Lake Powell - Photos from the Early Years

[Rivergoer]

I think this is the one in the San Juan…what’s it called?

 

[Squirrel]

TR had a name for it but I can’t repeat it here. Sq

 

[JFRCalifornia]

I think this is the one in the San Juan…what’s it called?View attachment 34833

If this is the one near Cha Canyon, some people know it as Pinnacle Rock...

 

[Squirrel]

I’m thinking the one near the beginning of the San Juan, that had part of it fall down. Sq

 

[Ryan]

I think this is the one in the San Juan…what’s it called?View attachment 34833

That’s the one. I have a million photos of it but can’t find my own right now.

It’s right across from the “eagle rock” in the map I posted. Maybe that’s the official name?

 

[Joe mama]

Here are two photos that provide a good tape measure showing the early rise of Lake Powell in 1963. The first shot was taken in 1871, and shows Sentinel Rock at the mouth of Wahweap Creek. The rock is about 300 feet tall. The second shot is from the spring of 1963, and appears on the cover of the July 1963 issue of Desert Magazine. You can see that the lake has climbed about 2/3 the way up the rock, which makes the lake about 200 feet deep at that point. That puts the date of the photo at the very end of May or early June 1963. The top of the rock disappeared completely in the summer of 1964. When the lake is full, the top is 250 feet underwater. Today, it's still about 80 feet underwater....

View attachment 34829View attachment 34830

I sure hope it NEVER reappears!

 

[Gem Morris]

Wayne has a name for it but I can’t remember what he called it?

And that Sentinel rock in the mouth of Wahweap Creek isn’t a lone standing rock like the one in San Juan. It’s actually got a huge fin on the back of it that attaches it to the formation behind it, but from the angle of this picture, it makes it look like it’s a lone-standing monolith.

 

[Dungee]

Wayne has a name for it but I can’t remember what he called it?

I am remembering the same. Cobra Rock? I know someone referred to it as that so that’s what I’ve always called it as well.

 

[jimmybame]

 

[JSJ1]

I've known it as pinnacle rock.

 

[Rainbowbridge]

View attachment 34881View attachment 34882

Where is that? That's not the old dinosaur rock going up past Padre bay?

 

[RobertGosselin]

Where is that? That's not the old dinosaur rock going up past Padre bay?

That is the same formation that Rivergoer showed at the start of the thread. It's the monolith in the San Juan known by many as Pinnacle Rock.

 

[Rainbowbridge]

In the 70's & 80's i Looked at it and other Lake Powell er...... rock formations......... as 'that's kinda cute/fun'.....but now......to think what it took....over eons.......so may lifetimes..... for it to be what is is.........

Mucho WOW.....

 

[Jan Hertzen]

In the 70's & 80's i Looked at it and other Lake Powell er...... rock formations......... as 'that's kinda cute/fun'.....but now......to think what it took....over eons.......so may lifetimes..... for it to be what is is.........

Mucho WOW.....

And it's changing microscopically every moment of every day!

 

[JFRCalifornia]

Here's a 1960 photo of a highway sign telling motorists the cost of using the Hite Ferry. You gotta remember that $1 in 1960 was roughly the same as $10 is in 2026. Pretty expensive tolls for a short crossing...



And here's a 1959 photo of the ferry to give you an idea of what you were paying for...

 

[Squirrel]

John, do you know of any photos of the old road grade at or below current water levels at the Bullfrog main ramp area (the road that went down to the ferry) ? Sq

 

[JFRCalifornia]

John, do you know of any photos of the old road grade at or below current water levels at the Bullfrog main ramp area (the road that went down to the ferry) ? Sq

Well I've got two interesting old photos of the Bullfrog area that might help. First, there's this one from June 1965, when the lake was at 3491:



Then there's this aerial from September 1940, which shows the area near the mouth of Bullfrog and Stanton. Not as much help there, but still pretty cool..

 

[JFRCalifornia]

Here's Norm Nevills on top of Gregory Bridge in July 1940, the year he "discovered" it, although it had been well-known to local ranchers for decades before that, not to mention the native peoples of the distant past...

 

[Bullfrog07]

I think we'll hold off on launching! Taken from Bullfrog Lodge parking lot. My guess this is from early 90s based on the vehicles in the parking lot.
91 - elevation 3632
92 - elevation 3631
93 - elevation 3647

The second pic is cleaned up by Gemini AI

 

[nzaugg]

It's more likely that is from 1984 based on the restroom being surrounded by water. Plus those suburbans are 80s models, not 90s models.