Swimming 140 Mies Across Lake Powell with Shane Schieffer

0:03I think there's a life-affirming adventure that takes everything you love, tests your capabilities, sticks you into it deep where you're going to have to find out what happens to your mind and your body when you're really up against a large task.

0:18Shane Schieffer:And I just think it's a glorious way to spend part of our lives and to find out something about ourselves and develop new things within ourselves.

0:33In September of 2025, Shane Schieffer became the first person to swim the entire length of Lake Powell. That's 140 miles in 11 days, towing 215 pounds of gear. Lake Powell is a reservoir that cuts through the desert from Utah down to Arizona. On both sides of the lake, sand-colored canyons rise above the water, which is dotted with rock formations and sandbars. It's a remote, beautiful place that Shane dreamed of swimming across for more than 15 years. I'm Shelby Stanger, and this is Wild Ideas Worth Living, an REI Co-op Studios production presented by Capital One and the REI Co-op MasterCard.

1:18Shane is a chronically curious outdoorsman with a background in business, film, and endurance sports. He lives in Boulder, Colorado, which is the perfect home base for an active lifestyle. Although he had plenty of experience river guiding, camping, and climbing, Shane had always wanted to go on one definitive wild adventure.

1:43Shane Schieffer, welcome to Wild Ideas Worth Living.

1:47Shane Schieffer:Glad to be here. You've been tinkering with adventure since you were a kid, and you swam as a kid. Is that correct? Yeah. It was really when I came out to CU for college that I started testing myself. I loved mountain biking. Before that, I was BMXing. I loved rock climbing at that time. Did you swim or do anything in high school? Yeah. So I did soccer and I did swimming in high school. I was a good high school goalkeeper in soccer. Oh, I was a goalkeeper too. So you like the pressure, you like to be the hero or you're okay being the villain. Yeah, exactly. Yep. Okay. Totally get you. Okay. So you've always had this weird adventurous gene inside to you.

2:26How did you come up with a wild idea to swim the length of Lake Powell?

2:31Shane Schieffer:The short version is I was out with friends on the lake for the first time. And one of the guys headed up and climbed up an overlook to hang out and just check out the scenery. So I chased after him up that because that's my speed. And while we were up there, he said he wondered if anyone had ever paddled the whole thing. And at that time, I had been swimming regular until just a couple years before. This is 18, 19 years ago. And my off the cuff response was, I wonder if anyone's ever swam this whole thing. I just have always enjoyed the idea of big adventure. My parents had rafted the Grand. I've been down in the Grand Canyon.

3:11Shane Schieffer:I was a river guide. My interview trip was on the Colorado River. When I was doing adventure racing, we were paddling on the Colorado River. So I had thought and spent a lot of time on the Colorado. I love hearing about friends or people who are off doing some odd big task. I just think it's a glorious way to spend part of our lives and to find out something about ourselves and develop new things within ourselves. Shane was 33 years old when he first wondered if anyone had ever swam the entire length of Lake Powell. The idea percolated in the back of his mind for 16 years before he took it seriously.

3:51During that time, Shane lost his dad and had his own serious health scare. Those experiences taught him that life can be short, and he should prioritize the things that make him feel most alive, nature and movement. How old are you when you actually decide, like, I'm gonna go make this wild idea that I had at 33 years old happen.

4:16Shane Schieffer:Yeah, I'm 49 years old. It's four years after I've lost my dad to cancer. I'm sitting at this desk early in the morning. Sometimes I like to get up and look up adventures. Sometimes I like to get up and meditate. Sometimes I just like to think. I was like, I wonder if anyone swum Lake Powell yet. So I took a look at it and I could not find anyone that's done it yet. And it's like, oh man, no one's done that. And as soon as I found out no one had done that, it was game on. You know, that infects a part of your brain and spirit. It doesn't let go.

4:51After a lifetime of fascination with exploring uncharted territory, it's no wonder Shane finally decided to chase this wild idea. But even more than wanting to be the first to swim Lake Powell, he was also excited to spend time outside, feeling present and his body, and pushing himself in a totally new way. He immediately dove into researching how to prepare for this challenge. It had been almost 20 years since Shane swam regularly, so he wanted to set a goal that was challenging, but also achievable.

5:24Shane Schieffer:I go on Google Earth and I see it's 140 miles from Hite Crossing Bridge to the dam. So I knew that I'm not going to swim 20 miles a day. I haven't been in the pool in 18 years. So I kind of said, 10 days, 14 miles, that sounds like something I can do. Once Shane realized that it was possible to swim the entire length of Lake Powell, he started breaking down his lofty goal into smaller steps. This wasn't going to be like training for a through hike. Unlike walking, swimming uses back, chest, and shoulder muscles that we just don't use much in our day-to-day lives. Shane didn't have the time to spend hours training in a pool every day.

6:04so he decided to use what was in front of him. Luckily, Shane works for VersaClimber, a company that makes an exercise machine that simulates an upward climbing motion, like you're going up a ladder. Shane adjusted the machine to isolate the upper body, mimicking the extension and pull-down movement of a freestyle swimming stroke. After three weeks of training on the VersaClimber, Shane decided to test if his training was working. So he got in the pool and swam for two hours straight.

6:35Shane Schieffer:I swam a little under four miles. I had never swam more than a mile straight before. I am thrilled because what I'm finding is I have some power there. And I had never done anything before that made swimming easier. Then what do you do? Do you keep going back to the pool or do you make a training plan? No, I just keep doing the same protocol for the most part. I'm working towards about 20, 25 minutes a day. go back to the pool. I'm like, if I'm doing 10 hours a day for 10 days to do this swim, I got to see what a 10 hour, can I even do that? What happens to the skin? Does your skin just like rub off after 10 hours?

7:13Shane Schieffer:I don't really know the answer to these things. So I went to the pool and I'm sitting there that morning, like I'm going to do the 10 hours today, but I don't want to get in. Cause I know once I get in, I don't get to stop. But I also knew I wanted to be self-sufficient out there. Everything from solar charging to water purification, all of my gear, even my waist. So I did that swim 10 hours and I tested things like fins, no fins, that sort of things. I would swim for two hours, take some nutrition, swim for two hours, take some nutrition, you know, and I go through the day. I ended up doing 1250 flip turns that day.

7:46Shane Schieffer:I'm in a 25 yard pool. I forget what that is in miles. It was a lot of miles inside of a 25 yard pool, you know, shifts of lifeguards start and leave. And I'm still in the water and start and leave. I'm surprised there's a pole that's open for 10 hours. So, um, it was, I was okay. The real test was two things. One, can I do it? And second, what does it feel like three days later? Cause that's when you get sore. So that'll tell me how my conditioning is going. So I do that test. And what I find a couple of days later is I'm not really all that sore. So this training is really working. And I'm keeping all of this secret.

8:28Shane Schieffer:Nobody knows I'm even thinking about this. Not even my wife. You haven't told anybody this wild idea. And how many months into this is? I am now three months. Yeah, almost three months into it. And I haven't told anybody because I worked with a writer who did Hollywood and TV scripts. and one of the things he said is that when you're doing something big and hard, if you talk about it, you won't do it because you get some of the recognition from people. Oh, that's a cool idea. A little light in their eyes. You're getting this reward. You're spending what you need to earn before you've done the work.

9:04Shane Schieffer:And so if you really want something and it's hard, you need to keep it quiet in that first phase. You need to just work on it. And so that's what I was doing. So for the first three months, I don't talk about it. I go do this test. Now I realize I have to start to tell people about this. I'm going to have to take time off of work. This is inconvenient for my family. I have to start to organize logistics. There are people who need to know for me to be able to move forward with this plan. And so I kind of shift from that protecting the idea phase into, okay, now I have to actually lay it on the line and say, this is what I'm going to go do.

9:45As Shane dove further into his training, he started swimming regularly at a large reservoir near his home. He loaded his inflatable stand-up paddleboard with weight and experimented with different ways to tow the board. Ultimately, he ended up attaching it to his waist with a 10-foot bungee cord and a harness. Shane's friend Jerry was planning to boat alongside him for safety, but Shane was determined to do this swim self-supported. Jerry didn't give him any navigation help or supplies. Jerry was there just to enjoy the ride and provide support only if something went wrong. Finally, after about five months of training, Shane decided he was ready.

10:27He and Jerry packed up the boat and stand-up paddleboard and drove to the Hight Crossing Bridge, the official north end of Lake Powell. On September 2nd, 2025, Shane started swimming.

10:43Take me to day one. You're at the starting line. Who's there? What's going through your head?

10:49Shane Schieffer:Yeah, we get up. Jerry and I have done tons of things together. So we're just quiet. We're both just getting our gear in order, trying to be expedient about it, get on the water. It's a sense of calm. I think all of that anxiety that starts to build as you get closer to something had dropped away. First, when I got in the car to drive out to Utah. Second, as I was rigging gear and then third as I was right there by the water. Overall, day one is just incredible. It's just to be in the river, to start, to start under the bridge. When you're in that water, four inches, five inches below the surface, everything's black, pitch black.

11:29Shane Schieffer:I'm seeing no light at all. So my experience of swimming is absolute black. And then I take a breath and a burst of light and then absolute black again. And I liked that. I thought it was fascinating. It was experiencing the environment. Okay. Tell me what it's like from sunup to sundown. Like what's a typical day? Like you get up and you just started going. The days are going to look like get up, get on the water as fast as possible. Swim as long as you can go very slow. Um, don't hurt your shoulders and, uh, relax, enjoy it. Um, and do that until basically either you hit 14 miles for that day, or the sun goes down, and then repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat.

12:20On an average day, Shane swam for about 10 hours. He packed enough food so that he could eat 8 ,000 calories a day, but he was only able to stomach about 3 ,500 calories. When he was hungry, he would tread water and pull food from the cooler on his stand-up paddleboard. That board carried everything Shane needed. A water filter, food, first aid, and his sleeping setup. Every evening, Shane swam to shore and set up camp. He didn't bring a tent. Instead, he chose to sleep under the stars in a sleeping bag.

12:59Shane Schieffer:It's just really difficult when you're working that hard to eat that much food and get it down. I think I got through about a quarter of the amount of peanut butter I brought up there. What are you wearing? Are you wearing a wetsuit? Are you wearing a triathlon wetsuit? No, I'm just wearing board shorts. And there's a few reasons. Are you chafing? Well, that's the reason I'm wearing board shorts. So a wetsuit, I'm almost certainly going to chafe. And it's also this very, I don't want this elitist, I'm in a race vibe out there. What I want is backcountry exploration. But you're cold. I was getting cold, not at first.

13:34Shane Schieffer:So I was just in the board shorts and I was great in those, but I'm losing two pounds a day. And so through the course of it, I lose 20 pounds. So I am getting very cold towards the end because I have no body fat on me. But in general, I'm not cold and I can feel the water, which is such a great feeling of connection. I feel the place I'm in. I really loved that. And I'm not chafing because I'm really hardly wearing anything. And I liked that a lot better. Are you doing just freestyle? Are you going on your back and side? I thought that I might do some backstroke for recovery, but backstroke is tricky.

14:08Shane Schieffer:So I did almost exclusively freestyle. I did learn towards the end in some big wind battles that I needed to use some breaststroke to recover because I could prevent the rig from pulling me backwards against the wind, but I could just bring down the intensity for a few minutes while I held position using breaststroke. And then I would go back into freestyle to make forward progress. So interesting. Yeah. I'm curious about directions. You know, when you think of like swimming a reservoir river, you're like, oh, it's just a straight line. I just follow the curves, but that is not how Lake Powell is.

14:39How did you know where to go every day?

14:42Shane Schieffer:In the first parts, it's the Canyon. I see the Canyon walls. So I'm just reading those on my glimpses. I'm navigating primarily by figuring out, okay, I think it's going to turn left up there. So I probably need to cross slowly over to the left bank from the right. What I'm really doing though, is I'm learning to just look at where the sun is in the sky and use that as a bearing. And then it got to the point that I stopped even, I was swimming with my eyes closed. I found that I could see where the sun was with my eyes closed and the tinted goggles on my breaths enough that I was able to swim hundreds of yards at a time without ever opening my eyes.

15:18Shane Schieffer:And the only way I can explain why I'm doing this is delirium. But maybe when you're driving in a neighborhood and you're looking for an address and you turn down the radio, subconsciously your body doesn't want the extra sensory information. I think that's what's going on with me. My body just doesn't need the visual. I'm only getting glimpses and the only purpose is to really take a bearing and go that direction. And so I'm going hundreds of yards at a time where I'm just on my breath referencing that bright spot over my eyelids and I keep it there for a long period of time. And every few hundred yards I check, the sun moves, of course.

15:54Shane Schieffer:I need to make sure that I haven't lost my mind. There's times that I ended up swimming a little off course in that process. I ran into Jerry's boat a couple of times because he was near me and I didn't realize it and I have my eyes closed. I could often taste if I was getting close to the canyon wall. there's mud and muscles that cling to the sides of the sandstone and I can taste it in the water when I'm within 10 feet of it incredibly one time towards the end I'm in a wide open bay and I hit a buoy and when you're hit something steel in the middle of the lake it just the brain you know when something happens you crash on a mountain bike you fall rock climbing whatever it is a lot happens in about a tenth of a second in the brain and so it's scanning that wasn't Jerry's boat it's not a cliff wall.

16:39Shane Schieffer:I'm in a huge bay. I'm nowhere near anything. That felt like metal. What in the world is around me? And all that's coming is I'm just getting my eyes above the water and realize that I've just hit. I don't think I could try a hundred times and hit a buoy, but that time just speared right into the buoy.

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17:45That's rei.com slash mastercard dash podcast. Terms apply.

17:57My morning routine these days looks like this. A cup or two of coffee with my AeroPress, then out to the ocean to catch some waves before an interview. And as much as I love being in the ocean, what I genuinely look forward to is using my AeroPress again the next day. It's that good. If you've never tried AeroPress coffee, you're in for a treat. It's a French press, a pour-over, and espresso machine all in one. It uses a completely unique brew method, which means you get a cup of coffee that's rich, smooth, and genuinely different from anything else. And it's fast. It only takes about two minutes to brew your coffee and clean up.

18:37Lately, I've been using the Aeropress Go Plus. It's a complete travel coffee system I can take to the beach or out on the trail. Everything packs into a double-wall insulated stainless steel tumbler for storage and travel. It's compact, durable, easy to use, easy to clean, and it makes great coffee no matter where you are. I just unpack it, brew, and pack it back up. To ensure you never have bad coffee wherever you are, visit your local REI or head to REI.com to grab your AeroPress. That's A-E-R-O-P-R-E-S-S. It's time to ditch the drive-thru, toss the French press, and say yes to better mornings fueled by better coffee.

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20:19In September of 2025, Shane Schieffer spent 11 days swimming the entire length of Lake Powell. He'd been dreaming of taking on this challenge for more than 15 years, and finally getting out in the water was the culmination of months of training and preparation. A few days before he started swimming, Shane posted a video about his adventure on social media that went viral. The feedback he received was pretty exciting, but all of a sudden there was this whole other element to his swim. A ton of strangers on the internet who were invested in his success. Shane's buddy Jerry, who was boating alongside him, began making daily videos of the swim so that people could follow along.

21:02They were happy to share the highs, the lows, and some pretty funny moments with Shane's new fans.