I never much liked the RV experience. Traveling in the RV was okay, mainly because having all our food and clothes in a mobile vehicle was convenient. Parking for the night in some noisy, crowded RV Park was not fun.  I didn’t think I would ever like doing that for vacation.

And then one day we were lucky enough to be invited onto our friends’ houseboat at Lake Powell, Utah for a week.  It turned out to be one of my favorite vacations ever. The house boat was a roomy and comfortable RV, with a BBQ grill, ice maker, lounge chairs, a water slide, even satellite TV and radio, but it’s also a boat!  We could roam the lake to our heart’s content. We could find the campsites that were deserted and not have to pull into any kind of RV Park for a night.

Lake Powell is a man-made lake, really a series of flooded canyons, on the border of Arizona and Utah. The sandstone and limestone cliffs are stark and create an eerie landscape. The sunsets can be amazing.

House boating has all the advantages of taking your “house” with you and none of the disadvantages of the noisy, crowded RV parks. When it got time to stop we would look for a shoreline site far from others and put out the anchors. We could get off the boat and hike, have campfires, swim and fish. Some of us would chill on the top deck with a book. We took turns cooking tasty meals each night.

As soon as we organize the gear and we get out onto the lake.

There are only a couple of marinas on the whole 100+ mile lake, notably Dangling Rope Marina, about 40 miles up the lake, only accessible by boat, which has gas, a small store and a NP Ranger Station (and was featured in Anna Pigeon ranger-mystery series).

That’s why it’s important to have all the food and gear you think you will need from the outset. We planned menus in advance and shopped accordingly.

We could motor as far each day as we wanted, or just stay where we were and explore the area.  The houseboat towed a couple of jet skis and had two kayaks on board. We could swim, we could fish, we could hike. And all without seeing many other people, if any.

I could even drive the boat!

We’ve been able to take three house boating trips with our friends and each time we find new anchor sites, explore new channels and see different rock formations.

A few places on Lake Powell are easier to get to from a boat than over land, like Rainbow Bridge National Monument. You can take a small boat or jet ski into the canyon. Then it’s a short flat hike to see the arch. Each year we’ve gone, the water levels in the lake have been different, so you’re never sure how far you will be able to boat in. The National Park Service puts out docks for boats to tie up to.

There’s not a lot of cell service along the lake, so this is a mostly-unplugged vacation.  We usually travel with a satellite phone for emergencies, and the boat has a ship to shore radio system. Sometimes we can get cell service by taking a jet ski into the middle of the lake, especially if you are on the right side of Navajo Mountain. Otherwise, plan to just chill.

If you like boating, and the RV experience, and fascinating wilderness, then house boating on Lake Powell might be a good vacation for you.