Spring Break Day 4 - Rainbow Bridge, Dangling Rope Marina, Cha Canyon

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Day 4 (Monday, April 17, 2017): Rainbow Bridge Hike, Dangling Rope Marina, Cha Canyon in the San Juan Arm

This was our big mileage day. We first headed to mile 49 and Forbidding Canyon. At the end of it is Rainbow Bridge – a 290’ tall sandstone arch that was formed when the river stopped going around the rock and started to make its was through the rock. To get there we pulled up to a large float and hiked a mile up the canyon. To our surprise, there was a passenger ferry pulled up and a bunch of tourists were heading out of the canyon as we were heading in. The valley was delightful and the arch was spectacular. We ate lunch in the shade beneath the arch and had a nice chat with a couple who was spending a week sea kayaking around the different canyons and camping out. Spurred by a rapidly diminishing supply of suntan lotion (we really lucked out on the weather – it was sunny and 80 every day), we traveled another 10 miles down lake to Dangling Rope Marina. They had only opened for the season a couple weeks earlier and their supplies were sparse. But we did manage to restock on sunscreen and peanut butter and the kids got to have ice cream. From there, we went back up the lake to mile 57 and the San Juan Arm. We went up that arm about six additional miles until we cam to Cha Canyon. At its head was a really cool sandstone bowl with wavy texture to it and a tiny creek running through it in a series of small ponds and drops. It was a magical little spot. Securing the boat, however, was a bit of a problem and so Eben and I took turns exploring it while the other drove the boat around the cove. Had we more time and a better tie up for the boat, we could have kept hiking up and out of the canyon up to the mesa. We then returned the long way home to our campsite only to find that a houseboat had joined us for the night. Though they were nice enough, it felt like a startling invasion of space – after all there are hundreds of other coves and it was irritating that they pulled up here. We tried to make the best of it. The kids swam in the water and we played bocce ball on the beach after dinner. The other group had a fire in the cave up on the wall near our camp spot and it did look really amazing at night. 

 Edison drove a lot of the way!

 Hungry fish at the boat dock for Rainbow Bridge.

 Following Forbidding Creek to Rainbow Bridge.

 

 

Dangling Rope Floating Marina

  

Steep canyon walls mean that even in this cove anchoring is impossible due to the depth being 175 feet. Securing the boat to the sheer rock faces was equally impossible. So Eben and I took turns manning the boat while the other explored the canyon with the kids.

 Cha Canyon - a magical sandstone bowl with a little stream running through it and dropping down into 8 little pools.