Outdoor Recreation

On a spring afternoon on Lake Powell, we slipped our 40-foot-long rental houseboat, with barely an inch of tolerance on each side, through an opening in the Navajo sandstone cliff. No sunlight reached in here, a 200-foot-high chimney with just enough circumference to accommodate the boat. "I'll bet more people have seen the far side of the moon than this place," said my wife, Vicki. We anchored to a tiny beach, and once we stopped the engines there existed a silence tinged with nothing. I picked up a readied fishing rod and flipped a jig into the water and immediately large black crappies began committing suicide. Until immense concrete plugs like Glen Canyon, Hoover, Davis, and Parker dams impounded stretches of the Colorado River, there were no "big waters" in Arizona. Today, behind these dams, respectively, are major houseboat refuges: Powell, Mead, Mohave, and Havasu, all offering stress reduction and regal rev-elation. Lake Powell, some 180 miles long, with its surrealistic red-rock, blue-water glory, gets most raves as a houseboating lake. There are thousands of nooks and crannies like the one where we tied up for the night. Actor Charlton Heston crash-landed his space-ship here, mistaking Lake Powell for The Planet of the Apes. Lake Mead, the oldest reservoir, gets abundant use by Las Vegas visitors and residents, including celebrities such as Frank Sinatra and Wayne Newton. "I came here to escape from the roulette wheels and blackjack tables," said a non-celebrity from a party of eight renting a houseboat at the Echo Bay Marina.

The farther up the Colorado arm you cruise, the fewer boaters you see; past Iceberg Canyon, you're in the lower part of the Grand Canyon. Here we've been envied by river rafters turned to jerky and beat into submission by nine days straight of running the canyon's rapids without a change of sheets. Always salute these people with a frosty mug of beer or a tall tumbler of iced tea. Wear crisp Navy whites and have neatly combed hair. Loan them some Grey Poupon. At Lake Mohave and Lake Havasu, 65 and 40 miles long, respectively, the river forsakes the Colorado Plateau to course through the more open, cactus-studded landscapes of the Mohave Desert. One summer midnight, while we were tied up in a mesquite-tree cove at Lake Mohave, a band of coyotes began yodeling. Our six-year-old daughter crawled out of bed and remarked, "Those wolves are keeping me awake." At dawn, over platters of hot biscuits and sausage gravy, we saw a family of wild burros two adults, one child come to the lake's shore to drink. With the lower Colorado reservoirs part of the Pacific Flyway, large water birds some migratory are common: flights of avocets and skimmers, egrets, herons, Canada geese, and numerous duck species along with the occasional bald and golden eagle. Piloting a houseboat is easier than you might expect. The first time we rented one, the marina manager just tossed me the keys and walked away. Fortunately, having past boating experience, I maneuvered the 42-footer safely. Now, the more responsible operators give you preliminary instructions, maps, and manuals. Out on the big impoundments, you have plenty of room to get the "feel" of the boat. When it comes to boating, those floating apartments houseboats get the highest scores.

avocets and skimmers, egrets, herons, Canada geese, and numerous duck species along with the occasional bald and golden eagle. Piloting a houseboat is eas-ier than you might expect. The first time we rented one, the marina manager just tossed me the keys and walked away. Fortunately, having past boat-ing experience, I maneuvered the 42-footer safely. Now, the more responsible operators give you prelimi-nary instructions, maps, and manuals. Out on the big im-poundments, you have plenty of room to get the "feel" of the boat. When it comes to boating, those floating apartments houseboats get the highest scores.

WHEN YOU GO

ARA Leisure Services is the National Park Service concessionaire at Lake Powell. For boating information and prices, write to ARA Leisure Services, 2916 N. 35th Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85017-5261. Telephone: toll-free 1 (800) 528-6145. In the Phoenix area, call 278-8888. Houseboats also are available on the lower Colorado River at Lake Havasu City. For information, call H2O Houseboats, toll-free 1 (800) 242-2628. For more information, contact the Lake Havasu Visitors and Convention Bureau, 1930 Mesquite Ave, No. 2, Lake Havasu City, AZ 86403. Telephone: (602) 453-3444.

WHEN IT COMES TO FLOATING LUXURY, BIG HOUSEBOATS EARN TOP SCORES