Lake Powell can be a great group trip destination, but you have to come prepared.
If you are think about maybe have a bachelor party on ahouseboaton Lake Powell , my first advice is this : do n’t . Unless , that is , you happen to really , really love logistics .
Lake Powellis a genuinely beautiful stead , a man - made artificial lake on the Colorado River that dance back and forth over the Utah - Arizona delimitation . predominate ruby-red sandstone walls surround much of the lake , broken up by periodic scrabbly beaches and briery fingers of slickrock canyon that protrude in all counselling . It looks innocent , it look likeThe Lone Ranger , it look like the surface of Mars . And organizing a chemical group trip-up of a dozen fop ( gender - neutral class ) requires about as much planning as a picture shoot or an interplanetary expedition .
There are functionally no military service ( including cellular ) when you ’re out on the lake , and anything you take is at least an time of day away by speedboat in daylight and practically inaccessible after sunset . There is no pop out to the grocery store if you forget the penne pasta ; you may not pull away to the taphouse if you run out of ice and ( promised land forbid ) the beer gets warm . Houseboat rental companies provide almost nothing except the boat itself and a vague promise to attempt to fix anything that breaks if you ca n’t fix it yourself — and poppycock will definitely unwrap . Your boat may not even have a first attention outfit , in the result you turn a loss a hassle with a can of noggin ( I can show you the cicatrix ) .
Photo by Ben Mesirow for Thrillist
So planning is perfectly essential , and you really do require someone with the aptitude and patience to do some mysterious spreadsheeting and doc - construction : discover dietetical limitation , delegate meal planning and prep , coordinate alcohol supply , track sunscreen volume , and make bank bill of everyone ’s personal vessel orientation .
There is a reward for all of that neurotic preparation , though . The urine of the lake is warm and calm , perfect for swim , diving , waddle , tube , and aquatic beer pong . The landscape is gorgeous and alien , and there are basically no rule and no one around to enforce them anyway — you may explore , climb things , jump off of those things into the water , make a racquet , whatever .
And the purdah is absolutely unmatched . It presents a wholly different visual sensation of life story than the one you experience solar day to Clarence Day in any mod townsfolk . You are with your group but otherwise radically alone . There are no guard rails , no prison cell telephone set , nothing to do , just vibing and surviving . And once the sun sets there is no light defilement and no noise — this is some of thevery good stargazingin the area .
Photo by Ben Mesirow for Thrillist
During the solar day you are totally on your own to explore the many canyon that dash off the lake . Labyrinth Canyon is one of the best know and most popular , and even so you may only see a handful of other people on a busy vacation weekend . Pilot a speedboat as far as you may up the canon , then anchor it on a beach where the canon gets too minute . Swim around the box , then wade through the shallow piss until you ’re hiking on gravel and mud . The walls of the canyon get improbable and closer together as you take the air like the trash compactor inA New Hope , until you ’re turning sidewise to slue through hairpin turns too narrow for your shoulders and scrambling over muddy boulders slick with foul - smell out clay , with only the sliver of angle sunlight that fits between the narrow walls for light . It is a arresting berth : natural swooping bender and striated rock ‘n’ roll paries , an imposing path but one that is unlike any other outside of these canyons .
On our way in to Labyrinth Canyon we passed another group heading back out , who secern us they found the most awe-inspiring position they ’d ever seen , a 12 on a ten - point shell they say , but it was about five minutes far than they expected . So onward we pressed , past abandoned hiss nests and dwell snake holes , in search of this supposed spectacular view . One soul ’s sandals got stand by in mud and break , then another ’s . Someone dropped their phone into cryptical water . We watched a toad exhaust lilliputian skittering dirt ball . The low - effort graffiti scrub into the canyon wellspring petered out — we were clearly farther than most people go .
It had been about 45 minutes of walking and then another 15 minutes or so of begrudgingly trudging , more than half an hour far than we think we were going to walk , and nothing much had changed since we come into the time slot canyon itself . One soul was barefoot , at least two others were hobbling on broken sandals , we were covered in rank clay and out of piss . We make up one’s mind , after much pained deliberation , to turn around and forsake the pursuance for the 12 out of 10 eyeshot .
Flickr/Fabio Achilli
When we got back to the boat we came across a professional usher who worked out of the closest marina leading a chemical group that was just depart up the canyon . We asked him if there was some sensational vista that we had n’t quite reached . He differentiate us he had hike up the canyon for more than two time of day , and it was all basically the same — we had been misled .
But when we finally made it back to the houseboat , tired and gross , we were once again rewarded for our preparedness : the beer was moth-eaten , the snacks were plentiful , and the dinosaur - shaped raft was fully inflated and just solicit for a rider .
Know before you go
Flickr/Jay Huang
