Journeys of Sacagawea
December 2004
Lake Mead Cold, Windy and Beautiful Page 2
After spending a day in Las Vegas and loading up on all you can eat buffet, I started driving to Temple Bar Marina. It is about 75 miles from Las Vegas and took two hours because of the inspection before crossing Hoover. The weather had improved and the wind was light but still cold. The water temperature was about 60 degrees as I launched Sacagawea, again I seem to be the only boat on the lake and it was really enjoyable.
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Crossing Hoover Dam |
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Looking at "The Temple" from the Marina area |
Temple Bay and Wild Burro Bay behind the monolith are protected anchorages and this may be where I spend my first night.
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The Temple |
I decide to head east through Virgin Canyon that leads to Gregg Basin and the beginning of the Colorado river and the Grand Canyon. The day was really nice and I had a full tank of gas so I decide to travel as far as I could before nightfall.
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Looking west at Delmar Butt and the Temple |
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Virgin Canyon |
Virgin Canyon is located between Virgin Basin and Gregg Basin about 10
miles from Temple Bar Marina. The water was smooth as I headed northeast into
Gregg Basin, my first stop was Hualapai island about two miles northeast
of
Virgin Canyon. It was a nice spot with a sandy beach almost all the way around
it and a great view up and down the lake.
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Hualapai island looking back into Virgin Canyon |
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Hualapai Bay
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Near Pearce Ferry
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After arriving at one of the take-out points for the end of the Grand Canyon river raft trips I decided to head back to Hualapai island for the night. I had traveled about 34 miles from the marina taking 5 hours and had two hour to get back to the island before dark. With the lake this low you don't want to be boating at night if you can help, it is just asking for prop damage or worse.
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Hualapai island where I spent my third night
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The next morning I headed back east to explore the northwestern end of Temple Basin. I stopped a Temple Bar Marina and refueled. I had traveled around 65 miles when I fueled and it took 6.4 gallons, about half my 13 gallon tank.