The Wahweap Overlook above Lake Powell — the second-largest reservoir in the US, 186 miles long, its recreation, and the drought-lowered 'bathtub ring.' (Boone's drowned-canyon tale dwells here.)
Pull off at the Wahweap Overlook and get out for the big view, because this is where the whole story pays off, for better and for worse. Spread out in front of you is Lake Powell — a vast, improbable sheet of deep blue water threading its way among red sandstone cliffs and mesas, all the way to the horizon and far beyond it.
This is the second-largest reservoir in the United States. When it's full, it holds back so much of the Colorado River that its shoreline — all the flooded side canyons counted in — runs to nearly two thousand miles, longer than the whole west coast of the country, and the lake itself stretches about a hundred and eighty-six miles up into Utah. It's a playground: houseboats, kayaks, fishing, folks exploring those hidden watery canyons all summer long. It is genuinely beautiful, and genuinely beloved.
But look closely at the cliffs where the rock meets the water, and you'll likely see a pale, bleached band running along them like a ring around a bathtub. That's exactly what it is — a bathtub ring, marking how much higher the water used to stand before the long drought of these recent years dropped the lake toward record lows. That pale band is the reservoir telling the truth about water in the West: there is not as much of it as we once believed, and the great dammed rivers are running short. Stand here with that blue water and that pale ring both in your eye, and let Boone tell you what lies beneath the surface — the place this lake drowned.
Photo: Christian David · CC BY-SA 4.0
