Finally - a new look!
We're hard at work finally, putting the new site look up, and making sure all the content is fresh and newly updated.  Please bear with us over the next week or two if you find something missing or a broken link or two.  We are working hard to get caught up so if something doesn't work right today, please check back tomorrow!

Some sections gone
If you're looking around for a few of the sections we had before, I'm sorry to say that some of them are just plain gone. I decided it was time to narrow the focus of the site a bit to make sure we can really do a good job of covering the things we kept around. We were getting a little thin before, trying to offer something for everyone. We've got a new sitemap here though, so you can see all the sections.

Lake Powell is arguably one of the most popular lakes in the entire intermountain west region.  It's also the second largest man made lake in the United States. Backed up behind the Glen Canyon Dam, this huge lake is 186 miles long, and has roughly 1,960 miles of shoreline! That's roughly the same amount of shoreline as the entire Western Coast of the Continental United States!

The Glen Canyon Dam was built in 1963, pooling up the Colorado River behind it. The Glen Canyon National Recreation Area was then formed to manage the reservoir and surrounding area, encompassing over 1.2 million acres! This is a big lake and a big recreation area! The lake is located on the Southern end of Utah, so the recreation season here is long and as a result, people come from all over to spend time here. If you plan on coming to the lake on a major summer weekend, Memorial Day or the like, come early and plan ahead as the boat ramps will be busy! Keep in mind that in a typical year, some 3 million people will visit Lake Powell.

A couple of other things you need to be aware of if you plan on bringing a boat here: First, all boaters bringing a boat into Lake Powell now need to display a certificate on their dashboard, stating that the boat has been certified to be free of zebra or quagga mussels. There is an extensive effort underway to control the spread of these pests, and so expect to find this requirement popping up on more and more bodies of water around the west. You can "self-certify" your boat, so you don't have to spend any money to make sure you're not carrying these "hitchhikers." Check out our page that has all the details. Second, all boaters and campers who expect to camp within one quarter-mile of the shoreline, or 200 yards from a designated restroom facility are required to have (and use) a portable toilet. If your boat has a inboard holding tank, you need to make sure it can't be discharged overboard. This one should be a no brainer -- no one wants to swim in a toilet, right?

The region of the country that supplies water to this area, mostly the Green and Colorado Rivers has seen nearly a decade of drought and as a result, the lake is quite a bit down from full pool. When full, the lake can be 500' deep in places, but currently you'll see a gap between the surface of the water and the highwater mark that is anywhere from 50 to 150'. Not to worry, there is still plenty of water in the lake and miles of shoreline to enjoy during your trip here.

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding Lake Powell in recent years. In our Land Use section we've covered some of the ongoing efforts by some to get the Glen Canyon Dam (among others) decommissioned and the lake drained. It's not looking like this proposal has gained much traction over the years, but the effors are still being made. Those of us who spend time on the Lake obviously would hate to see this happen, but we can also understand the arguments being made by those who would dynamite the dam. Time will tell how this whole thing pans out, but the drought and subsequent drops in the lake level have only reinforced the argument that the Lake is drying up on its own. If you're curious about the current level you can check out the Lake Powell Water Database which shows the current water level of the lake. One word of caution, the last time we looked, it said the Lake was empty - 0% of full pool. We're pretty sure that was just a data glitch, as the last time we looked, there was plenty of water there.