Visiting Lake Powell

Since I've been spending a lot of time reading one book after another as well as listening to others on CD, (to be fair, I do this listening as I go about those boring and mundane tasks necessitated by everyday life ) I thought I'd share some photos from my son's family fishing trip on Lake Powell.

I remember the controversy surrounding the Glen Canyon Dam Project in the fifties when the dam was begun. There was an outcry among ecologists and archaeologists who deplored the loss of plant and animal life as well as any ancient mysteries lying undiscovered in canyons soon to be inundated by hundreds of feet of water.

Nevertheless, the dam was built to bridge nearly one third of a mile, from rim to rim, of the Grand Canyon, and the waters in Lake Powell began to rise. Glen Canyon Dam History and Tours tells the story.
As a man made lake, 186 mile long Lake Powell is second only to Lake Meade in size and second to none in beauty. The kids let us know they'd be camping somewhere, "past Dangling Rope Marina," as there's no cell phone reception at the lake and off they went.

A hike up to Rainbow Bridge National Monument was on the agenda,

some wild rides,

swimming, and fishing.


Mu learned to fish about the time she learned to walk.

But, Piglet, having just caught her first, says ewwwww rather than cheese!

A dainty touch, that Kleenex in the fish mouth.

A nice catch of striped bass that was, I'm told, very tasty when

wrapped in bacon and cooked over the campfire.

Lake Powell is as vast and wonderful as the rugged, red rocked landscape that surrounds it, but some people still mourn the lost world that has lain, for nearly half a century, hidden beneath Powell's cool green water. Now that drought has robbed the Colorado River and it's tributaries of rain and snow melt, canyons and caves are re-emerging for exploration and admiration. National Geographic has an article and some great pictures in the April 2006 issue.

This picture in Reflection Canyon in Utah, was taken after the lake dropped more than 100 feet. It's available as wallpaper from National Geographic so I felt comfortable uploading it.

Water has always been a precious commodity here in the West. As the Geographic points out, much of the water trapped by the Glen Canyon Dam goes to keep our desert cities green.