Come to Lake Mead and Win Prizes!

[LakeMeadSafeBoater]

Boaters in California, Arizona and Nevada – How does a FREE 2006 Sea-Doo GTI or a houseboat vacation sound? Come out to Lake Mead on May 20th from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. for “Safe Boating Day” and you will have a chance to win one of these or other great prizes just for coming, showing proof that you’ve passed a boating safety class, and taking the mini-course we’ll be offering that day. Visit www.boatlakemead.com for more info. This event is free and open to the public. The first 250 people will receive a free brand new life-jacket!

 

[familylaw]

Re: Come to Lake Mead and Win Prizes!

Awesome, count me in..

 

[QC]

Re: Come to Lake Mead and Win Prizes!

How do you get to Lake Mead?

 

[RubberFrog]

Re: Come to Lake Mead and Win Prizes!

Originally posted by QC:<br /> How do you get to Lake Mead?

By car.

 

[watered down]

Re: Come to Lake Mead and Win Prizes!

Here ya go QC: http://www.sunsetcities.com/lake-mead/lakemeaddrivingdirections.html

 

[QC]

Re: Come to Lake Mead and Win Prizes!

That was a joke guys . . . My flippin' avatar is Lake Mead I knew it was a little weak, my humor is more about quantity than quality. I think Frogger got it . . .<br /><br />We'll be there May 25th through the 28th if anybody wants to say hey. Staying at the Hacienda.

 

[ST]

Re: Come to Lake Mead and Win Prizes!

QC,<br />Love to meet you up at Mead and explore the lake; but the wife, and possibly myself had to go to work that Memorial week end. How far West have you gone at the lake QC; got some pictures to share?

 

[QC]

Re: Come to Lake Mead and Win Prizes!

ST,<br /><br />I think you mean East? I have been 17 miles into the Grand Canyon from Lake Mead. Best boating trip of my life. West is the busy end. We launch basically as far west as you can go.<br /><br />My least favorite section is the Virgin arm which stretches the most north. Still great up there, but I like the eastern basins the most. I especially like the Temple Bar area.<br /><br />Here's a shot of the entrance to the Grand Canyon:<br /><br />

 

[ST]

Re: Come to Lake Mead and Win Prizes!

QC, sorry, yeah, I meant how far East! My mind was pointing East, but my fingers was typing West! Probably my senior moments!<br /><br />Wow, that was a breathtaking picture entering the Grand Canyon! Thanks! No wake, no boat and no people around, must be a serene place, just the kind of place I like to get away! How deep is it, not as shallow as the River along Laughlin I hope? I understand that "Pearce Ferry" launching ramp out at the far East of Lake Mead near the Grand Canyon is now temporarily closed due to low water.<br /><br />Someday, it's my turn to enjoy the far East of Mead...

 

[QC]

Re: Come to Lake Mead and Win Prizes!

Yeah, ST, too shallow now. That pic (not mine) was probably taken in 2000 or so. I have actually had a rental houseboat that far in. The way the water is now, you really need to follow someone who absolutley knows the way. The water is so muddy that it freaks out your depth sounder and you can't see anything, so it can be over 20 feet deep or 20 inches and you can't tell the difference . . .

 

[J Macnab]

Re: Come to Lake Mead and Win Prizes!

what kind of boat is that in your avatar qc?

 

[QC]

Re: Come to Lake Mead and Win Prizes!

Carrera 228. Local custom boat. Not a real common model, but common builder.<br /><br />

 

[JustMrWill]

Re: Come to Lake Mead and Win Prizes!

QC!<br />Was thinking of you yesturday...took a a 3 day rafting trip through Grand Canyon...trip ended by the raft meeting up with a jetboat about 1 1/2 hours from South Cove (which is where we met the bus back to Las Vegas). Our raft got stuck on a couple of sandbars (we had to get out and push once)...the water level is WAY low...looks like it dropped anothre 5 feet or so from last year.<br /><br />Last year we stayed at Hacenda..nice hotel/casino but I think the average age of the guests was 65. I felt like a kid (at 35).<br /><br />-JMW

 

[QC]

Re: Come to Lake Mead and Win Prizes!

LOL<br /><br />Yeah lake is down. I've been bummin' since 2001 about getting back into the Canyon under power . . . You just answered one of my questions as I figured I could get there if I followed somebody in that knew. Like I said (and I am sure you experienced), you can't tell the difference between 20 ft. or 20 inches. Amazing huh?<br /><br />Our first Mead trip is Memorial Weekend and we'll be at the Hacienda. Our experience is that big weekends and the middle of the summer it's all families like us. Last year we met people in the Hacienda jacuzzi that live in our little town (30,000) and my wife had gone to school with. I'm 46 so you'd make me feel old . . . Screwy little Casino if compared to Vegas, the poor place has struggled since 9/11 as they used to cater to truckers until the bridge over the dam was closed <br /><br />You gotta love those pictures in there of the dam construction. I've seen them a number of times and I can still stroll through there just staring.<br /><br />Here's a cool link if you are interested in lake levels:<br /><br /> Lower Colorado River Operations

 

[JustMrWill]

Re: Come to Lake Mead and Win Prizes!

You may still be able to make it up the river...the jet boat captain said that it got as shallow as 2 feet....I think you would do better with an OB versus an IO...but..worse case...you get alittle wet when you push\pull the boat off.<br /><br />Absolutely amazing area. Been to the Grand Canyon twice and we are already planning next years trip!<br /><br />-JMW

 

[Drowned Rat]

Re: Come to Lake Mead and Win Prizes!

The key is going at the right time. You want to plan it so you're hitting the stretch of river between Pearce Ferry and Quartermaster Canyon at high tide. The difference between 10,000 CFS and 3 to 5,000 is huge. Quartermaster is almost exactly 48 hours downstream of Glen Canyon Dam. Flow spikes are around 7 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon and last about 3 hours each, Monday through Friday at the Dam. The flow is steady on weekends anywhere from 5,000 to 8,000 or higher. Those big 40' jet boats can go all the way up river, they just know where they're going. The river has cut a channel into the sediment and it's quite easy to see at higher flows. Quartermaster all the way to Separation Canyon is no problem. You're in the Lower Granite Gorge of Grand Canyon at that point and the water is plenty deep.

 

[QC]

Re: Come to Lake Mead and Win Prizes!

DR,<br /><br />Is Quartermaster Canyon where the Helicopter "balcony" is? Ya know, where the Helicopters fly in and the guests get their Champagne?<br /><br />What freaks me out more is the stretch from Iceberg Canyon to Pearce Ferry, and specifically the entrance into Iceberg. There are places on either side of where the current "strikes" the Lake water that I simply can't read . . .

 

[Drowned Rat]

Re: Come to Lake Mead and Win Prizes!

QC,<br /><br />Quartermaster is just upstream of the Hualapai helipad, but for all practical purposes, if you can make it that far, you'll be fine. <br /><br />The area from Iceberg pass (South America Rock) to Pearce is quite unremarkable right now, and has been for about 2 years. The water is so low that the river is completely channelized through there. There's really no where to go wrong. To get in, just look where the brown water meets the lake. When the water is a little higher, say 2002 levels, it covers the whole bay at about 6 to 12 inches and it's so wide you have to know where the channel is because the current just sort of washes over the whole area coming from the area of Pearce. Right now it's a no brainer. There exists a small (relative term) rapid at the entrance to Pearce Bay that you cannot get around if you intend on going upstream, but above 10,000 CFS is washes out. Upstream from there you have to be careful and take it slow, but it is navagable. The sand bars are quite easy to see if you take the time to look for them. About a mile from Pearce and you're in the Canyon and it never gets so wide that you can't see current flowing from this point.

 

[QC]

Re: Come to Lake Mead and Win Prizes!

DR,<br /><br />What you say is what I had always hoped and believed. You tried to tell me last year too, but I get there and my knees start shaking. We're 65 miles from my trailer at that point, kids, wife the whole bit. I don't want to break anything there <br /><br />Well I understand your comments about Pearce Bay too, I have been in there with nothing but the tops of the trees showing and that's weird too, but you can guess how deep it is by the obvious height of the trees. It is right where you are talking about Iceberg Pass that has messed with my head the last two years. There is a great confluence of water where the current hits the lake water, but it is dead calm on all sides, I know that is where you go in, but just upriver of where it comes together I can't really tell where the channel is Also, I had not understood the timing from Glen Canyon before. Knew there was a timing issue, didn't know when it was. Thanks.<br /><br />Oh, and I was literally talking of a Balcony/dock like thing that overhangs the river there. It is where you say, but wanted to make it clear that I wouldn't call the actual helipad a balcony Anyway, we powered upriver of there and then floated back out in 2000. I don't think we got very close to Separation Canyon. That year was when Pearce bay was hard to read because of the spacing of the tree tops. No pattern that indicated the channel was obvious at all. I have actually waterskiied all of the way through Pearce Bay to Columbine Falls. Looking at the historical water levels that was probably 1985, my first boat was one year old . . . We actually took a rental Houseboat into the falls and I jumped off the roof in that little cove in front. What an idiot!!! Have you seen how all of the rocks pile up right at the base of the falls? I probably dove just in front of those without being able to see . . . <br /><br />Which one is South America Rock? At the downriver or upriver side of Iceberg? I know Both Howland Coves, Driftwood Island, Bradley Bay, Grand Wash Bay and God's Pocket etc. real well for reference . . .

 

[Drowned Rat]

Re: Come to Lake Mead and Win Prizes!

QC, <br /><br />I long for the days when you could motor right up to Columbine falls. I'd hike to it now, but the dang Tamarisk is too thick. Yeah, 2000 was really the last year you could make it up there easily. I remember in Sept. of 2001, the entrance to Pearce bay was about 1 inch deep, now it's about 15 feet above water. You would be surprised at how it looks now. The river has cut a very deep channel in the sediment and the Tamarisk trees are 15 to 20 feet out of the water. The potential for a very nasty rapid exists at the area of Pearce Bay. When the lake was full and all the river sediment fell out in that area, it covered a cliff about 100 feet high. Now the river has chosen to start eating away the sediment right over the cliff. If the lake stays at this low level long enough, we could see a pretty spectacular waterfall there in the future. <br /><br />South America Rock is upstream of Iceberg and on river left. It's that huge mountain that looks like it's flowing uphill. Know what I mean? The river runs right up against it on the East side. It's a good thing to steer for coming from the lake, but honestly you don't need it right now. I hear you being 65 miles from civilization and thinking twice. I totally understand that. I usually put in at South Cove so it's not that far, but I feel that way at Lake Powell sometimes. I have a little 6hp kicker on my 15' boat because I worry so much about it. <br /><br />In the Summer time, the jet boats cruise up into the Canyon every day to pick up rafting passengers. Follow one of those guys and GPS the whole trip. Just hang back about 2 or 300 yards in case they come to an abrupt halt.