Lake Powell and Glen Canyon Dam

Lake Powell, in Page, AZ, with it’s red rocks and sapphire water is the 2nd largest man made lake in the country and has 1960 miles of shore line. This is more coastline than the entire west coast of the USA. It covers 160,000 acres and has 96 named tributaries and dozens of smaller unnamed ones. Rainbow bridge, the largest Natural Bridge in the world is also located there. To access this you must go by boat and then a hike about 1 mile or you can go by land which will require about a 3 day hike. To appreciate the size of this natural bridge, the US Capital Dome could fit under the bridges nearly 300 ft arch.

A little history about Page, AZ. Page was established only in 1957 as a small construction camp for thousands of men, women, and their families who participated in the construction of Glen Canyon Dam, the second largest dam in the US. Hoover Dam being the largest.                                                                     

Page now acts as the heart of the Grand Circle which includes Arches Nat’l Park to her NE, Mesa Verde Nat’l  Park to the E, Canyon DeChelly Nat’l Monument to the SE, Grand Canyon to the SW, Zion Nat’l Park to the W, and Bryce Canyon to the NW. Nothing was there until 1957! Isn’t it amazing that there are whole sections of the US that are not inhabited.

The Glen Canyon Dam backs the Colorado River up for 186 miles to form Lake Powell.

Hooptie loved seeing the Dam and her parents were getting ready to take the Dam Tour

It is the key water storage unit and water supplier for Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and sends millions of gallons of water to Mexico each year. Hydro Electric power produced by the dams generators helps meet the electrical needs of the West. When I said earlier that Lake Powell had sapphire water, that truly describes it. I have never seen water that color. With Arizona’s clear skies and low humidity, the water is able to reflect the blue from the sky to produce this lovely shade. It draws people from far and wide. You should see the house boats. I means thousands of them.

                There are a few “measly” 40 footers but most of them are 50, 60, 70, and even 75 footers here. Some are 3 stories high, most with sliding boards off the stern. Here are just a few, most are not in the water as of yet. We stayed 2 days at an “ok” campground – the usual – nothing fancy.  After we took the Dam tour we drove into the Glen Canyon Recreation Park and turned into the Lake Powell  Resort and Wahweap Campground. This is right on Lake Powell!  So beautiful and what a find. We had to stay for a couple more days. As guests of the campground we had all of the privileges of the Lake Powell Resort – the pool, spa, etc. Campfires were the perfect nightcap to relaxing days on this magnificent body of water. Since we have the America the Beautiful pass (Golden Age pass), we were able to stay in the wonderful resort for a whopping $11.50 a day. Do I ever wish we found this sooner and skipped the $30 a day “parking lot”.