Perspectives of a Wandering Geographer

For the past three years, I have taken an active interest in drought in the southwestern US as illustrated by declining water levels in various reservoirs.   I have been especially interested in Lake Powell which started filling in 1963 upon completion of the Glen Canyon Dam across the Colorado River and located near Page, Arizona just south of the Utah state line.   Back in the 1980s when it was sometimes full, Lake Powell had a surface area of 266 square miles – the largest lake by area in the southwest.   It is relatively narrow (less than a mile wide in most places) but quite long, extending 186 miles northeast of the dam to Cataract Canyon.   Over the past 20+ years, the water level and volume of Lake Powell have declined considerably.   The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation located and designed the Glen Canyon Dam to maintain an elevation of 3700 feet above sea level, referred to as “full pool”.   It took 17 years for this level to be first achieved in 198...

Two months ago, the Canyon Country Zephyr published my photo-illustrated article focusing on the effects of the current drought in the Colorado River Basin.   My photos from Lake Powell, the Blue Mesa Reservoir, and the Paonia Reservoir showed the dramatic effects of declining water levels and seemed to generate considerable interest among Zephyr readers. As a result, I was inspired to head out with my camera to explore the drought’s effect on two additional reservoirs in the Four Corners area which release water to Lake Powell and the Colorado River.  The first one I visited, Navajo Lake, was created in the early 1960s by construction of the Navajo Dam across the San Juan River in northwestern New Mexico.  The lake extends approximately 35 miles northeast from the dam into Colorado.  The northern end of the lake in Colorado and the southern end including the dam in New Mexico are accessible by public roads.  The middle section crosses remote Navajo Reservat...