Many years ago, we spent several nights in a houseboat in Lake Powell and fell in love with its multi-colored rock formations and the beautiful light reflecting from the sun into the canyon. So on this visit we were hoping to spend some time on the water once again, kayaking or renting a boat, or hopefully both.

We read about a beach that allowed camping right by the water, Lone Rock Beach. We also read that it had several areas with soft sand so we carefully scouted the beach in our car. And we found a lovely site on hard packed sand and gravel. Check out my review of the campground here.

During our stay, there were a couple of windy and stormy days, something that is apparently pretty common on this beach.

We had amazing views with the clouds moving over the distant rock features.

And it turned out that renting a boat on Lake Powell is pretty expensive, so when the wind died down we signed up for a group boat tour of Antelope and Navajo Canyons. It was a really nice day for a boat ride. 

The tour left out of the Wahweep Marina. On our houseboat trip.   we accessed huge Lake Powell from one of the northern marinas and we believe that area has more colorful canyons. But we still had a nice couple of hours on the water.

Hector’s ankle was still sore and swollen, so we had to skip the kayaking. Even just carrying both of our 63-pound kayaks up and down the hill just in front of the shore on soft sand to the put in was going to be too much of a strain. And Hector was trying to rest his foot so we could get back to normal as quickly as possible.

A pooped Angel

So Angel and I enjoyed long walks on the beach while Hector rested. Angel loves the soft sand and putting her paws in the water, but she will not jump in the water.

We had more stormy days that looked as if it would rain, but happily it did not. The rain and sand would not have been a good mix.

We drove over to the Carl B. Hayden Visitor Center to take a closer look at the Glen Canyon Dam and Bridge. We did not take the tour but the dam is quite an impressive structure. It rises up 710 feet, making it the second highest concrete-arch dam in the United States.

Construction of the dam created Lake Powell, the nation’s second largest reservoir with a water storage capacity that serves as a bank account of water for extended dry periods. Its eight generators produce five billion kilowatt-hours of hydroelectric power that is distributed to Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Nebraska.

At the same time, Lake Powell flooded the canyons that were carved out by the Colorado River, inundating archaeological sites, plants and animals, and altering the ecosystem. The dam has restricted the flow of nutrient-rich sediment that the river used to distribute over the area. This and other impacts have endangered some native plant and wildlife species. There is no easy solution for this.

Back on our beach campsite, we enjoyed campfires and sunsets. One particular sunset was an absolutely spectacular pink! Followed by a beautiful blue hour.

Although photographer tours of Upper Antelope Canyon are usually booked months in advance, we were able to get space on the photographers’ tour. Yay!

More on that in the next post.

The Page Arizona area has a lot to offer the outdoor lover.  We only scratched the surface.

~ Brenda