Lake Powell is a 180-mile-long artificial reservoir on the Colorado River, created when the Glen Canyon Dam was built in the early 1960s. A major recreational area, the lake reached capacity (3700 ft.) in 1980. Due to climate change and perpetual drought, Lake Powell's water level is currently down 20%. As a result, the lake is getting dangerously close to deadpool, which occurs when a dam's turbines are no longer able to generate power. This, of course, is alarming because the lake is a main water and energy source for points south and west, including Los Angeles.
On the other side of the dam is Glen Canyon, just north of the start of the Grand Canyon. One of the highlights of our tour was taking a 16-mile "float trip" through Glen Canyon via pontoon down the Colorado river. No white water rapids, but we certainly got a sense how John Wesley Powell must have felt as he traversed the river for the first time in the 1800s. Unlike the Grand Canyon, where we stood miles above the canyon floor, in Glen Canyon we were right there sailing past massive red rocks. Peaceful yet mind-blowing as we considered how one river could create such amazing landscapes.
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