The sparkling blue waters of Lake Powell, surrounded by towering red cliffs, attract millions of tourists every year, not only from the United States, but from all over the world. This place is truly special and unique. Tourists from all over the globe come here to take in the breathtaking scenery and enjoy the many sports including canoeing, powerboating, water skiing, as well as fishing and scuba diving. Anyone who has been here at least once will tell you that this is exactly the place that everyone should visit at least once in their lives.

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Lake Powell is the second largest man-made lake in the United States of America. It was created following the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam, the second largest on the Colorado River, which began in 1956. Construction lasted almost ten years and was completed only in 1966. The lake was named after American explorer and military figure John Wesley Powell, who led an expedition to the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon in 1869. It was one of the largest expeditions of the century. Prior to the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam, the Colorado River dominated here.

This river is considered one of the most intricate water arteries in the northern hemisphere. It meanders through Utah and Arizona for hundreds of miles. Major Powell began his expedition in Green River City, Wyoming, and followed the river down to the mouth of the Virgin River in Arizona near the Grand Canyon. Before him, Lieutenant Joseph Ives in 1858 followed almost the same path, noting the following in his diary: “Our detachment was the first and, undoubtedly, the last to visit these empty and barren lands. It seems that nature deliberately created the Colorado River in such a way that it would forever remain untouched and unattractive to people.

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Lake Powell in numbers

Lake Powell stretches from Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona up the Colorado River through Utah. Its total length is 186 miles. Including numerous canyons (there are 96 in total), the shoreline of Lake Powell is more than 2,000 miles, which is the most west coast U.S.A. Total area of ​​Lake Powell and surrounding area national park Glen Canyon is 1932 square miles. 13% of this area is covered by water. When the lake is completely filled with water, the depth of individual sections can reach 170.5 meters. As a rule, the water in the lake rises from the end of April and reaches its peak by the beginning of July. During the rest of the year, for the most part, the water level decreases.

The main sources of water for the lake are four rivers: the Colorado, the San Juan, the Dirty Devil River, and the Escalante River. Glen Canyon was created by the Colorado River about five million years ago. The Colorado Plateau itself formed eleven million years ago. The rocks that form this plateau are of volcanic origin and are more than 300 million years old. The dam is 710 feet above the river level. The dam provides water and power to much of the southwestern United States. It is the largest facility on the Colorado River and provides relatively inexpensive energy to small rural power plants, government agencies and small towns in the states of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.

The total capacity of the eight generators located here is 1.3 million kilowatts. Downstream states use the reservoir water for agricultural work, allowing the drylands of the Southwest Territory to grow fruits and vegetables. It took as many as 17 years to completely fill the canyons with water. It happened in 1980. It is the second largest man-made body of water in the country, holding 27 million acre feet of water. Despite its natural beauty, the construction of the dam and lake caused great controversy, as it negatively affected the biological balance of the Colorado River and environment generally.

A huge number of rare plants and animals living in this area died. In addition, the presence of man on the lake has led to the emergence of new fish, such as striped bass, which are bred here specifically for fishing. These fish, which are not native to these places, have almost completely replaced other fish species from here. Entire Indian settlements were also destroyed. The lake was originally created to provide water to the western parts of the United States. However, the construction of the dam has given impetus to the development of several states through the construction of new roads and new infrastructure.

Information for tourists

Not only the truly huge size of the reservoir and the close proximity of many national parks, but also untouched landscape and amazing silence makes tourists come back here again and again. Other than a few authorized hotels and restaurants, you won't find any large structures ruining the coastline and beautiful views of this natural wonder. The nearest hotels and shops are 20 minutes away by car. Each year, more than three million tourists visit the Glen Canyon National Park Recreation Area.

The average length of their stay is 4.5 days. Surreal landscape with crystal clear lake, surrounded by colorful canyons, peaks and hills, attracts visitors from all over the world and is a favorite place for photographers and filmmakers. In particular, well-known films such as Planet of the Apes, Maverick and Gravity were filmed here. The most popular place on Lake Powell is the Rainbow Bridge, recognized national monument and the largest natural bridge on earth. This bridge had sacred meaning for the Navajo Indians living in these territories.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of tourists come here to admire these graceful stone arcs, located 50 nautical miles from the Wauep Marina resort. The bridge can be easily reached by tourist or private boats. Before the lake formed here, the only way to get to the bridge was on foot or on horseback, walking thousands of miles across the endless desert. However, even now some brave tourists decide to walk here.

Such a journey usually takes from 2 to 3 hours, depending on the physical fitness of the person. Due to the fact that the lake is located on the territory of several states at once, there are also several time zones here. The climate here is quite varied. In summer, in June and July, the temperature rises to 43 degrees Celsius. In winter, in December and January, the temperature at night can drop to -20 degrees Celsius.

Park opening hours and best time to go

The national park and lake are open to tourists all year round. There are especially many tourists here in the summer months. Leisure activities on the lake include two tourist centers, five marinas, a permanent mooring for more than two thousand private boats, residential complexes, restaurants and campsites. It even has its own museum that tells about the history of the formation of this area and the formation of Lake Powell.

Visitors are also invited to rent houseboats and motor boats, go fishing and water sports sports including canoeing, water skiing and diving. Tourists also have access to excursion tours, flying over the lake by plane and traveling along the Colorado River by boat. In addition, there are a huge number of wild and unexplored beaches where you can relax from noisy and crowded cities. Without a doubt, a trip to this untouched corner of the earth will be remembered for a long time, and the remaining unforgettable memories will make you come back here more than once.

February 1, 2014

Lake Powell is a man-made, artificial reservoir, which was built primarily to meet the economic needs of the population of the surrounding areas. It is located mostly in Utah. No one expected that the lake would turn out so beautiful, and the landscapes of its shores would be so unusual and breathtaking.

The dimensions of the lake are as follows: the length is almost 300 kilometers, and its greatest width is 40 kilometers. The lake covers an area of ​​658 sq. km. The depth in most places is about 40 meters, but there are areas where the bottom is as much as 170 meters! The volume of water varies depending on the season. The maximum amount of water was recorded at 30 cubic kilometers!

The history of the creation of the reservoir

Congress back in 1956 voted to create an artificial reservoir on the Colorado River. Ecological and environmental organizations criticized this decision of the authorities, because it could worsen the ecological situation in the region. Unfortunately, after the dam appeared and the water balance changed, some fish species disappeared. The territory had to be flooded very large, which negatively affected the development of natural communities located in this area.

The dam, called Glen Canyon Dem, was built by the mid-sixties. Its height reached 178 meters. In the 80s, the artificial lake was finally filled with the waters of Colorado completely. It was decided to name the new body of water in honor of the explorer of this area, Major, whose name was John Wesley Powell.

Scenic scenery of an artificial lake

Everyone who sees the lake in the photographs admires the rocky shores, which consist of amazing canyons of various heights, painted in the most incredible range of beautiful shades of red and brown. Water against the background of such colors seems bright blue, emerald, contrasts with the coastline. Here and there islands are visible, which in shape resemble various figures. Not far from Lake Powell is the famous Rainbow Bridge - a stone arch, which was erected by the forces of water.

The waters of the lake are clean, transparent and suitable for recreation. The lake is one of the favorite vacation spots for many Americans. In early 1972, the National Recreation Area was established here. Tourists are waiting for a walk on the water in boats for an hour and a half. Those who wish can rent a canoe. You can go rock climbing, fishing, water skiing.

The John Powell Museum is located next to the lake and contains many interesting information about how the lake was built, what was here before it, how Glen Canyon was built. Tourists visiting an artificial lake in Utah admire the beauty of the harsh rocky shores, their unusual color and shape.

Lake Powell is currently part of the Glen Canyon Conservation Area. Its territory is simply huge - 1 million acres of land that have not yet been spoiled by civilization. It is hoped that future generations will also be able to enjoy the beautiful views. coastline, incredible canyons, crystal clear water that attracts and delights with its amazing color.

Lake Powell photo

Lake Powell is famous for being located on the site of a former canyon. Once Glen Canyon was located in this place, but after the construction of a dam upstream of the river and its flooding, a lake was formed here, which is now one of the popular places for recreation among local residents.

A very bizarre place and very unusual for our eyes - like a lake, but surrounded by high cliffs.

Finally, we were able to swim - with a 35-degree heat, this turned out to be very useful. There are many cars and trailers on the shore of the lake, although few swim, despite the heat and pleasant water




A road leads to the lake, the last couple of kilometers of which are a dirt road - in principle, a typical entrance to any lake in Len. areas, except that the primer in the American and Russian senses are very different not in favor of the latter. And at the same time, a huge poster hangs at the entrance that the off-road road goes further and it is strongly recommended to drive an SUV along it - strange people =)


Literally 10 kilometers from Lake Powell is another interesting, but less famous place, called Horseshoe (Horse horseshoe)


At this point, the Colorado River makes a very bizarre loop, so that from above this bend looks like a horseshoe - hence the name.




Also very a nice place, although here almost everything, wherever you look, makes an impression =)

We planned to visit a few more places, but did not take into account that we returned from Utah to Arizona, which means we have an hour less time (it gets dark here an hour earlier), so we stopped at Walmart, which we loved for its prices. Among other things, we bought Philadelphia cheese there, only $ 5 for 1lb (about 0.5 kg), so now we will enjoy the real creamy taste =)

We found a curious thing here - some of the cash registers in the store are automatic. You approach such a checkout, take turns bringing the goods to the scanner, put everything in bags, then swipe a credit card and calmly go home. Still, the American mentality is very different from the Russian one - here, apparently, few people think of putting something in the bag, "forgetting" to scan it, and if such a thought creeps in, then a much smaller number of people than it would be in Russia, so if there is a small loss, then it is offset by savings on cashiers.

Which formed this lake. That is, this is not an ordinary lake, but an artificial reservoir that flooded grand canyon. Now I will quote a paragraph of a phrase from that report, so that I have something to start with:

A huge man-made lake that overflowed in front of the dam is called Lake Powell. Actually, the dam was built for him. Electricity generation is a side effect of the creation of this beautiful reservoir. There will be enough water in it for ten years, even if Colorado, for some unknown reason, dries up to the bottom. It also ensures the uniformity of the water flow both in the summer months, when the temperature is stable at +45 degrees, and in the spring, when the canyons are filled with water to their entire multimeter height. There are inevitable drawbacks to this design. During the summer, 8% of the water flow in the river goes into steam from the surface of the lake. In terms of money, this is billions of dollars. In the south of the United States, without exaggeration, every drop of water is worth its weight, if not gold, then something no less valuable.

And another side effect of the dam was the creation of a giant tourism zone. First, let's look at this miracle from above.

On the horizon is a dam and a bridge across the Colorado. We've already been there.

And now let's go here.

From this photo you can see that the lake has a very bizarre shape, resembling a leaf of a relic tree with many notches. Each cul-de-sac in this sprawling system is a separate ravine, eroded by occasional torrents of rain that occur several times a century. Before the construction of the dam, all of these streams rushed into the Colorado, which flowed along the main channel of the canyon. Lake Powell is located in a desperate desert with no roads or people. It is impossible to reach the mountains on the horizon, except perhaps first by water, and then on foot, but who needs it? Daytime temperatures can rise to over 50 degrees. On the day when we stood on this shore, it was cool, miserable +42. By the way, there is a beach, and a lot of people hang out on it.

My friend swam here, he says, the buzz is extraordinary. The vodka is very warm. We also stopped at this beach with the firm goal of swimming, but! From the car to the water one should have walked in tarpaulin boots. The expression "hot sand" on this beach is not a figure of speech. I don't understand how the people in the photo manage to move around this frying pan. I could not stand still even for five seconds, and only jumped from foot to foot, feeling like a fakir walking on coals. And the whole atmosphere is very spartan. In short, I did not swim in Lake Powell, although I planned to.

But this beach is just that, nothing special. The recreation area is the territory of the entire lake.

In the picture below, the parking of pleasure ships, the so-called “marina”. Just like family vacation buses, these ships are rented for several people. Inside, all the amenities, including much-needed air conditioning in these places. However, unlike cars, boats have a rental time limit: no more than a month a year for one family. The number of vacationers on Lake Powell is artificially limited, and at the same time they try to ensure the leisure of the maximum number of people.

The marina looks so prosaic up close. There are quite a lot of such marinas on the lake, including absolutely wild places, which can only be reached by water. There will be a fuel filling station, a small shop with groceries and fishing trinkets, probably some kind of repair base in some places. I do not know for sure. I have not lived in such comfortable houses on the water. But what I know is that it's wonderful family holiday. The boat can carry a small boat or jet ski, and it is able to approach the shore for overnight stay.

Oh, here people took the surf with them.

Naturally, all these shots were taken from the pleasure ship. The tour lasts from one to five hours, we took the tour for two hours. At every turn, new unusual landscapes open up:

If you have time and don't feel sorry for devoting a day, you can take an excursion and sail to the largest natural arch in America (and the third tallest in the world), under which you can place the Statue of Liberty. The height of its span is 71 meters, and from top to bottom it is 85 meters. The Rainbow Arch can only be reached by water, and then you still have to stomp for half an hour on foot. But this is just for information, since I did not get to it, and I do not have my own photographs of this arch. But there are photos of this wall:

It's called Navajo Embroidery. The white line at the bottom - I already wrote in the report from the dam - is maximum height rising water in Lake Powell during spring floods. Green tones of the patina type are copper sulphate, red ones are iron and manganese. Impressive picture.

The ship makes the most spectacular swim in the Antelope Canyon. I don't know if there are people in the world who haven't heard of Antelope Canyon? Everything has been said about him hundreds of times. After some thought, I decided not to include a report on visiting this place in the series at all, because, well, how much is possible. Here I will give a couple of shots:

Well, it looks like a giant stuck a ten-meter corkscrew into the ground and dragged it towards himself, plowing a narrow passage in the red dense sand.

It is well known that the name of the Antelope Canyon was given by the lost goat of an Indian girl who ran into the crevice to rest from the hot sun. The origin of the canyon is obvious: these are erosions in the sandy rock, which produce streams of water after rare but stormy rains. There are catastrophic floods in the canyon, and sometimes people die in them. The last time 11 people drowned at once. Therefore, it is impossible to climb into the canyon without a guide. The general name “Antelope Canyon” refers to a system of narrow deep ravines washed into sandy mountains and slopes. There are two tourist sites in the canyon, one is more spacious and photogenic (I was there), and the second is so narrow that you have to squeeze between the walls in it, but there are fewer excursions into it. But in principle they are the same.

But what is usually not written about is that all these streams of water naturally flowed into the Colorado, and the unique sandy erosion turned closer to the river into a very narrow rocky canyon, also called Antelope Canyon. Now this area is also flooded. The boat goes along the lower winding part of the Antelope Canyon almost scratching the sides against the walls. The captain must be very attentive and careful.

Here is the entrance to Antelope Canyon from the water.

Here we are still sailing. The depth is not less than ten meters, but the width is five meters. The ship is moving at its slowest pace. You can almost touch the walls from the deck.

And this is a dead end. At this point, the canyon expands a little, and the boat gently turns around. If there was a smaller boat, it would be possible to get further. Well, now it's just the way back.

Got out. This concludes the two-hour tour of Lake Powell. And the journey through the expanses of Utah is coming to an end. It remains to tell only about the logistics of this event.