Thunderstorms Over Powell

We made our annual trip over to Lake Powell this October.  If you recall from my blog entry last year, that our trip in 2011 was spectacular.  Warm temperatures, smooth water and calm star-filled nights.  It was also the first of our annual trips that we camped out for two nights.  So, with that memory still burning bright in my mind I began to plan and recruit family members to repeat that wonderful trip again for this year.  The plan was set and the dates picked carefully.  The first two weeks in October were hot, dry with day after day of blue skies.  In other words, perfect southern Utah weather.  As the weekend of the trip approached we watched the weather reports and to our dismay, the first winter storm system of the year spun out of the Pacific and passed smack dap directly over Southern Utah exactly during the three days of our trip.  In fact as I sit here writing this blog, the skies are clear and blue and the temperatures rising again with another week of perfect weather forecasted.  Therefore the spectacular trip of last year became a direct contrast to the trip of this year.  Ying & Yang.  As the storm approached and we began to pack the boat and buy the food, there we many in the family that questioned wether we should go at all, but Marty was set on going and I rarely cancel an outdoor trip due to weather issues as you all know.  Marty brought his wife Hailey and of course Deb, myself and Eric came along.  We endured rain, winds, cold temps and blowing sand with a few hours of sunshine to tease us.  The time around the campfire was good however, as we enjoyed the heat of the fire for a change.  Not much exploring as the slot canyons flashed with the rains.  The first night in our tent was exciting as a strong thunderstorm bore down on us with over 30 lightning strikes and strong winds.  We could hear waterfalls on the cliffs around us.  The weather cleared and the waters calmed just as it was time for us to leave.  We did get in some wake boarding nevertheless and we tried out the new "wake skate".  On the up side, there were few other boaters on the lake and we had our pick of beaches and calm coves to ski into.  There was lots of tent time to meditate and rest and relax.  I knew that someday our luck would run out with our fall trips to Lake Powell.  This year it did.