Travel/POI: Lake Powell (鮑威爾湖), Arizona

Lake Powell is a magnificent artificial reservoir winding through the red rock desert of Utah and Arizona. Created by the completion of the Glen Canyon Dam in 1964, it serves as a critical holding tank for the Colorado River’s Upper Basin states: Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. While it is technically the second-largest man-made reservoir in the U.S. by capacity—trailing only Lake Mead—it has frequently surpassed its Nevada neighbor in actual water volume and depth during the fluctuating climate of the 21st century.

The reservoir bears the name of John Wesley Powell, the courageous Civil War veteran who led a daring 1869 expedition through these uncharted canyons in wooden boats. Today, it is a world-class destination for water recreation, offering unparalleled opportunities for boating, fishing, and hiking among towering sandstone walls.

However, the lake's beauty comes with a complex history. Its creation was controversial from the start, as the rising waters flooded the pristine Glen Canyon—a landscape many believed should have been a National Park. In recent years, the 'Fill Mead, Drain Powell' debate has intensified as two decades of drought and climate change reshaped the shoreline, leaving white 'bathtub rings' on the canyon walls and impacting boat access.

Despite these challenges, there is reason for optimism. Thanks to an extraordinary snowpack in the Colorado Rockies during the 2023 season, the lake seen a significant rise in water levels. This surge has revitalized the landscape, ensuring that for now, we can continue to marvel at the stunning blue waters of this desert oasis.

We made it back to Lake Powell in late December 2025. It’s still as breathtaking as ever, though my husband was struck by how much lower the water level seemed compared to before. To my eyes, the beauty of the red rocks still steals the show, making it hard to tell exactly how much has changed! I took plenty of shots of the current shoreline—take a look at the photos at the end of the post and let me know if you can spot the difference.

鮑威爾湖是一座壯麗的人工水庫，蜿蜒流經猶他州和亞利桑那州的紅色岩石沙漠。它是因 1964 年格倫峽谷大壩建成後而形成的，是科羅拉多河上游流域各州——科羅拉多州、新墨西哥州、猶他州和懷俄明州——的重要蓄水庫。雖然從技術上講，按容量計算，它是美國第二大人工水庫——僅次於米德湖——但在 21 世紀氣候的波動下，它的實際蓄水量和水深經常超過其位於內華達州的鄰居米德湖。

水庫以約翰·韋斯利·鮑威爾的名字命名，這位勇敢的南北戰爭老兵曾於 1869 年率領一支探險隊，乘坐木船穿越了這些未知的峽谷。如今，這裡已成為世界級的水上休閒勝地，為人們提供了無與倫比的划船、釣魚和徒步旅行機會，沿途可欣賞到巍峨的砂岩峭壁。

然而，鮑威爾湖的美麗背後卻有著一段複雜的歷史。它的形成從一開始就充滿爭議，因為上漲的湖水淹沒了原始的格倫峽谷——許多人認為這片區域本應成為國家公園。近年來，隨著長達二十年的乾旱和氣候變遷改變了湖岸線，在峽谷壁上留下了白色的「浴缸痕跡」，並影響了船隻通行，關於「填滿米德湖，排乾鮑威爾湖」的爭論愈演愈烈。

儘管面臨這些挑戰，我們仍有理由保持樂觀。得益於 2023 年科羅拉多州落磯山脈史無前例豐沛的積雪，湖泊水位顯著上升。水位的激增使這片土地重煥生機，也讓我們得以繼續欣賞這片沙漠綠洲令人嘆為觀止的湛藍湖水。

2025 年 12 月底，我們再次來到了鮑威爾湖。它依然美得令人窒息，不過我先生注意到水位似乎比以前低了很多。在我看來，紅色岩石的美景依然是最大的亮點，讓人很難分辨究竟發生了多大的變化！我拍了很多現在湖岸的照片——看看文章最後的照片，告訴我你是否能看出其中的差異。

Photo Date: 2023.09.17

Flashback 回顧

1997

I found some photos from our visit in July 1997. We hadn’t planned to come here at the time—we were just driving by and were drawn in by the blue lake from afar. We visited again in 2017 and 2019.

我找到我們在 1997 年 7 月來玩的照片，當時我們未預計來此，只因開車經過，老遠就被它蔚藍的湖水吸引住了。然後我們在 2017 年和 2019 年又到此一遊。

Photo Date: 1997.07