GLEN CANYON NATIONAL RECREATION AREA EXPEDITION!

 I recently was on a road trip Out West, where I drove through Bryce Canyon National Park,  Zion National Park, then continued on to drive through Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.  This put me onto the western entrance of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.

 

The Glen Canyon Recreation Area is a national recreation area and conservation unit of the National Park Service, under the Department of the Interior, and encompasses the area around Lake Powell and Cataract Canyon .  (Cataract Canyon is located within Canyon Lands National Park.)  The stated purpose of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area is for recreation and preservation.  As such,  public access to Lake Powell has been developed via five marinas.  One of these Marinas is in the Wahweap arm of Lake Powell,  On my drive, I had the opportunity to take a side trip to the Wahweap Overlook:

At the overlook, you will have an expansive view of the Glen Canyon Dam, Bridge, and Lake Powell.  The dam holds back the flow of the Colorado River, to form Lake Powell.  The lake is named after John Wesley Powell, a Civil War veteran who explored the Colorado River, via 3 wooden boats in 1869.  The maximum depth of Lake Powell was 583 feet, and its average depth used to be 132 feet, but is much less now, than when it was formed in 1963.  One reason for this is the fact that sediments flowing in from the Colorado and San Juan Rivers have settled at the bottom of Lake Powell, and the sediments decrease the total amount of water the reservoir can hold.  It is estimated that about eleven billion gallons of storage capacity has been lost between 1963 and 2018. 

There is a covered pavilion at the Wahweap Overlook, to allow visitors to sit and take in the amazing landscape.  Public use areas such as this have been made possible, by the formation of the Glen Canyon Recreation Area, in 1972. 

The overlook is a favorite place for photographers to set up their tripods for capturing magnificent sunset photos:

Since there were people at the overlook, I asked one of them to take the photo of me with uplifted arms, showing gratitude to God for the opportunity to take in the amazing scenery:

This is also a good place to get a view of the marina far below.   The "bathtub ring" around the shoreline, is a clue that the lake is extremely low.  In fact, in April of this year, it reached its lowest point, since it was formed by the construction of Glen Canyon Dam, almost sixty years ago. 

If you go to the website for the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area ( www.nps.gov ), you will see the alerts telling you that several of the marinas no longer can offer access to motorized boats, due to low water levels.  However, the closed ramps can still be used for watercraft such as kayaks, canoes, and paddle boards.  Regarding paddle boards and swimming, another alert warns of the danger of harmful water conditions due to pollutants/bacteria being more concentrated at these lower water levels, and one should wash off their skin with clean tap water,  as soon as possible, after being in the lake.

The next stop along my drive was the Carl Hayden Visitor Center.  Carl Hayden was an Arizona senator, who sponsored the creation of the Grand Canyon National Park, as well as the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, giving women the right to vote. In sponsoring the 19th amendment, he went on record as saying he wanted to do it in honor of his ARKANSAS-born mother, who was very active in the women's suffrage movement. 

The entire front of the visitor center is an expansive collection of windows.  Likewise, the opposite side of the visitor center is a wall of glass, that looks out over the Colorado River, and provides good views of the dam. 

Although it was closed when I arrived, I was able to still enjoy a quiet time of "reflection" in the mirrored windows!

This bridge is built over the Colorado River, and is placed in front of the dam.

If going inside the visitor center is important to you, be sure to call before hand to see when they are open:

There is a fountain with a U.S.A. flag in the background, that reminds us of the importance of water in the U.S.A. economy.   Senator Carl Hayden was keenly aware of this fact, when he co-sponsored the Colorado River Storage Act of 1956, authorizing the creation of the Glen Canyon Dam. 

I like this photo, with a lady who looks familiar,  in the reflection:

This photo below shows me with power lines in the back ground.   Those power lines are a reminder for me to mention that one of the purposes of the Glen Canyon Dam is for hydroelectric power.  Because of low water levels, Glen Canyon Dam is only operating at 60% of its hydroelectric capacity.  Electric generation will stop all together if Lake Powell drops to 3,490 feet.  The level now is 3,534 feet.  These concerns for insufficient electric power, make me thankful that I do not have to worry about God's "Divine Power" running out.  So I am using this photo as a visual aid for my First Place 4 Health (www.FirstPlace4Health.com) memory verse that says, "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness." 2 Peter 1:3

When I left the visitor center, I drove across the bridge, towards Page, Arizona.  (Lake Powell is in both Utah and Arizona.)  Just across the bridge, there is a parking area where one can park their car, and walk across the bridge, in a dedicated pedestrian walkway, which is what I did.

Glen Canyon Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam, which means it curves upstream in a narrowing curve that directs most of the water pressure against the canyon rock walls, providing the gravity force to compress the dam.  An arch gravity dam can be thinner than a pure "gravity dam" and requires less internal fill.

Glen Canyon Dam is 256 feet high, and 2,256 feet wide. The white shoreline around Lake Powell behind the dam, shows the dramatic loss of water depth due to the drought conditions in the West.  

How would you like to be the employee whose job duties include climbing to this "perch" on the tall bluff above the Colorado River?

In the past, I frequently saw travel magazine advertisements praising the use of giant houseboats on Lake Powell, but the drought conditions of the last 23 years in the southwest, have made it more difficult for some boat owners to get the same amount of use out of their watercraft, as they did before the drought.  Some boats have been taken out of the water all together for this reason.  I took a photo of one such boat, that was bigger than my house!

Another drydocked boat may be functioning as a garage for a pickup truck now:

Although the future of the Glen Canyon Dam is uncertain, it will be many years before major changes can be completed.  Environmental groups continue to push for its decommissioning, saying there needs to be a feasibility study done by the federal government, looking into the drilling of a new tunnel at the base of Glen Canyon dam, to allow Lake Powell to be drawn down completely, if necessary.  Since 40 million people in seven states rely on water from the Colorado River, this issue cannot be ignored indefinitely.  So my suggestion is that if you want to see Lake Powell, you do it sooner, rather than later!  I am very thankful I had the opportunity to do so, and learning about its history has given me "MILES OF SMILES"!  Tricia