Quick Trip to the Top of the Lake

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BartsPlace

BartsPlace

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Fishing has slowed with the new heatwave. So, I decided to run up and see where the lake ends these days. I was hoping to make it a bit further around The Horn but got stopped in the mine field outside of Trachyte. A half-dozen cows were taking advantage of the newly exposed meadow.
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At least the Robot Head was there to tell all others to turn back.
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Other north end sights.
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Seven Mile Grotto
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Warm Springs Grotto
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Tapestry Wall (and yes, JFR is correct, there is a flag flying atop it)
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And this contraption blocking the way to the Smith Fork Slot Canyon Trailhead...
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I wonder if it's measuring something like the perhaps worst algae bloom I've seen on Lake Powell (just in Smith Fork)?

Anyway, that's my report.
 
Bart— this is awesome! Great report and photos.. I covered basically the same ground on my trip in August, without anybody blocking Smith Fork…that’s a bummer. Also got up just past Trachyte but was starting to look sketchy…

I’ll soon post my trip report, and comparing the details of your trip and mine will be interesting…

One place I didn’t go was Sevenmile. Were there any obstacles to landing a boat at the end in there?
 
fokizzle said:
Wouldn't a guy be able to move it out of the way, go around it and then put it back where found? Asking for a friend.
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I've encountered this kind of thing several times before when I've wanted to go hiking at the end of a canyon. Most people are courteous when you ask them to move their boat, and generally haven't even considered that anyone would actually want to hike beyond the end. I always offer to help them move things around, because it is inconvenient for them to move, I get that. But one time I remember coming back from a hike in West Canyon--a relatively popular place to hike--and while we were hiking somebody had parked their boat right in the middle of the channel 100 feet from the end, actually blocking our boat that was parked beyond them from leaving. In other words, they could see from our empty parked boat that there were hikers up there, but apparently were unconcerned by that and parked mid-channel anyway. The conversation with them when we returned was polite on our end, annoyed on theirs, but in the end, they pulled up their lines and moved that boat to let us pass, but weren't happy about it...

Bottom line is that we're all trying to enjoy the National Recreation Area, the boundaries of which go way beyond the lake's edge, so blocking access to the rest of the area beyond the lake is, well, bad form, to say the least...
 
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Agree with the above comments. This thing had a "scientific measuring" vibe with the oversized solar and positioning. What, on an open air pontoon, could use that much power? Who would create a recreational platform with a low-power kicker motor? I didn't want to mess with it.
 
BartsPlace said:
Agree with the above comments. This thing had a "scientific measuring" vibe with the oversized solar and positioning. What, on an open air pontoon, could use that much power? Who would create a recreational platform with a low-power kicker motor? I didn't want to mess with it.
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Well, as "scientific" as that boat may have looked from a distance, the last place anybody would be trying to collect solar energy to run some sort of measuring system is at the end of a steep-walled canyon like Smith Fork. So then I ask, what unique thing would they be measuring at the end of a canyon? And where was the boat operator? My guess is that they were measuring nothing, but just had a big solar panel, and had left to go hiking up the canyon. The water ends and the hike begins literally no more than 50 feet past his boat.

By the way, to give you a little more context on that location, I happened to take photos of pretty much that exact spot on May 22 (lake level 3563) and August 20 (3582). In August, the lake continued maybe 100 yards farther upstream. In May, it ended maybe 200 yards behind.

Here's the same location as your photo on August 20, with the lake about 4 feet higher than in your photo:

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And here's the same spot on May 22, when the lake was 19 feet lower than in the first shot, and 15 feet lower than in your shot...

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BartsPlace said:
Agree with the above comments. This thing had a "scientific measuring" vibe with the oversized solar and positioning. What, on an open air pontoon, could use that much power? Who would create a recreational platform with a low-power kicker motor? I didn't want to mess with it.
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I saw him and you up there. I talked to the guy, he was hiking and exploring he said, and one of his motors was electric.
 
tt600 said:
I had someone block the canyon above Gregory arch with their houseboat on me. They assumed because the water over the sandslide was 2’ deep no one could pass. Unfortunately I didn’t catch any fish up there.☹️
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Sorry to hear that. That pinch point in 50-Mile is a classic place where boats can block you, typically when the lake is about 3605+/-… above that surface elevation it’s more open, below that you can’t really get through…
 
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