Top 6 Things To Do At Lake Powell, Arizona

By Elizabeth R. Rose

Lake Powell, and the town of Page located in northern Arizona, is a fantastic jumping-off point for visiting the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, and some of the most historic and photographed areas of the American southwest. Page is about a four-hour drive from Gallup via AZ-98 W, ideal for a short getaway or vacation where you can take in vivid sunsets, tour stunning natural formations, and enjoy a full range of exciting recreational opportunities.

Explore Lake Powell by Houseboat

Over the years, renting a houseboat on Lake Powell has been a favorite family vacation activity. As the years have passed, also, houseboats have become more amenityrich and exciting to spend time on. Once you start plying the waters of this enormous lake, you can explore the canyons and formations of Lake Powell and see the famous Rainbow Bridge National Monument, with one of the world’s largest natural bridges. Lake Powell is one of the best places in the world for water sports. Most bring along a smaller boat with their houseboat so they can go water skiing, wakeboarding, and travel into the small canyons to hike. The two main places to rent houseboats are: Lake Powell Resort and Marinas and Antelope Point Marina.

Fly Over the Sights

Taking a one-hour flightseeing trip from the airport in Page is an ideal way to begin or end your stay at Lake Powell. It wasn’t until I took a sightseeing trip with American Aviation (www.americanaviationwest.com) that I was able to put together the pieces of what we had seen in this beautiful area and understand how rivers created canyons, how the various layers of the Colorado Plateau—exposed in many places—was once a seascape, and how the Glen Canyon Dam created the multi-fingered huge body of water that is Lake Powell.

Raft the Colorado

Lake Powell is the reservoir created by the damming of the Colorado River. And just past the massive Glen Canyon Dam, the river flows on. While I’ve never had the nerve to raft through the Grand Canyon, there are raft trips for people like me who want to see awesome canyon vistas, look into the deep waters of a beautiful river, and do it all without a hint of fear.

What I found out was that Wilderness River Adventures (www.riveradventures.com) offers one of the most spectacular Colorado River rafting tours available

anywhere on the beautiful Colorado River. They provide half and full-day smooth water float trips that are perfect for the entire family.

You’ll drift downstream and stop at Petroglyph Beach where you can see 5,000-year-old carved images of bighorn sheep and other ancient canyon dwellers. The float takes you through iconic Horseshoe Bend, and on the way, you may see hawks, ospreys, and great blue herons.

Photograph Antelope Canyon

Slot canyons, like Antelope Canyon near Page, are magical crevasses in rock, split and polished by water and time, a favorite subject of photographers. Guided jeep and photo tours are available from Page, and due to the popularity of the tours, advance reservations are recommended.

We took the native-owned (Antelope Canyon is on Navajo Nation land) tour with Antelope Canyon Tours (www.antelopecanyon.com) at the end of the day. I was concerned that there wouldn’t be enough light in the canyon to get good photographs but I was soon proven wrong. Arden Redshirt, our Navajo guide, not only shared with us the story of the canyon, he made frequent stops as we explored the narrow passageway and taught us how to get spectacular photos using our iPhones. He then surprised us with a little hike through another close-by side canyon to end our tour just as the sun started setting and the sky glowed with brilliant stripes of yellows and oranges.

Visit Glen Canyon Dam

The Carl Hayden Visitor Center at the massive Glen Canyon Dam off Highway 89A, offers interactive exhibits, introductory films, a relief map of the Glen Canyon area, a life-size model of a slot canyon, restrooms, and a bookstore.

Association, a non-profit educational organization, in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation, provides guided tours through Glen Canyon Dam on a year-round basis. Tours are approximately 45 minutes long and the charge is $5 per person. Reservations may be made up to 24 hours in advance and must be reserved and paid for in person at Carl Hayden Visitor Center, so it’s ideal to stop by the day before to make sure you can get on one of the 20-person tours.

When You Go to Lake Powell

A great place to start learning about Page and the area is the John Wesley Powell Museum on North Lake Powell Blvd. You’ll learn about the Native American history and about Major John Wesley Powell, the one-armed Civil War veteran who explored the Glen Canyon area by boat and, ultimately, on to the Grand Canyon.

Lake Powell has become an international tourist destination so making reservations and purchasing tickets for events and attractions ahead of time is usually necessary.

Websites that have useful Lake Powell information are: www.LakePowell.com • www.VisitPageLakePowell.com

505-863-6868

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