I first visited Lake Powell about two years after the completion of the Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River in Arizona. Back then, the lake was just beginning to fill up behind the dam and its water depth was only about 20% of what it is today. So, the canyon walls that line the 1900 mile shoreline of the lake were effectively more than four times as high (above the water) as they are today.

The vista was magnificent, and the experience was enhanced by knowing that much of the lake’s shoreline to date had only been visited by native Americans on foot and horseback. Yet, there I was, poking my nose into all manner of isolated back canyons, eating fresh-caught catfish grilled on an open fire, and sleeping under the stars with my dog and a few deer mice here and there who would scurry around my stores in the middle of the night, hoping to find a morsel or two that had been dropped.

At the time, I was a grad student at Washington University in St. Louis, with a summer holiday beckoning me and a bug for boating up my … well, let’s say in my shorts. So, I trailered a 14-foot Star Craft fiberglass center-console model I had custom-rigged for boat camping to Page, Arizona and the Wahweap Marina. I then set out to explore the newly-formed lake that few people east of the Mississippi had yet even heard about, let alone thought of cruising.

All in all, I spent six full weeks exploring the the canyons in which the lake was forming, all the way up from Wahweap to Bullfrog, UT (95 miles north by water), and eventually to Hite, UT (which is at the very top of the lake). There were so few boaters on the lake during that period, I often spent 3 or 4 days, once even a week without seeing another living soul. It was an experience not to be forgotten.

I’ve since returned there twice, once on assignment for Power and Motoryacht magazine and once while passing through the area whilst headed for a Bryce Canyon holiday. And each time, although the Lake Powell had undergone major changes each time due to the rising water, I came away confirmed in my belief that Lake Powell by boat ranks higher on my list of bucket trip destinations than even Grand Canyon.

— Phil Friedman

Text Copyright © 2024 by Phil Friedman ― All Rights Reserved.

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If you would like to contribute to this reader forum, please post your questions, tips, reviews, or experiences in boating-related travel as comments on this post. Appropriate contributions will be individually re-posted as stand-alone articles in this section. Looking forward to hearing from you. — Phil Friedman, Editor and Publisher