While our Day on the Lake was really great, since we hauled 1 Canoe, 2 SUPs, and 1 Inflatable Kayak all the way from Colorado, we wanted to use them. A quick look at the National Park Service brochure map showed a dirt road on the north side of the lake, with spurs that lead to the waters edge. Further investigation revealed that Smoky Mountain Road (NP 230) starts in Big Water, UT and runs through the NRA on the north side, with Crosby Canyon Road (NP 231) splitting off and leading to the water. So we loaded up the Tundras for a fun day, and headed for the trail.
While flying drones is not permitted within the NRA without special permission, the public land outside the Recreation Area is OK to fly. Not long after we aired down and found the dirt, we pulled in to some really cool black sand dunes for a photo op.
After our fun in the sand, we headed the next ~7 miles on the easy dirt road to the turnoff for Crosby Canyon. Things got a little more interesting in the canyon, especially when we descended past the previous high-water mark and got closer to the beach.
Once we reached the beach area, we chose to drive along a small peninsula and get the boats ready. This little slit of land pushed into the lake pretty well, but ended up being quite windy. Not long after we got in the water, we chose to find our way around to a more protected area.
The drive over to the other beach finally got fun =) We dropped the Tundra's into 4 Low and got to play in some deep-ish sand for a couple of minutes. Once final descent back toward the waters edge, and we ended up just a few dozen feet above the beach at a great little parking spot.
Since we brought so many watercraft with us, we were able to get all 9 people (4 adults + 5 children) out on the water at the same time. The wind was still swift enough to keep us from venturing into the open water, but it was really cool exploring the little bay we found. The best part? We only saw 1 other group of people the entire time: a house-boat had docked on the opposite shore, but that was it.
You can see from our Adventure Map that the route was really fun, and at only about 32 miles round trip, it's the perfect distance for a day-trip on the dirt.
