Glen Canyon Dam

Glen Canyon Dam is a 216-metre concrete arch-gravity dam that created Lake Powell by backing up the Colorado River. The dam generates a significant portion of the electricity for the American Southwest and its Bureau of Reclamation Visitor Centre offers free tours of the dam and the Carl Hayden Visitor Centre on the canyon rim, which has good displays on the dam's construction and the surrounding geology.

The view from the bridge above the dam — the Colorado River running deep blue far below, the canyon walls rising on either side — is one of the most dramatic road viewpoints in the region. The dam's future is complicated: Lake Powell has been at historically low levels during prolonged drought, raising serious questions about the dam's long-term viability as a power source.

things to do sight
A story
The construction of Glen Canyon Dam between 1956 and 1966 flooded Glen Canyon — a landscape that many who saw it called more beautiful than the Grand Canyon. David Brower of the Sierra Club later called his failure to oppose the dam the greatest mistake of his conservation career. The submerged canyon walls, ancient rock art, and Anasazi ruins are still there, now under Lake Powell's water, silently making the case for what was lost.