Page and Lake Powell

Our next stop was Lake Powell, where we stayed in the town of Page. The town itself has not much to offer in the way of attractions but Lake Powell (or rather, the scenery surrounding it) more than makes up for this.
Lake Powell is a watersports mecca and especially popular for houseboating. It must be delightful to take off in your own floating little house and anchor in one of the many side canyons between those impressive red and orange rocks...
An array of watersports is offered on the lake, from houseboating (floating RV's!) to jetskis to kayaks and the Lake seems to be excellent for fishing.
We'd visited Page some years before and at the time, did a half day trip around the lake, navigating into narrow side canyons and getting nice close-ups of the 'walls', streaked with so-called 'desert varnish' (those black streaks you see, caused by iron oxidation). This time, we decided to splurge for the longer, all day Rainbow Bridge Cruise, the easiest way to visit the Rainbow Bridge National Monument (see review).

For those wanting to experience the lake through a guided tour, different tours (half or full day) are offered, leaving from the marinas on the lake. In addition to these, dinner cruises and short cruises on a Paddlewheeler (a 95-foot riverboat) are avalable.
Tours can be booked at the Wahweap (and I guess others as well) Marina.

Lake Powell is famous for houseboating and offers a number of marinas serving boaters, ranging from the luxurious, equipped with everything you might wish for (Wahweap and the new, still under-construction Antelope Point), to the very, very basic (Dangling Rope and Hite). In fact, Hite Marina is now completely dried up because of low lake levels.
Houseboats can be rented and range in price from $350,- a day, to $2000,- a day! This may sound pricey but it can work out to be quite reasonable if costs are split up by a group. In addition to renting, you can own (check out the second pic for an idea what 5 million $ will buy you!), or even time-share a houseboat. Houseboats come fully equipped, most even with a barbeque on a small porch in the back and a fun slide for the kids. A floating Winnebago!
Although these boats are large, I'm told navigation is not really difficult around the lake.

I'd seen the pictures of Antelope Slot Canyon and I'd always wanted to visit so we checked out a tour since we heard that the canyon is easiest visited by organised tour. Since the tours were only about two hours, we decided to do this on our last day in Page, before leaving for out next stop, Monument Valley.

I guess another 'To Do' in Page would be a visit to huge Glen Canyon Dam. After all, without it, there would be no Page and no Lake Powell! Glen Canyon Dam was built in the late 50's-early 60's and completed in 1963, restricting the uninterrupted flow of the Colorado River and creating huge Lake Powell behind it.
The dam was, and in fact is to this day, a controversial project. It flooded Glen Canyon, which once must have been one of the most beautiful canyons of the Southwest, and changed the ecosystem of the Grand Canyon by restricting the flow (and periodic floodings) of the Colorado River. One wonders if the economic benefits weigh up to the environmental ones...
Check out the Carl Hayden Visitors Center on the west side of the dam to get a good impression of the work that went into construction of the dam.  Free tours are given of the power plant but after 9/11 security is tight, there are restrictions on bags you can bring in and bags are checked.