Karen HealeyThe Glen Canyon Recreation Area encompasses a 170 mile stretch of the Colorado River. Two of the most popular attractions in this area are Horseshoe Bend and Lake Powell. Lake Powell isa reservoir created by the Glen Canyon Dam.
Horseshoe Bend is a very popular tourist attraction. It was a bit too crowded for my taste and I wasn’t really all that impressed, but having just left the Grand Canyon, that may explain why I was underwhelmed. Perhaps if I had been one of the boaters or kayakers below, I’d have felt differently.
Speaking of boating and kayaking, the way you would get to Horseshoe Bend is to rent one on Lake Powell. Lake Powell is a reservoir created by a dam, built in 1963, of the Colorado River. It took 17 years to fill up completely but is now a gorgeous lake visited by millions every year. We only had time for a few overlooks and found it quite beautiful.
We also stopped at the Glen Canyon Dam. Unfortunately, the path to this dam was steep rock covered with sand and Steve slipped, wrenching his knee. We were pretty worried that this might be the end of our trip, but he iced it and we stuck to easy, short trails for a few days until it got better. Needless to say, that was NOT one of our favorite stops!
A week later, as we were traveling from Capitol Reef National Park to southeast Utah to explore Monument Valley, Arches, and more, we traveled along Rt 95 in Utah (a beautiful road!) and came upon some overlooks of the Colorado River and the Hite Crossing Bridge. We were talking to a man at one of the overlooks and he told us this area is actually the top of Lake Powell, but because of severe drought conditions, the lake is not currently high enough to fill this area. In fact, the marina that serves this area is currently closed. The Colorado River still flows through and you can see where the shores of the lake should be (green area in the pictures below).
The Glen Canyon Recreation Area is something we would recommend setting time aside to explore, in particular, Lake Powell. I would have loved getting out on the water on a kayak here, or taking a lake tour.
