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- Aug 9, 2007
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Cathedral in the Desert means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. To most traffic on the lake, it's a beautiful spot to pull into the shade and see some soaring walls, and if you're lucky, a beautiful waterfall. The lower the water, the grander the spectacle. Even at higher water levels, I imagine this place is pretty neat. Meanwhile, to those who long for what Glen Canyon once was, Cathedral symbolizes what was lost and perhaps the canyon that could someday rise again. Regardless of your opinion on the matter, it is a stunning sight to behold and rightfully deserves the hype.
The last time the floor of the Cathedral was exposed was in April 2005 when the lake hit a record low of 3,555'. This spring has brought lake levels to the lowest since, but still 19' higher at 3,574'. I had tentatively planned a trip with my wife for mid-April in hopes to see what I could, but knowing that weather was iffy this time of year, I jumped at an earlier, spur of the moment opportunity to head down with my friend Nate. Audra is a proud fair weather camper and now that I see the forecast, I'm glad I went when I did!
It took a lot of shuffling some important obligations, but I was able to work it out so that we could go down for the whole first half of the week. Our chances of solitude and glassy reflections were great. This would be by far the longest trip I've taken in the new boat with an anticipated round trip of about 100 miles to get up into the Escalante Arm and back.We snuck out of town late on Sunday and camped out along the way down. It's a challenge finding a camp spot where I feel comfortable driving down dirt roads with the boat on. This one was a great one.
In the morning we headed down to Bullfrog and were pleasantly surprised to learn that they were going to let us use the marina ramp for the houseboats. When I came down in February, we had a hell of a time launching off the dirt near the main launch ramp which is not even close to touching the water at this point.
We took it slow and easy cruising down the main channel before stopping into Annie's Canyon to take a look.
The canyon ended at a big alcove and dryfall.
After Annie's we went back out to the main channel and found a sheltered cove to cook up some lunch and take a swim. I'm loving the new grill.
And the dogs loved cooling off.
After lunch, we zipped down to the Rincon as the wind picked up. We decided to just power through it and shoot for a campsite I had dreamed of getting to near the end of Fiftymile Creek. Just a couple pictures from this stretch for now, but more on the return when conditions were better.
It was about 45 miles of water from Bullfrog to our first campsite, during which we only saw a couple of boats and only near the marina. This meant there was no competition for this incredible spot, located on a giant sand dune next to what used to be considered the second largest natural bridge in the United States: Gregory Natural Bridge. The sand dune we camped on actually blocks further access up the canyon unless the lake is much fuller. Instead, the lake water continues through the arch. It's tough to see in this photo, but on the wall on the left, in the shadow, you can see the very top of the arch starting to curve in. I know very well that there are countless spectacular scenes hiding under the lake, but this is one that I really would have loved to see. Fiftymile is amongst my favorite canyons and this sounds like it would be similar to Coyote Natural Bridge but about 10x larger. There are some interesting pics of it before the lake filled here: http://explorepdx.com/glen88gregbr.html
The dogs were happy to play on the deep, soft sand. That pale green water in the distance is the lake above the sand dune.
Much clearer on the down canyon side.
We spent the rest of the evening playing fetch with Sage and relaxing. Nikita is old and senile but she loves to poke around the beach and get surprised by lizards. Good times all around.
We had a 3rd dog on this trip. A new member of Nate's family named Lazy. Nate adopted him from the shelter a week or two earlier so we weren't sure how he would handle boats and camping. It turned out that he was absolutely obsessed with water. He would just swim big open laps for no reason at all.
The strangest thing though was his obsession with rocks in the water. For probably a solid hour or more, he would walk into the water, feel for rocks with his feet, then stick his head completely under water, sometimes for as long as 10-15 seconds, before resurfacing with very large rocks in his mouth. I'm not talking tennis ball sized rocks, think more like dictionary sized. It was crazy! He would just fish them out and then go put them on the beach, shake off, then go find more. At times he would go so deep that he would be swimming back with a rock nearly the size of his head in his mouth. Crazy dog!
Soon the sun set on us but the evening light show was gorgeous.
The next morning we loaded up and headed toward our destination: Cathedral in the Desert. The water coming out of Fiftymile into the Escalante was pure glass.
Heading up Clear Creek, we encountered the first boat in 30+ miles of water. He was on the way out though. This is just outside the Cathedral.
As we rounded the tight corner into the Cathedral, we heard voices. To our surprise, there was another boat and they had beached on a sandbar that had formed. Bummer as I had hoped to do the same, but I certainly can't blame them for beating us to it!
Looking up.
We drifted around in there for a while before moving on.
Back in the Escalante, the reflections were still top notch.
We decided to head back up toward the Rincon to find camp. It was going to be warmer today so a good late afternoon swimming spot was important to find. The main channel between the Escalante and Long Canyon was one of my favorite parts and lucky for us, it was glass too. It's just crazy to drive through here and imagine being on the river, 300 feet below.
We stopped in Long & Bowns Canyons on the way back. I wanted to see the stock trail into Bowns and possible anchoring opportunities but we weren't situated to go for a long hike on this trip. Soon though. The top of Long Canyon would have been easier to anchor in. We were going to do lunch there but the quicksand was pretty bad. So on we went to the Rincon area where we discovered how awesome it is to park the boat with plenty of deep water off the stern.
There goes Nate!
And Lazy in after him! Lazy was once again crazy about water. He would do laps jumping off the back of the boat then coming back around and doing it again. He just loved to swim and play in the water.
The obligatory cannonball photo.
It was a warm, beautiful evening on the lake.
The next day we found a nice cove to drift around and cook breakfast before heading back to Bullfrog.
Featured image for home page:
The last time the floor of the Cathedral was exposed was in April 2005 when the lake hit a record low of 3,555'. This spring has brought lake levels to the lowest since, but still 19' higher at 3,574'. I had tentatively planned a trip with my wife for mid-April in hopes to see what I could, but knowing that weather was iffy this time of year, I jumped at an earlier, spur of the moment opportunity to head down with my friend Nate. Audra is a proud fair weather camper and now that I see the forecast, I'm glad I went when I did!
It took a lot of shuffling some important obligations, but I was able to work it out so that we could go down for the whole first half of the week. Our chances of solitude and glassy reflections were great. This would be by far the longest trip I've taken in the new boat with an anticipated round trip of about 100 miles to get up into the Escalante Arm and back.We snuck out of town late on Sunday and camped out along the way down. It's a challenge finding a camp spot where I feel comfortable driving down dirt roads with the boat on. This one was a great one.
In the morning we headed down to Bullfrog and were pleasantly surprised to learn that they were going to let us use the marina ramp for the houseboats. When I came down in February, we had a hell of a time launching off the dirt near the main launch ramp which is not even close to touching the water at this point.
We took it slow and easy cruising down the main channel before stopping into Annie's Canyon to take a look.
The canyon ended at a big alcove and dryfall.
After Annie's we went back out to the main channel and found a sheltered cove to cook up some lunch and take a swim. I'm loving the new grill.
And the dogs loved cooling off.
After lunch, we zipped down to the Rincon as the wind picked up. We decided to just power through it and shoot for a campsite I had dreamed of getting to near the end of Fiftymile Creek. Just a couple pictures from this stretch for now, but more on the return when conditions were better.
It was about 45 miles of water from Bullfrog to our first campsite, during which we only saw a couple of boats and only near the marina. This meant there was no competition for this incredible spot, located on a giant sand dune next to what used to be considered the second largest natural bridge in the United States: Gregory Natural Bridge. The sand dune we camped on actually blocks further access up the canyon unless the lake is much fuller. Instead, the lake water continues through the arch. It's tough to see in this photo, but on the wall on the left, in the shadow, you can see the very top of the arch starting to curve in. I know very well that there are countless spectacular scenes hiding under the lake, but this is one that I really would have loved to see. Fiftymile is amongst my favorite canyons and this sounds like it would be similar to Coyote Natural Bridge but about 10x larger. There are some interesting pics of it before the lake filled here: http://explorepdx.com/glen88gregbr.html
The dogs were happy to play on the deep, soft sand. That pale green water in the distance is the lake above the sand dune.
Much clearer on the down canyon side.
We spent the rest of the evening playing fetch with Sage and relaxing. Nikita is old and senile but she loves to poke around the beach and get surprised by lizards. Good times all around.
We had a 3rd dog on this trip. A new member of Nate's family named Lazy. Nate adopted him from the shelter a week or two earlier so we weren't sure how he would handle boats and camping. It turned out that he was absolutely obsessed with water. He would just swim big open laps for no reason at all.
The strangest thing though was his obsession with rocks in the water. For probably a solid hour or more, he would walk into the water, feel for rocks with his feet, then stick his head completely under water, sometimes for as long as 10-15 seconds, before resurfacing with very large rocks in his mouth. I'm not talking tennis ball sized rocks, think more like dictionary sized. It was crazy! He would just fish them out and then go put them on the beach, shake off, then go find more. At times he would go so deep that he would be swimming back with a rock nearly the size of his head in his mouth. Crazy dog!
Soon the sun set on us but the evening light show was gorgeous.
The next morning we loaded up and headed toward our destination: Cathedral in the Desert. The water coming out of Fiftymile into the Escalante was pure glass.
Heading up Clear Creek, we encountered the first boat in 30+ miles of water. He was on the way out though. This is just outside the Cathedral.
As we rounded the tight corner into the Cathedral, we heard voices. To our surprise, there was another boat and they had beached on a sandbar that had formed. Bummer as I had hoped to do the same, but I certainly can't blame them for beating us to it!
Looking up.
We drifted around in there for a while before moving on.
Back in the Escalante, the reflections were still top notch.
We decided to head back up toward the Rincon to find camp. It was going to be warmer today so a good late afternoon swimming spot was important to find. The main channel between the Escalante and Long Canyon was one of my favorite parts and lucky for us, it was glass too. It's just crazy to drive through here and imagine being on the river, 300 feet below.
We stopped in Long & Bowns Canyons on the way back. I wanted to see the stock trail into Bowns and possible anchoring opportunities but we weren't situated to go for a long hike on this trip. Soon though. The top of Long Canyon would have been easier to anchor in. We were going to do lunch there but the quicksand was pretty bad. So on we went to the Rincon area where we discovered how awesome it is to park the boat with plenty of deep water off the stern.
There goes Nate!
And Lazy in after him! Lazy was once again crazy about water. He would do laps jumping off the back of the boat then coming back around and doing it again. He just loved to swim and play in the water.
The obligatory cannonball photo.
It was a warm, beautiful evening on the lake.
The next day we found a nice cove to drift around and cook breakfast before heading back to Bullfrog.
Featured image for home page:
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