{"id":19988,"date":"2019-05-12T01:00:45","date_gmt":"2019-05-12T08:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/community.nrs.com\/?p=19988"},"modified":"2023-04-18T14:41:43","modified_gmt":"2023-04-18T21:41:43","slug":"packs-and-paddles-the-long-way-to-lake-powell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/2019\/05\/12\/packs-and-paddles-the-long-way-to-lake-powell\/","title":{"rendered":"Packs and Paddles in the Desert: The Long Way to Lake Powell"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe are going to carry these things HOW far?\u201d My friend Kate is straining under the weight of her backpack loaded with six days\u2019 worth of overnight gear and food, a three-piece carbon paddle, and an 11\u20196 Escape inflatable stand-up paddleboard<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Maybe my planning for this trip was a bit over-ambitious. You see, I love SUPs and I love the desert. I\u2019ve been able to combine my passion for both on the occasional Lake Powell adventure in the past, but those lake trips present one logistical problem: the lake is massive and getting to some of my favorite spots in a human-powered manner isn\u2019t easy, no matter how you slice it.<\/p>\n

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I first paddled an SUP on Lake Powell in 2016. Drawn by an otherworldly photo of the elusive Cathedral in the Desert, I put in at the drive-up marina in Halls Crossing. Equipped with overnight gear and food for nine days, I had to paddle 26 miles down the rather unexciting and tedious main arm of the lake in order to get to the sidearm where I actually wanted to spend my time. This was before I had any NRS gear; my cheap inflatable SUP punctured and very nearly committed all my belongings\u2014camera included!\u2014to a watery grave. Still, that week+ solo SUP trip turned into one of my best-loved adventures of that season and made me crave more of the same.<\/p>\n

I went back for a second round a year later. This time, with better gear and friends and a different plan. Instead of dealing with the marathon paddling approach to my favorite flat-water paradise, the Escalante arm, we would arrive at the lake from the north via forty miles of dirt road and five miles of cross-country slick rock hiking in order to access the lake through Davis Gulch. Five miles on foot aren\u2019t much by my standards (I have a penchant for long endurance missions on the trails), but they culminate in a steep descent to get into Davis Gulch and the Escalante. After our little group spent the better part of a day slogging through one-mph terrain, I could confirm what I had already been suspecting: the slick rock hike into and back out of Davis Gulch is laborious; I wasn\u2019t keen on repeating it on future trips any more than absolutely necessary.<\/p>\n