What Is Lake Powell And Where Is It?
Lake Powell was formed was back in 1963 when the Glen Canyon Dam was built and Glen Canyon was flooded to create a reservoir to supply both water and electrical power to many homes and businesses in the American Southwest. The reservoir was built to hold up to 26,215,000 acre-feet of water, a tremendous amount of water. In February of 2022, Lake Powell contained 6.05 million acre feet of water. This means that in February of 2022, Lake Powell had only about 23% of the water it was designed to hold. This is due to the ongoing drought conditions on the American west and Southwest. The lake level was down about 177 below the high mark or the “full” water mark.
In addition to providing water and power, Lake Powell is located in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. There are campgrounds all around the lake. There are marinas with lots of boats. It is a HUGE recreation area for boaters, hikers and outdoor enthusiasts. Spring, Summer and Fall are the most popular and expensive times to visit Lake Powell. Winter is a great quiet time to go. The crowds are minimal and the hotel rates drop by as much as 85% but the sights are just as spectacular in the winter as they are in the summer. A light dusting of snow can make them even more spectacular.
Lake Powell is near all kinds of amazing sights including The Wave, the Wahweap Hoodoos, Buckskin Gulch, Upper Antelope Canyon, Stud Horse Point and Vermilion Cliffs. The North Rim Of The Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon National Park and even Zion National Park are within a reasonable driving distance. The Lake Powell and Page, Arizona area can make a great base camp for exploring these incredible sights!
What Is It Like To Travel To Lake Powell At Glen Canyon National Recreation Area?
If you’re going to travel out to explore Lake Powell and the surrounding area you can fly right into the Page, Arizona municipal airport. This puts you right there. Of course nobody does that. Maybe because they don’t know it is there, maybe because there are not a ton of flights in or out or maybe because everyone just flies to the Las Vegas Airport by default. If you don’t want to fly into Las Vegas, the St, George, Utah airport is a good choice too.
With the cost of flights and rental cars these days, the good old American road trip is a good idea. The cost of gas is high, but if you have the time, a road trip is a great idea. You’ll need a car in this area and you’ll probably end up doing a lot of driving if you want to see all there is to see in this magical area of the country around Lake Powell.
When it comes to lodging you can stay right at Lake Powell in a lodge on the lake. You can stay in a full service RV campground or the Lone Rock bare bones campground right near the edge of the lake. The town of Page, Arizona has TONS of hotels and lodging options. If you go in the winter you can snag hotel rooms from about $40/night. During the summer you’ll probably have a hard time coming in under $200/night at most of them. Both Choice Hotels and Wyndham Hotels have a fair number of properties in the Page, Arizona area.
If you plan to do any boating at Lake Powell, be sure to check on the latest status of the Lake Powell water levels and how it may or may not affect the ability to launch boats on the lake.
What Does It Take To Get A Wall Art Quality Photo Of Lake Powell?
Lake Powell is HUGE. Lake Powell, when full, has 1960 miles of shoreline. There are ENDLESS photo opportunities all around Lake Powell. For the sake of this article we’re going to assume you are staying at the main Wahweap Resort area of Lake Powell or the nearby town of Page.
The fist thing you need to figure out is what kind of photo you want of Lake Powell. Do you want sunrise or sunset, do you want to shoot the rock formations in and around the lake, do you want a photo of the marina you looked out over when you stayed in the lodge, or do you want something else?
For this photo, I drove around looking for aerial views of the lake and the boats. I wanted to shoot a panoramic photos because the landscape is significantly wider that it is high unless you want to get a lot of the sky in it. If there is an interesting sky then maybe that works. If it is just a plain blue sky, then there is no sense including a large portion of the sky. With clear skies in the forecast and not much chance of a colorful sunrise or sunset, the best thing I could hope for was a nice calm day when the mountains and boats would reflect in the lake.
With a little patience and help from the hourly weather and wind forecast I was able to find a time to return to an elevated area above the lake, measure out shots for a stitched panoramic view and snap off the required individual frames while.
Since Lake Powell is so HUGE, there are endless wall art quality photo spots around the lake. This is buy one classic view but there are many others. Find the view you want, figure out what if any weather conditions or events could enhance it, then get to your preferred location and start shooting.
What Is The Best Gear For Photographing The Lake Powell Area At Glen Canyon?
Most any camera gear will do for photographing Glen Canyon. If you want wall art quality photos, a decent DSLR or mirrorless camera will be ideal. Because there is SO MUCH variety in the scenery around Lake Powell. If you’re not sure what you want to photograph or where, the best bet it to take camera gear that will give you the most possible flexibility.
This means wide angle and zoom lenses that range anywhere from 16mm or 17mm on up to 200mm or even 600mm if you’ll be going anywhere in search of birds or other wildlife. For some locations you’ll need to backpack in. In that case you’ll want the best gear you can carry but you’ll also want to it to be as light as possible so you can carry water, food and other gear you’ll need for an overnight or multi-night stay.
A tripod is always a good idea if you’ll be shooting at sunrise or sunset during low light conditions. Something made of carbon fiber will give you a good balance of stability and (light) weight. Finally, a circular polarizer will help you bring out deep blue skies, reduce or enhance reflections and made the sandstone colors more vibrant in your photos.
What Is The Story Behind This Panoramic Lake Powell Marina Wall Art Photo?
During the spring and summer of 2014, I once again found myself out in southern Utah in the area of Page, Arizona, Kanab, Utah and Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument. I was able to get another walk in permit for The Wave and made the rounds to awesome photos spots like Horseshoe Bend for sunset Buckskin Gulch and numerous other awesome photo spots in Vermilion Cliffs and elsewhere.
After hiking all over the place, it was time for a couple mellow days. Wandering around Lake Powell is a good way to kick back and relax a bit when in this area of the country. You can hang out by the water, lay out on a beach or take some very easy hikes around the red rock formations on the edge of the lake.
On this day, I was tired and didn’t feel like doing a whole lot. Without exerting much energy I could drive and hike around Lake Powell between Page, Arizona and the Lone Rock campground in search of photo spots that would make interesting sights or classic type views like this panoramic view of the marina near the Wahweap area.
After driving just about every road beyond the toll gate and many more both ways so as to take in the views looking in both directions, this seemed like a good spot for a “classic” view at Lake Powell. The winds were forecast to be calm. Even with a calm wind forecast, Lake Powell is so large and wide open that a slight breeze or quick wind gust can ruin the reflections and glassy surface of the lake.
This scene made for a great panoramic photo. Fortunately I was able to park very close to this location, hike a short distance and setup the heavy panoramic gear with the Nodal Ninja pano head and fire off some shots while the wind was calm and Lake Powell as nice and glassy. It doesn’t take much movement for the boats to get blurry in a panoramic shot like this. Despite that, this shot stitched well and came out pretty sharp.
In What Formats Is This Panoramic Photo Print Of Lake Powell Available ?
This wall art photo print of Lake Powell is available on paper, canvas, metal, acrylic and wood. When printed on any of these materials it will look good in an area with diffused lighting. Anything with a glossy finish like a metal or acrylic print or a canvas or paper print with a glossy or metallic finish will look nice and bright. A matte finish will look a bit more subdued in a diffused lighting environment. If it will be hung in an area with bright natural or artificial light or exposed light bulbs, a paper or canvas print with a matte finish will looks best and not reflect the brighter or direct lighting.
This is a panoramic photo print and comes in very large sizes depending on the material chosen. On paper or canvas it an be ordered as large ar 108×43.5 inches. On acrylic or wood it comes in sizes up to 96×38 inches. On metal it is available up to size 84×34 inches.
This print can also be printed on a heavy duty shower curtain. That can be combined with bath towels for a complete bathroom look. Sherpa fleece blankets of about the same size are available. They are super soft and look great in a bedroom or living room.
If you’d like something smaller, this image looks great on canvas tote bags. They are super sturdy and perfect for an everyday grocery shopping bag or even a beach bag. Phone cases for most of the newer cel phones re available as well. If you’d prefer to wear the image, it comes on a wide variety of apparel including t-shirts and sweatshirts too.
If you’d like to piece together this view of Lake Powell, you can order a jigsaw puzzle. The puzzles come in 500 and 1,000 piece variations with the image printed on the box for reference.
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