A quick day trip brings further explorations of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.
A bit of cabin fever drew me north to Glen Canyon, in Arizona. I hadn’t been out much other than for shopping since I have been working a lot. So I figured why not head out for day and do some exploring.
My first stop was the Glen Canyon Dam. I’ve been here before to check out the visitor center and the dam views. This time, however, I stayed around to go on a dam tour.
Glen Canyon Dam is a giant concrete dam on the Colorado River, upstream from the Grand Canyon and the more famous Hoover Dam. It holds back Lake Powell, which is part of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.
The Glen Canyon Dam.
Construction started on Glen Canyon Dam in 1956 on the edge of the Navajo Reservation, in what was then a vast unpopulated wasteland. There was literately nothing here. The land was empty. The city of Page was created just for the construction of the dam. Today, the city mainly serves the droves of tourists going to see Antelope Canyon and Glen Canyon.
Soon after the dam was finished in 1966, the dam tours began.
The tours begin on top of the dam.
It’s a doozy looking down. That’s a whole lot of concrete.
Looking back at Lake Powell. When the lake is full, it comes up to only 15 ft (4.5m) below the top of the dam. It has done that a couple of times.
The tour takes you to the first elevator down. Pretty good view of the bridge and canyon from here.
Down to the bottom of the dam. Instead of having exposed pipes, they laid down some sod. Nothing like a green lawn to spruce up the place.
The pressure of Lake Powell causes leaks to happen through the porous sandstone of the canyon walls, causing the local moss to grow all the place around the dam. Nature always has a way.
The tour headed into the power plant of the dam. Well, sort of. Dam tours used to be self-guided, so we saw the power plant through Plexiglas. The hydroelectric power produced here doesn’t go to major populated areas, like Hoover Dam’s, but poorer and smaller communities throughout the west, even as far as Wyoming.
The power plant behind Plexiglas.
The tour is now over, and I fed myself. So, now it’s hiking time. I choose a short hike nearby called the Hanging Gardens Trail. It was a lovely trail and I’m glad I chose it.
For a long time, nobody, even native inhabitants, wouldn’t have known it had even existed. The Navajos didn’t live in this area until the dam was being constructed due to the poor grazing conditions. It would have been a real treat for the first person who found the Hanging Garden.
The trail started as any other trail through a desert landscape, sandy and rocky.
Although some cool sandstone formations started to show up soon afterward.
Pretty, pretty sandstone.
There it is. I can see why they call it the Hanging Garden.
Water collections in the sandstone and seeps out of the rock creating a “garden” in the barren desert.
That moss returns again. Water is slowly seeping out enough to get this thick blanket of vegetation on the rocks.
Close up. Honestly, this is kind of cool.
After leaving the garden, I climbed another promontory to get a glimpse of Lake Powell.
The very, very blue Lake Powell.
I stopped at a couple of viewpoints before leaving to see what the lake looked like this year versus last year when it was 15 ft or so lower.
You can see the backside of the dam from here.
Just seems a bit bluer honestly. Maybe it’s less hazy.
It was nice to get out of my normal routine for a bit and visit Glen Canyon for a day. I have been working a lot to pay for trips. I’m a firm believer in exploring your own backyard, so it was great to return once again for more exploration.
Check out my next update where I visit Valletta, Malta!
Or
Explore more of the state of Arizona!
