Mark This! is a podcast in which we peel back the corporate curtain to reveal the cool and innovative people, programs, and projects that are happening all over Aramark’s varied lines of business. These remarkable initiatives happen because we have remarkable people behind them--building opportunity, building innovation, and building community.
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Mark This! Podcast, Episode 20, Lake Powell
Host: Heather Dotchel, Corporate Communications
Guests: Robert Knowlton, District Manager for Aramark, and Jerod Viers, General Manager for Water Operation Services
It's time to Mark This, a podcast in which we peel back the corporate curtain to reveal the cool and innovative people, programs, and projects that are happening all over Aramark's varied lines of business. I'm Heather Dotchel. As a member of Aramark's communication team, I see and hear amazing things that are happening across our company every day. These remarkable initiatives happen because we have remarkable people behind them, building opportunity, building innovation, and building community. We are on the cusp of summer and looking ahead to recreation in the sun and surf.
Robert Knowlton, district manager, and Jerod Viers, general manager for Boat Rentals are here to talk to us about the fun times to be had at Lake Powell with some special attention paid to an attraction that you might not know about but won't be able to get out of your mind, houseboat rentals. First, let's learn a little bit more about our guests today. Robert, can you please share your professional journey?
Yeah, absolutely. I've actually been here at Lake Powell for roughly going on 13 years in May, actually anniversary coming up here soon, but I started with the corporation seasonally as a boat instructor, worked at the fuel dock, really entry level as I worked my way through college. Graduated in hotel resort hospitality management and came back to the corporation. Offered me a full-time year-round position, and I've kind of worked my way up through the ranks and starting with boat rentals actually, and kind of acquired new different types of the business. And that's where I'm at today as the district manager. But that's kind of been my professional journey with Aramark and through and through 13 years. So it's been great.
Fantastic. Jerod, how did you end up at Lake Powell?
Yeah, I've been with Aramark for almost seven years now. I actually went to school for education, so I came to Page to teach elementary ed, which I did for four years. And I worked seasonally for Aramark as a river guide, and I chose to leave teaching at some point, and I went to work with Aramark for the river operation, and about six months after that, I came out to the lake to fill a role at Boat Rentals working for Robert. And I've been here since, and it's been great. So working with boat rentals and both ends of the lake, it's been a good journey at Lake Powell.
Well, Jerod, you actually worked for me as a river guide as well, right?
That's true. My whole journey pretty much has been with Robert.
Well, I'm glad to hear that. Good is good. Robert, tell our community here about Lake Powell. Where is it? What is it aside from a lake, and what will we love about it?
Yeah, I mean, Lake Powell, it's the Colorado River dammed up by the Glen Canyon Dam. A couple of interesting facts. If you take Lake Powell and stretched it all the way out, it would actually be longer than the continental United States, which is kind of an interesting fact. And it ranges anywhere from 300 to 400 feet deep in different areas. So it is a very deep lake.
It does border both Utah and Arizona, and it spans all the way up to Bullfrog, Utah, which is about 98 miles upriver. We operate Lake Powell at South Lake in Page, Arizona, and Bullfrog, Utah, and I always say you can either boat, fly, or drive, and if you boat, it's three and a half to four hours, and if you fly, it's 30 minutes, and if you drive around, it's five and a half. So it just kind of depends on how you want to get to both sides of the lake. It's pretty unique in that way.
What are the water levels at Lake Powell projected to be this summer, Robert, and why is that an important question? How does water level impact water activities?
That's a great question. Yeah, I mean, it's very popular for the community in Utah, California. I mean, water is such a great resource that everybody needs, but as far as lake levels go, first question, we're at 3,700 feet elevation-wise. That's how we gauge the actual water levels. And we haven't been at that level in probably since the late '90s, but we're expected to get close to 20 to 25 feet of water this year, and it's all based on the Colorado River snowpack up in the Colorado and the Utah Mountains, but we're sitting about 100%, and the more water we get, the better.
But it's kind of unique in the way that even if you have low water, it opens up new canyons and different things that we've never seen before, as last year, we were pretty low on water storage, but it offers both, rather it's low or it's high, you get to see a different lake every year, and that's pretty fun.
Jerod, let's turn to boat rentals. What all can lake goers rent? So what is the gamut of boats, and then what advice do you have for our first time guests renting boats?
Yeah, great question. So we rent it all. Obviously we have houseboats, varying sizes of houseboats, and that's kind of the most critical piece to renting vessels on Lake Powell. We also have smaller boats, so we have pontoon boats, as well as speed boats and that you can use for wakeboarding, water-skiing, tubing, fishing, whatever water activity you like to do. We also rent jet skis, personal watercraft, kayaks, paddle boards, knee boards, pretty much all the toys that you would need on the lake.
So with that, I think one of the biggest things I tell new boaters looking to come to Lake Powell is often customers will want to just get a houseboat and come to the lake. And what I explained to them is the houseboat is like your RV. If you're going on a road trip, you're not going to take that RV on the back country roads and overseeing a lot of the neat sites, you're going to need something a little smaller. So I always recommend renting a small boat or a couple of jet skis with the houseboat so that way you can get farther up the lake faster and go back in some of the many canyons on the lake.
All right, well then with the understanding that there are all of those different kinds of boats for different kinds of reasons, I do want to talk more about houseboats. I'm not going to lie, Jerod, I might have a bit of a dream of living on one. And I understand we have seven different houseboats that can be rented. What are the distinctions between them, and how do they suit our guests, whether it's a family or couples or group or what have you looking to take a houseboat out?
Yeah, all the houseboats, they have all the amenities of home pretty much. I mean, so you have separate rooms for people to sleep in. You've got a full kitchen, so full-size fridge, stove, microwave, all the utensils, pots, plates and pans that you need for cooking, fresh water on board, one to two bathrooms. So really, I mean, it's a floating house, right? Houseboat, makes sense. The distinction comes in mostly with size, so the smaller boats we have are single bedrooms. So, I mean, if you're just a couple or a small family with a couple small kids, a single-bedroom boat would probably be fine for you.
Our largest boats have five bedrooms, and those are much better if you have multiple families coming together. Just more spaces to put people. And of course you have the top deck of the boat, which is great for sleeping outside, because summertime on the lake, the temperatures are perfect if it's not raining out to just sleep outside on the top deck.
We also have some different classes of houseboats, so some of our vessels feature hot tubs and fireplaces for a little bit more of a luxurious touch if that's something that you're interested in. So we really do have a breadth of options both with size and amenities for our guests to enjoy the lake. All of them though, I mean, have all the comforts you need. You are camping on the water, but by no means are you really roughing it with all those features.
Okay, so if you have a full kitchen, and you've mentioned fishing earlier, what am I pulling off the lake and cooking up on my houseboat?
Oh, boy, well, probably bass. So I mean, the big things for fishing are going to be smallmouth, largemouth bass, as well as striped bass here in the lake. On the north side up by Bullfrog, people sometimes will be catching some walleye, which is a pretty popular freshwater fish, but definitely a bass fishing lake primarily.
Robert, what other activities can guests enjoy in the marina, and a little follow-up once you explain that, what do you personally enjoy?
If you have a private vessel, a lot of guests like to come and just stay the night there and again, use that as their home base. And then what we offer, we do have a restaurant on the water so people can go and they can watch a sports game and have a drink, and it's actually called Latitude 37. And we have a retail store, and different things actually on the dock. Actually we have a fishing dock, so you can fish off the dock. So it's good to get out and then go and adventure, and use that, again, as your home base. So that's what we like to do at the marina, yeah.
Well, honestly, I think the biggest thing I like to do at the marina is really just to visit with family and friends, and just the community aspect of it. I think a lot of people have had the same neighbor in a marina for years and years, and they know each other really well, so they get to do fun things together and play games, and it's the communal aspect.
Jerod, do you have a fun story you can share with our listeners about recreation at the lake?
Oh, man. Yeah, me and Robert were actually talking about this before the call. One memory that actually just came to me, in 2021, I got to take my family out on a houseboat trip when the season was over, and that's actually one of the perks, we offer our employees really nice discounted rates on the houseboats to come out. So I was able to take my family out on a houseboat trip, and I just remember waking up in the mornings and a few times just seeing my dad just staring out at the lake and just watching the sun coming up, and I could just tell, it was just such a cool experience for him to be able to be out there on the lake with his family. And it was just a great time.
On that trip, we also revealed to my family that we were having our first child, and so that kind of was a very special moment for us. The stars were out, we were up on the top deck of the houseboat, just a perfectly calm fall night, and I'll never forget that.
That's a pretty significant way to make an announcement. I love it.
Robert, how about you, have a fun story that you can share?
Oh, I've got a lot of fun stories over the years, but it's true. And what Jerod said about... kind of reminded me of a lot of people who come out here, rather it's for people from corporate or different new visitors or family or friends that have never been to the lake. And I think getting to see people see Lake Powell for the first time through their eyes and that lens always makes it exciting, even though I've been here for so many years, but that's always fun to see people experience Lake Powell for the first time.
But a story for me, yeah, Jerod and I were kind of talking about it. I actually took my wife out, this was probably well before she was my wife, my girlfriend on a houseboat that we were doing a photo shoot on the next day, and I was like, "Yeah, why don't you come out? We'll go out and stay the night on a boat." So just the two of us on one of our bigger vessels, and so we took it and we went probably an hour or two. It starts to get really dark, so we have to find a beach pretty quick before it gets too dark to anchor the houseboat.
So we get it. It's just me pretty much anchoring the houseboat by myself. Usually you have three or four people with you, but anyway, we're getting through, it's getting dark, finally get it anchored and my wife's trying to help me. She drops the line in the water, it gets stuck in the propeller, it's November, it's cold. I have to jump down in the water, and swim down there and take it off the propeller. But just those fun unique stories that you have over time, and it ended up being a great trip, and the photo shoot went well. But I think those are kind of the fun stories that you don't forget over time. And everybody that you meet that comes to Lake Powell has a story to tell you, and that's what's really fun about it.
Well, that sounds fantastic. So before we wrap up, I'd like to ask the both of you, is there anything else about Lake Powell that you'd like to make sure we know? Jerod, do you want to start?
Two things. One is, it's such a good place for a vacation because there's something for everybody. I mean, if you're a reader, you can lay on the beach and read. If you fish, you can fish. If you like adrenaline, you can wakeboard, wakesurf, water ski. There's just, there's really something for everybody. And of course, at the end of it all is nights on a houseboat, cooking around the fire, on the grill, or inside the boat, and just the family coming together. So it's really special whether you're young, old, active, or just like to relax. It's just a truly special vacation and special trip for people no matter what your interests are.
The last thing I think is just the beauty of the lake. I mean, it is truly incredible. And like Rob was talking about seeing it through other people's eyes when they see it the first time, it's truly special, and there's really no other lake you could compare it to that you're just going to get the beauty of the blue water, the red rock, the dark skies. It's a really incredible place.
Anything to add to that, Rob?
Yeah, I mean, I think that's a really good explanation I think overall, and it's true that, I mean, I've been to several different lakes over the years, and in the Midwest, and back east, and while they all have their own beauty, probably partial to Lake Powell just because this is where I've been, but you don't get the beautiful sandy beaches and then the red rock slot canyons that you can go into, and you can really find your own private piece of paradise that, I mean, that Lake Powell has to offer. I think that's the biggest thing that most people can't get anywhere else. It's just such a large lake, and it spans over 170 miles, so a little bit different than other lakes. And yeah, I think that's about it. But Jerod, he had a really good point, and there's something for everybody out here at Lake Powell.
Would you like to know more about Lake Powell? Visit our newsroom on aramark.com to access more information. I'd like to thank Rob and Jerod for joining us and getting us ready for some summer dreaming. And as always, thanks to our listener for joining us at Mark This.
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