Powell, Lake

Second largest reservoir in the USA (after Lake Mead, which is located downstream). Lake Powell extends for 299 km/186 mi, and lies almost entirely in southern Utah. It was created when the Glen Canyon Dam was built across the Colorado River.

Lake Powell is situated in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, which covers 5,005-sq km/1,933-sq mi and extends northeast to the boundary of Canyonlands National Park. The 216-m/710-ft dam, which is located just south of the Utah border near Page, Arizona, was built in 1964 to provide hydroelectric power and regulate water flow in the river. As Lake Powell rose, it submerged some of the most spectacular canyons on the course of the meandering Colorado, as well as on the tributary Escalante (northwest) and San Juan (southeast) rivers. Many of the inlets and caves still above water level contain ancient petroglyphs and pictographs created by the Anasazi people. Lake Powell is popular with fishing enthusiasts, many of whom vacation in houseboats. Hiking trails lead to surrounding canyons, as well as to Rainbow Bridge National Monument, on a tributary just east of the lower lake in San Juan County, 8 km/5 mi north of the Arizona border. Its centrepiece is an arch of pink sandstone resembling a rainbow that rises to 94 m/309 ft above Bridge Creek, making it the highest natural bridge in the world. It is sacred to the Navajo, on the northern edge of whose huge reservation it stands.