This year for my 30th birthday, I challenged myself to paddle for 30 days in a row. It was full of adventure and was definitely the hardest birthday challenge I have ever assigned myself.
My Favorite Day
I started this challenge to explore the lake and document the declining lake levels.
I did NOT expect to paddle a flash flood!
Wahweap Creek is a tributary of the Colorado River and flows into Lone Rock Bay. Throughout the year, the water flow is intermittent. Usually ankle deep or less and often disappears underground, turning into a dry creek bed before reaching Lone Rock.
This October it flashed twice in two days.
We paddled around 5 miles of the flowing chocolate creek.
The water was so full of sediment it was hard to hold onto my paddle. Gritty mud covered my hands, legs, paddle, face and body and there was nowhere to wipe it off. Dipping the paddle into the water only made it more sandy and slippery.
This was my favorite day because it was so unexpected, and has now become one of my favorite adventures I’ve ever done in this region.
Part of what I love about living here is that I never run out of things to do because the place is always changing. Paddling this creek isn’t possible most days of the year, which makes it all the more alluring and exciting.
I can’t wait until the next time it rains!
The Worst Day
Our last motor boating day of the season was thrust upon us when we were 50 miles uplake and the engine suddenly shut off.
The plan was to paddle a slot canyon, but the day didn’t turn out that way.
After investigating the problem, Jaden announced that he could not fix it. But we didn’t have cell phone service to call the marina for a tow. We also didn’t pack sleeping bags or anything for an unexpected night out camping. The day time temperatures were warm, but the night was dropping into the low 40s.
Whenever disaster strikes, Jaden and I snap into teamwork mode. We argue more about who’s turn it is to do the dishes. But when it comes to an actual emergency, we are kind, cool, and collected.
Jaden and I got to work inflating the packraft on the bow, tossed it in the water, tethered the packraft to the boat and began pulling it to shore. Mostly so the dogs could get out, run and pee, but also with the hopes of finding cell phone service.
About half way to shore, we got a bar of signal and called for an expensive tow on top of the expensive repair.
We kept a positive outlook by having a picnic and skinny dipping while we waited. It wasn’t the grandest of paddling days, but it sure was memorable.
The Best Day
The most epic day of the paddling challenge was the day before my birthday.
I spent the last day of my 20’s paddling the Colorado River.
Glen Canyon is about 170 miles long, and nearly all of it is under Lake Powell, except for the last 15 miles before Glen Canyon turns into Marble Canyon. The miles we floated are downstream of the Glen Canyon Dam, and have never been inundated by the reservoir.
This section of river is calm, slow and without rapids. We tied our boats together and took turns reading Katie Lee’s book Glen Canyon Betrayed out loud.
The best part of this adventure was that it wouldn’t be possible without the help of our friends. Jaden and I were dropped off on a 4WD drive sandy road by our friend Lena, who came to visit from Tucson, in the early morning.
We carried our packrafts and supplies for the day in our backpacks and descended a relatively unmarked slickrock trail down to the river. The trail is not on a map and is not encouraged by the National Park Service, which meant we had the whole route to ourselves.
Aside from a few places where we needed to scramble down a rock and pass our packs, the “trail” wasn’t as sketchy or scary as people made it out to be.
This adventure unlocked a whole part of our backyard that we haven’t explored yet, and it was magical. We explored a petroglyph panel and hiked a beautiful side canyon full of potholes. We ate sandwiches as we floated past feral horses.
For a day we could imagine what Glen Canyon looked like before the dam was built.
Another friend in town watched our dogs while we paddled all day, since the trail down required some scrambling and didn’t seem like the best day for the dogs. Disco wouldn’t enjoy that many hours in the boat. She’s still learning not to jump out the whole damn time.
Shannon picked us up at Lee’s Ferry near sunset. It was an exuberant moment seeing her let the dogs off leash when we paddled around the bend. Disco jumped in the river and swam to our boats while Mallow ran back and forth on shore. Shannon surprised us with a hot, home cooked meal on picnic blanket by the Paria Riffle.
It was a peaceful and beautiful way to end my 20’s.
This epic 12 hour day felt like the natural end to the paddling challenge.
Why I Gave Up on Day 21
- I have to go to work sometimes. That includes substituting at the elementary school, graduate school, and freelance writing projects. The paddling challenge took up a lot of time, which was awesome, but I was growing weary of night paddling or working on assignments after dark when my brain does not function at it’s best.
- Paddling started to get in the way of other plans. Did it make sense to turn down a fun camping trip with a friend just to complete the challenge? Nah.
- Hiking season arrived! Trails that have been scorching hot for six months became pleasant again. The water temperature became too cold for my butt to be wet in the boat all the time. The season shifted to some of the best temperatures for long hikes and I wanted to get back into those places that were too hot to hike all summer.
- I got a butt rash, okay!
- Social media sucked some fun out of it. Recording the paddling days, taking photos and trying to post all the days on Instagram became a repetitive, boring chore. Of course no one asked me to do it, it was a standard I held for myself. One I decided to drop.
- More important matters took over. The City Council of Page voted to sell 500 acres of recreational land to a developer for an A.I. data center. I’ve never hated the government more. But it spurred me to get involved. In just a few days, I learned what a PAC was (political action committee), then I formed one, and filed a referendum! This is the citizen’s right to veto legislation. Hours of my daily life went to researching data centers impact on communities, writing, attending protests, and getting signatures for the referendum.
- Only kidding about the rash, by the way.
- I’m still writing a book. My debut memoir is currently on draft 3. Each month I have 30-50 pages due to my thesis advisor or classmates for revision. Instead of squeezing in time to write between work and paddling, I wanted to devote ample time to revising my book.
- Editors and agents suddenly replied to email queries and pitches I sent 2-4 months ago, which added a lot more work on my to-do list to supply them with polished pages and pursue book deal contracts.
- To make it simple, time was in short supply and I decided to drop the paddle challenge to focus on other important things.
The paddling challenge was a blast and I’m so grateful for all the friends and dogs who joined. It pushed me to get outside every day for several long, good hours. My body felt invigorated after paddling each day.
Lake Powell, the Colorado River and her tributaries are true treasures in this country. I’m so grateful to live here and have access to this paradise.
Beth Henshaw 