Enjoy Lake Powell in Arizona
Visitors to Lake Powell in Arizona are often amazed by the sheer size of the man made body of water. Over one hundred and eighty six miles long, the lake offers over ninety canyons to explore and endless hours of water activities and fun.
Begun in 1956 the nation’s second largest reservoir had reached its high water mark by June of 1980. It is situated in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, designated in 1972 "to provide for public use and enjoyment and to preserve the area’s scientific, historic, and scenic features."
Lake Powell is also the working storage facility for the Colorado River Compact’s Upper Basin states. This means that Arizona, Nevada and California receive a significant amount of annual flow out of the reservoir.
While the largest portion of Lake Powell resides in Utah, the dam that controls the level of the lake is in Arizona. The Glen Canyon Dam is a whopping seven hundred and ten feet high. It contains well over four million yards of concrete and stands over five hundred feet above the Colorado River. It houses a hydroelectric power plant that delivers over six hundred thousand households worth of power.
In addition to the dam, in 1964 the Glen Canyon Dam bridge was built, and the one thousand five hundred and sixty food span has eliminated the traditional one hundred and ninety two mile drive that would have been required to reach the other side of the canyon prior to the bridge’s construction.
Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon National Recreational Area are incredibly popular sites for tourist activity. There are houseboats and personal watercraft rentals available along the thousands of miles of shore, and most of the canyons and scenic locations are only reachable by a watercraft of one kind or another. There are also excellent bass, carp and catfish fishing opportunities, and many trained guides who will take visitors to the prime locations.
Many visitors to Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon National Recreational Area come for the beautiful scenery with the contrasting colors of the sandstone cliffs and cloudless blue skies, all reflected in the seemingly endless waters of the Lake. Many also enjoy the remoteness and the peace and quiet of the many areas of the lake.
The best time of year to enjoy Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon National Recreational Areas are June through October, when the waters are warm and the air temperatures are comfortable.
Thank you to Christine Shelton for sharing her photos!