Sunrise at the Wahweap Marina
Friday- Woke up early and wandered around to survey the area, since it had been dark upon our arrival. Our campground was right near the Wahweap Marina on Lake Powell, right on the Utah/Arizona border. In fact, it was only about 200 yards to walk to Utah from our campsite. Took some pictures at the Marina, the water here is very low. You can tell by how far down the boat launch ramp you can walk, how high the water had been at one point. They are re-discovering things in Glen Canyon that have been covered up since the creation of Lake Powell, when they built Glen Canyon Dam in the early 60's.
24 hours ago, I was enjoying the sunrise over the Grand Canyon...now I get to see it over Lake Powell! What a country! I went over to the camp office when they opened to get us some coffees and to check in, since we arrived after closing last night.
Houseboat on Lake Powell
The lady at the office hadn't even known we were there! Checked out the Rainbow Bridge Boat tour, it would have required a 2 mile hike to the bridge after a several hour boat ride, taken all day, and cost over $300. Since our schedule requires us to reach Zion NP today, and Dawn's knees are not up to a 4 mile round trip hike, we decided to skip Rainbow Bridge. We will see plenty of arches for free in a few days, at Arches NP! I would have loved to go down lake Powell by boat, though. Maybe someday I'll get some people together to rent a houseboat there for a week.
We checked out the Glen Canyon Dam, and Carl Hayden Visitor Center and gift shop. I bought a book there about Utah National Parks, since we will be visiting five of them this week! They had a lot of information there about the construction of the dam, and what the area was like before the dam created the lake.
Glen Canyon Dam
We then drove along Lake Powell, stopping at a few overlooks for pictures. The redrock canyon walls here are really beautiful! Glen Canyon Dam looks a lot like Hoover Dam, but there is a cool bridge imbedded into the canyon walls right in front if it. Saw a lot of houseboats going by, I hope we get the chance to do that before they run out of water! The water levels here are dropping at a rate of an inch or more each day. It was still early when we headed off towards Zion, through Grand Staircase-Escalante!
Large campground with all the facilities, located right on scenic Lake Powell, within walking distance of the Utah border. Large, sandy sites, easy to set a tent up, but you have to shake them out when breaking down. Fantastic views! Close to the Wahweap Marina, where you can take a boat/hike tour to Rainbow Bridge, the worlds tallest natural arch. Be prepared to hike, though...the water levels have dropped so low, the boats can no longer go right to the arch..a hike is required to get there, so remember to bring plenty of water! They have a big camp store, you can reserve/purchase tours there.
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Camp right on Lake Powell
