I have to admit that I've never really cared much for the idea of renting a houseboat for a week at Lake Powell, but after this trip I think it would be spectacular ... especially during the shoulder times when it wasn't very crowded.
There was a storm rolling in over and I saw a really weird, but spectacular rainbow - although I didn't get a picture of it. It was vertical instead of traditionally rainbow shaped - I think it was because of the Colorado River Gorge.
The next morning I drove to Wahweap Marina and caught a boat tour out to Rainbow Bridge. The boat ride out there is what convinced me that a houseboat might be an okay idea.
The white line around the entire border of the lake is called the "bathtub ring" caused by calcium carbonate and other hard minerals in the water - it shows the high water mark.
We dropped mail off at Dangling Rope Marina which is basically just a fuel stop for boaters (there is no land access to this community), but rumor has it that they have the best soft-serve ice cream around!
Jug Handle Arch
Navajo Legend says that two warriors were seeking their father the Sun-God, and a rainbow appeared to carry them up to meet him. The rainbow then turned to stone. The Navajo people will go to great lengths not to walk under the bridge, but go around it.
My Navajo guide at Monument Valley confirmed this saying that it is a porthole to other dimensions, and that by walking underneath the bridge you are walking back and forth between existences. They do not walk beneath the bridge fearing they may get stuck and be unable to return home.
Hikers at the base of the bridge - it is gigantic! It is 290 feet from its base to the top of its arch - nearly as tall as the Statue of Liberty - and spans 275 feet. The top of the arch measures 42 feet thick and 33 feet wide.
