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

Lake Powell is an artificial reservoir on the Colorado River in Utah and Arizona. The construction of Glen Canyon Dam in 1964 created Lake Powell. Lake Powell acts as a holding tank for outflow from the Colorado River Upper Basin States: Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. It is the second largest artificial reservoir by maximum water capacity in the United States behind Lake Mead. However, Lake Mead has fallen below Lake Powell in size several times during the 21st century in terms of volume of water, depth and surface area. The reservoir is named for John Wesley Powell, a civil war veteran who explored the river via three wooden boats in 1869. Lake Powell offers some of the finest water recreation opportunities in the world. Choose from boating, fishing, hiking, camping, scenic drives and more. Since 2001, declining water levels due to climate change and 20 years of drought have reshaped Lake Powell’s shoreline. Low lake levels affect on boat ramp access points, on-lake facilities, and the landscape. The Glen Canyon Dam’s construction was controversial since inseption and Lake Powell flooded a natural canyon some deemed worthy of national park status. Since then, some have proposed draining Lake Powell. The reasons can be found in several articles including Water Education Foundation's LAKE POWELL AND GLEN CANYON DAM. Supporters of the reservoir also list their reasons and debates continue. However, we are glad that as of July of 2023 unprecedented snowpack in the Colorado Rockies has resulted in above average inflows to Lake Powell so we can enjoy the beautiful scenes.
鮑威爾湖是猶他州和亞利桑那州科羅拉多河上的一個人工水庫。1964 年格蘭峽谷大壩的建造創造了鮑威爾湖。鮑威爾湖充當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）流出的蓄水池。按最大蓄水量計算，它是美國第二大人工水庫，僅次於米德湖 (Lake Mead)。然而21世紀以來，米德湖的水量、深度和表面積數字低於鮑威爾湖。水庫是以約翰·韋斯利·鮑威爾 (John Wesley Powell) 的名字命名，他是一名內戰老兵，於 1869 年駕駛三艘木船探索這條河流。鮑威爾湖提供了一些世界上最好的水上娛樂活動，包括了划船、釣魚、健行、露營、駕車觀光等。自 2001 年以來，由於氣候變化和 20 年乾旱導致水位下降，鮑威爾湖的海岸線發生了重塑。低湖水位會影響船坡道入口、湖上設施和景觀。格蘭峽谷大壩的建設自建成以來就備受爭議，鮑威爾湖淹沒了一個被一些人認為值得獲得國家公園地位的天然峽谷。從那時起，一些人提議排乾鮑威爾湖，原因可以在幾篇文章中找到，包括水教育基金會的鮑威爾湖和格蘭峽谷大壩。水庫的支持者也列出了他們的理由，爭議不斷。無論如何，我們很高興至2023年7月，科羅拉多州落基山脈史無前例的積雪，使鮑威爾湖的流量高於平均量，因此我們得以欣賞美麗的景色。

Photo Date: 2023.09.17

Flashback 回顧

I found photos of our visit in July 1997. We didn't plan to come here at that time, just drove by and were attracted by its blue lake from afar. Then 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