with the Green is roughly twice as far as we went. There may be rapids that would preclude such an adventure.
I was a raft guide for many years in Cataract Canyon, going downstream only! There are indeed significant rapids ( does the name Satan’s Gut give you an idea?) However, we were able to uprun some rapids at normal flows in 25 foot J-rigs (basically WW2 inflated bridge pontoons with 25 horse motors) by utilizing the eddy currents along the sides. There was a company, NAVTEC in Moab owned by the Williams family who would run day trips in Cat by using Zodiacs powered by outboards, and a lot of skill. So, it can be done. Not without a lot of skill and practice and huevos, though!
Adaire Blair
Active Member
Garage and Estate sales are good places to pick up gas cans. We have 5 fairly new 5 gallon ones now. Enjoy!
Ryan
Keeper of San Juan Secrets
I have at least 8 that are yours to borrow if you like.
Thanks for the offer and suggestions on gas cans. The Ranger doesn’t have a good place to store them and we’re not too excited about putting them on the new carpet. Think we’ll have to limit our range for a few years.
BreteThomas
Active Member
I'd set them inside plastic bins. Ought to be able to find bins that fit at WalMart pretty easily.
W
WaterDog19
Guest
PowellBride,
I had a 680C Ranger with a 115 Yamaha a few years ago, with 20 Gallon tank, I found some 25 Gallon fuel bladders that worked great, didn't mark the carpet and rolled up fairly small when empty, I would hide them in the rocks until the trip back to Bullfrog from Escalante, don't know who made them though.
I just checked and a Company called Fuel Safe Systems has a line called Ranger Auxiliary Fuel Bladders of all capacities.
Rich
I had a 680C Ranger with a 115 Yamaha a few years ago, with 20 Gallon tank, I found some 25 Gallon fuel bladders that worked great, didn't mark the carpet and rolled up fairly small when empty, I would hide them in the rocks until the trip back to Bullfrog from Escalante, don't know who made them though.
I just checked and a Company called Fuel Safe Systems has a line called Ranger Auxiliary Fuel Bladders of all capacities.
Rich
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