illusion that I'm paddling where no one has gone
before. Even in the face of jets overhead, floating
signs labeling waterfilled canyons, the occasional
speed boat and the odd floating beer can I can still
imagine that I'm the first person seeing all this
wonder. Labarynth Canyon is filled with water for
about 2 miles and makes lots of sharp turns. Most of
it isn't wide enough to turn the kayak around in and
the walls are hundreds of feet high. No one hd ever
seen this before. I got out at the end and started
walking up the dry bed. Until I heard the sound of a
motor boat. I rushed back and a film crew was getting
out to do some video taping for a web site. On the
way out I had to back up beneath and overhang to let a
party boat, skippered by a Woody Harrelson look alike
go by.
There's a hundred foot high white ring around Lake
Powell, the discoloration on the canyons' walls caused
by the water when the lake was full. The maps, all of
which were made a few years ago during high water
levels show channels which now don't exist. At the
places I camped, there are clam shells all over the
ground.
In the afternoon I paddled over to Gunsight Canyon,
much wider than Labyrinth and chose a much more
convenient site: a level area on a sandy beach,
protected from the west wind and wide open to the
morning sun from the east. The moon is just rising
and it is full, throwing sharp-edged shadows and mood
lighting the mesa on the other side of the canyon.
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