Cruising Lake Powell

So, we’ve been on the road almost a month. Driving from place to place is an amazing display of horizon to horizon views for hundreds of miles.  Rain storms and giant cloud formations march across the view, followed by clear sky of the deepest of blues.  We’ve seen many rainbows, driven through many rainstorms and have seen buttes of fantastic shape and form lit up with brilliant reds, oranges, golds and browns.

We are also struck by the many moods of climate in each location, and the effects of elevation on the temperature and plants.  This morning, we left Lake Powell after a hot week of temps in the 90’s and very intense sun at 4,000 feet.  Desert cactus, sage and scrub bushes all able to survive the desert extremes surrounded us, as well as lizards, snakes, chipmunks and squirrels. Yet even with the desert dryness, it rained the night before we left.  A staff member at Lake Powell told us the lake has been rising 8 inches each day for a week, yet it is 80 feet down from its high water mark in the 1980’s. After driving only 2 ½ hours, we arrived at our campsite near the north rim of the Grand Canyon. Now at 8,000 feet, we are surrounded by pines and cool air fragrant with pine and high altitude freshness. 

The past five days have been wonderful, cruising Lake Powell with my sister Deb and her husband Mike in their boat. Lake Powell is a huge reservoir created in the 1950’s when the Glen Canyon Dam was built to harness the Colorado River.  Imagine a lake over 250 miles long with multiple canyons made from sheer sandstone walls. Travelling by boat, you weave in and out of the various canyon slots already created by the landscape before the dam was set.  The water is clear and deep, and you can go into very small canyons that are only a few feet wide and many hundreds of feet deep.  Only a slot of sky can be seen when looking up. To think that this was all made by the power of flowing water eating into the sandstone and shale is very surreal. 

 

One day we went to see Rainbow Bridge, which is one of the largest known natural bridges. It is nestled in a small canyon, accessible only by boat, followed by a short hike. This natural wonder of the world was formed thousands of years go by a stream slowly and relentlessly eroding the rock, while wind and gravity helped form a perfect arch for us to enjoy. Many famous people like Thomas Moran and Teddy Roosevelt traveled there on horseback with great difficulty in the hot dry desert before Lake Powell was created.

To the Navajo, Rainbow Bridge is a sacred place. They believe it tracks the movement of the sun each day, like a creation clock.  The Park Service has restored the site to match a photo from 1910, before the many tourist’s feet tread there. Now, they do not allow people to pass under the arch out of respect for the Navajo traditions and beliefs. Doug felt honored to paint such a sacred place and hopes you enjoy this photo of his work.  

Doug: For me as an artist, each location has been a wonderful and awesome parade of nature’s creation!  I want to stop and paint it all – but time calls and we have places to be.  Tomorrow I will be painting at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and Sue will be snapping more photos and hiking the trails.