Lake Powell

Lake Powell is a reservoir in the United States of America and is located approximately 350 km northeast of Las Vegas on the border of Utah and Arizona. He emerged in the mid -1960s by damming the Colorado on the east side of the Grand Canyon and evolved due to various things to do around the lake and many attractions in the surrounding area has become a popular holiday destination. Low precipitation years and increased water extraction leave the water level of the lake for years steadily decline.

History

With the completion of Glen Canyon Dam Glen Canyon was flooded from the March 13, 1963 by Colorado and dammed up until 22 June 1980 on Lake Powell. It was named after Civil War veteran Major John Wesley Powell, who explored in August 1879 with eight other men of Glen Canyon. Today the lake after Lake Mead (Nevada / Arizona ) is the second largest reservoir in the United States. At maximum storage level it has a length of about 300 km, is the dam 171 m deep and covers an area of 653 km ² (on Seespiegelhöhe of 3,700 feet - 1127.76 m). With around 33.3 billion cubic meters ( = 33.3 km ³ ) of water of Lake Powell flooded then 96 canyons and extends far into the mouths of the coming from the northwest Escalante River and the coming of the East San Juan River. The shoreline of the lake is 3153 km ( 1960 miles ) longer than the entire west coast of the United States.

In 1972, the U.S. Congress decided to establish the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, which covers about 5058 km ² of which the dam itself occupies only 13%. The National Recreation Area is part of the National Park System and is bordered on the northeast by the Canyonlands and on the south by the Grand Canyon National Park.

After six years of low rainfall and intense water extraction ( inter alia from Las Vegas ) decreased the level until the summer of 2005 by about 45 m, which corresponds to approximately two-thirds of the original volume of water. In September 2012, was ( according to information in the dam visitor center ) the amount of water dropped to only 61 % full, the lake was last 2001. Due to the decline wide beaches have been created, the ends of the outer canyons are dry fallen. The Rainbow Bridge ( Rainbow Bridge ) can be reached from the bank over a longer walk and there are rock formations emerged from the water, which were not seen in 30 years.

Infrastructure

The only town on Lake Powell is Page (Arizona ) at the southern end of the lake, which in the otherwise less developed region with its numerous accommodation is the tourist hub for trips to the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley and numerous national parks and monumenten in southern Utah. The small town offers the marinas Bullfrog and Hells Crossing (Highway 276) one of the few paved access to the lake, while the marina Hite (Highway 95) had to be closed after considerable water fall.

The ports Bullfrog and Hells Crossing are connected by a ferry crossing each other while the most popular attraction at the lake, the Rainbow Bridge, can be controlled with boatloads of Wahweap from. The biggest natural bridge arch in the world is for the Navajo is a sanctuary and is difficult to access by land.

Every year more than three million visitors use the sunny, dry climate around Lake Powell.

Pictures

View of the dam at low water

Marina of Lake Powell in October

Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam

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