2021 Summer Trip Part 1 - Lake Powell

 On July 5, 2021 we left for an extended summer trip west.  We planned to start with Lake Powell and then travel with the kids and grandkids for a few weeks after through the western national parks.  The first day we headed west on Hwy 380 and stopped for the night in Brownfield, TX where we got to participate in the town's July 4th celebration which included bands, booths and fireworks.  The next day we continued west through Roswell, NM and stayed at a campground in Datil, NM.  

Campsite at Datil Campground

Hiking trail at the campground

On July 7 we continued from Datil on Hwy 60 into Arizona where we picked up Hwy 77 north to Holbrook and on to Flagstaff AZ.  From there we went north on Hwy 89 to Page, AZ where we stayed the night at the Walmart.

The next day we continued on Hwy 89 into Utah and drove to Cedar Breaks National Monument where we had reservations for the night.  We love Cedar Breaks because it has the beauty of Bryce Canyon without the crowds and it has better camping.  Our first day at Cedar Breaks we took the scooter to the top of Brian Head Peak to get a view of the surrounding area.

Road to the top of Brian Head Peak

Scenic View from the top of Brian Head Peak

View from an Overlook hike we took

Cedar Breaks Overlook

We spent July 9 touring the park on the scooter and were hoping to stay another night at the Cedar Breaks campground but it was fully booked, so we headed out on Hwy 143 toward Panguitch Lake and found a nice place in the national forest for a night of "dispersed camping" (a park ranger told us that in national forests you can camp anywhere as long as you're within 150 of a roadway).

Our "Dispersed Camping Site"

In the morning as we were getting ready to leave, we found ourselves surrounded by about 20 pickup trucks towing trailers with ATVs.  It turned out that the camping spot we had chosen was also the regular starting point for a club of ATVers that were going on a day trip together.  They invited us to bring the scooter and join them but we thanked them for the invite and headed down to Panguitch Lake instead where we had a campground reservation for the night.  

That afternoon, d & Zhouyi and family arrived at our campsite and we spent the evening with them.  On July 11th we all got up early and caravanned to Lake Powell.  We took the scenic Hwy 12 route which is one of the most beautiful highways in the country.

Meila and Euan at an overlook on Hwy 12

Hwy 12 overlook view

Week at Lake Powell

This year we had a very large group at Lake Powell that included our entire family with all the kids, their spouses, and all the grandkids.  In addition we had our friend Robert Graves and his grandson Sawyer and My's mother and sister and niece (total of 25 people).  We had two speedboats (Keeton's and ours - Topher towed our boat out to LP - that's another story) and Topher had also rented a second houseboat.

We took the houseboats down river and camped in Long Canyon on a nice beach at the end of the canyon.  This year the water in the lake is historically low....down to the levels not seen since the lake was first filling in the 1960s.  The good news is that with low lake levels many sandy beaches and beautiful canyon features that are normally covered with water are now exposed.  We spent the week exploring beautiful canyons, boating, kayaking, hiking, cliff jumping, rock climbing, fishing, tubing, water skiing and wake boarding.  One evening we built a fire on the beach and roasted marshmallows. With Robert managing the fishing activities, everyone caught a fish.

Elynn, Reayen & Meila
with seashells from the beach

Exploring a canyon

My, Croix, Beau and Mema (My's mom)
Lake Powell is a workout

Reayen, Denae, Sawyer, & Akston
Getting ready to tube

Ryder & Kathryn

Grandma & Euan

Everyone on the houseboat

Robert conducting his fishing class

Speedboats at the end of Anasazi Canyon

The entire crew at Rainbow Bridge

Kevin watching Quentin
1st year at Lake Powell

Rachael with Quentin

Kayak adventure

Canyon hike

The Entire Dayton Clan at Lake Powell

On Sunday, July 18th we cleaned up the houseboat and packed our belongings back into the RV.  Lake Powell is so unique that it's almost indescribable, so we'll leave it at that - we had all the moments of wonder and ecstasy mixed up with all the moments of worry and terror.