After months of planning over the Internet, it was time!  Our Lake Powell adventure was ready to begin.  Saturday September 1st, PJ and I drove from Salt Lake City south to meet in Richfield, Utah with Skinny Trippers from Southern Utah and California – Dave (Captain), Don, Chris, Rich, Larry, and Kitty.  Why Richfield?  Grocery shopping - we all had a food list, we all got a cart, and off we all went on a shopping expedition.  I’m sure the grocery clerk thought we were crazy when we checked out seven carts full of groceries – I know I did – but we weren’t going to be hungry on our trip, for sure.

 

With the shopping done, we traveled west though some beautiful red-rock country, especially Capital Reef National Park and the other worldly gray hills beyond, to Hanksville where Larry, Kitty, PJ, and I stopped for dinner, and then drove further south to a nice hotel near the Lake.  The others continued on to the Lake to sleep on the boat.

 

Sunday we all met a Bullfrog Marina and after some getting ready and waiting, loaded the boat, held a short meeting about boating rules, headed down the lake, and were soon all comfortably naked.

 

Progress on a houseboat is slow, but the weather was wonderful, and the scenery was fantastic, so none of us cared.  I won’t even try to describe the scenery because it’s basically indescribable (see photos below), except to say that the combination of red sandstone cliffs and rock formations, blue water, and blue sky was indescribably beautiful.  That combined along with the feel of warm sun and light breeze (caused by the moving boat) on our nude bodies left us feeling amazingly, totally relaxed and joyful.

 

After several hours we stopped and all jumped in the water for our first of many nude swims.  The water was just right – refreshing.

 

Sunday night we parked the boat in a side canyon with beautiful high cliffs.  (I’ll let Captain Dave share the names of the canyons we visited if he gets a chance.)  (Parking a houseboat is a tense and adventurous operation.)  We were soon enjoying the water, swimming, eating, resting, and even singing karaoke on the top deck at night – our voices echoing off the canyon walls.

 

Monday we boated up many wonderful red-rock canyons in this area of the Lake, visited a waterfall where we climbed a rope, saw a beautiful arch, and freehiked up a streambed to another waterfall where we played in a pond and climbed the cliffs, boated past ancient Indian ruins – all naked.  What an enjoyable naturist day!

 

Tuesday morning we moved the houseboat to a different location further down the Lake, and parked it in a more open area.  We took a freehike from the boat to see some Indian petroglyphs, and Don set up his telescope to view stars and constellations at night. 

 

Wednesday we visited several more canyons, took several more freehikes, and found several areas with beautiful, unique petrified wood – entire logs of it.  PJ and I took a separate freehike in search of petrified wood. 

 

That afternoon we boated to see Rainbow Bridge.  This is normally a busy area, but we lucked out and were the only ones there, so we were able to free-hike the trail in and out.  This natural arch, the largest in the world, was absolutely amazing.

 

Thursday we again moved the boat and hiked to another beautiful nearby natural arch.  That afternoon we boated up other wonderful canyons, the cliffs reaching high above us, and hiked up to another natural arch.  After a wonderful dinner we again sang nude karaoke.

 

Friday we moved to a large cavernous area where the red cliffs formed a roof over the boat.  Two other boats were tied together in this cove, filled with young college age boys and girls, but that didn’t stop us - we all jumped off the boat for a nude swim.  Of course that brought a chorus of shouts and cheers from the nearby boats.  It wasn’t long until one young man decided to swim over and join us for a naked trip down the slide.  The girls flashed us.  It was clear they really didn’t understand that naturism is not about sex, but oh well, I’m sure we gave them something to think about.

 

We boated to some amazing natural arches just above water level in this canyon, and visited several other canyons that were so narrow the boat could barely travel through without touching the cliff walls on both sides. That evening we took we took one last freehike in a beautiful red-rock area.  Again, it was all truly amazing.

 

Saturday morning it was time to start the long boat ride back.  The scenery was great all along the way.  At one point a boat pulled up and someone called out, “Are Ken and PJ on your boat?”  Surprised, we looked down from the top deck to see another Skinny Tripper, Rocketman and his wife (naked of course) in a speed boat.  They were just starting a fun weekend on the Lake.  We talked for a few minutes, waved goodbye, and kept moving.

 

Saturday evening we parked the boat in the canyon just before Bullfrog marina.  There was time for one last hike and swim, and one last night of nude karaoke and star watching - the last night on the lake.

 

Sunday we were up early and boated back to marina - time to get dressed after being comfortably nude for an entire week – too bad.  We cleaned up the boat, emptied the waste, got the boat ready for the next people, parked on the beach, unloaded, said goodbye to our new friends, and were soon on the road headed home.  By evening PJ and I were back in Salt Lake City.

 

What a Skinny Trip!  How to describe our experience?  Amazingly, fantastically, unbelievably beautiful - totally relaxing and exhausting at the same time - wonderfully adventurous - sun and everywhere water (wow) - friendships forever - way too much to eat - perhaps the most unforgettable naturist experience of our lives.  Lake Powell is a Skinny Trip “everyone” should take at least once in their lifetime.

 

If you’re thinking about doing this trip yourself next year, contact David Herberg our houseboat Captain.  You’ll definitely be glad you did.

 

 You can see lots of photos of our trip at this link: http://imageevent.com/kenandjane/lakepowellview07