Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
The most contested water in the American West, and a backcountry most visitors never see — authorized in 1972 to manage a lake, it inherited the canyon country the lake did not reach.
Glen Canyon · Lake Powell · Escalante canyons · Orange Cliffs
National Recreation Area 1,254,429 acres Est. 1972 National Park Service
Overview
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area was authorized on 27 October 1972 to provide for public recreation on Lake Powell — the reservoir that Glen Canyon Dam had been filling since 1963, over the canyon that gave the place its name. That statutory purpose explains the shape of the thing: 1.25 million acres stretching from Lees Ferry in Arizona to the Orange Cliffs of southern Utah, of which the lake itself is about 13 percent. The rest is slickrock, side canyon, and the Escalante drainage — country with few maintained trails, which the Park Service says outright. Lees Ferry is the only place in Glen Canyon you can drive to the Colorado River: the launch for every Grand Canyon trip, the take-out for Paria Canyon, and a tailwater trout fishery below the dam. Glen Canyon also administers Rainbow Bridge National Monument. The dam is 710 feet of concrete, the second-highest arch dam in the United States, and the argument about it has not ended.
Getting in
Activities
Rafting / River
Lees Ferry is the launch point for every Grand Canyon river trip and the take-out for Cataract Canyon parties running through to Lake Powell. The 15-mile reach from Glen Canyon Dam down to Lees Ferry is a flatwater float, commonly run as a backhaul day trip upstream from the ferry.
Permit required
Personal flotation devices are mandatory for paddlecraft between Glen Canyon Dam and Lees Ferry.
Hiking
There are few maintained trails in Glen Canyon — the Park Service says so plainly. Walking here means canyon routes rather than tread: the Escalante District, the Orange Cliffs, and the Capitol Reef south district. The Spencer Trail climbs out of Lees Ferry.
Areas: Escalante District; Orange Cliffs; Capitol Reef South District; Lees Ferry
Fishing
A tailwater trout fishery runs from Lees Ferry upstream to Glen Canyon Dam, reached by boat or backhaul.
Permit required
History
Glen Canyon Dam poured its last concrete in September 1963 and was dedicated in September 1966; the reservoir behind it flooded Glen Canyon, a loss that helped define modern American conservation. Congress authorized the recreation area in 1972, six years after the dedication — the unit was written around water that was already there.