JFRCalifornia
Keeper of San Juan Secrets
Here we have a low aerial view of Glen Canyon Dam looking downstream when the lake was full in the summer of 1980. This photo appeared in the December 1980 issue of National Geographic.
Lake Powell - Photos from the Early Years
- Thread starter JFRCalifornia
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JFRCalifornia
Keeper of San Juan Secrets
This is the tour boat landing to access Rainbow Bridge in the summer of 1996, when the lake was roughly 3685, about 15 feet below full. It wasn't a very long walk to reach the bridge then...
Until (relatively) recently, you could count on seeing Rainbow Bridge before you ever docked your boat. Miss those days...
Marina Bum
Escalante-Class Member
Thanks for sharing these JFR. My first trip as pilot in command of my own vessel was in June of 94 and it was also my first trip to Rainbow Bridge. I'd been to Powell before but never as a boat owning grown up, I was 26. My boat was a 1974 19 foot SeaRay with a GM straight six and Bravo One outdrive. I'm glad we got to see it like this. Now if you look closely as you hike up you can see steel mooring lines on both sides of the canyon where they used to attach docks and other infrastructure.
I hope to see it again like this someday before I move on
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Canyon Gypsy
Active Member
Those tour boats threw a wake like a navy destroyer. Made for interesting manuvers driving a houseboat or small craft.
Great shot of the arch.
Great shot of the arch.
JFRCalifornia
Keeper of San Juan Secrets
Not sure this photo qualifies as the “early years”, but I took this one in August 2002. This is Broken Bow Arch up Willow Gulch. At the current Nov 2024 lake level of 3576, it’s probably an 8-mile round trip hike to see this.
JFRCalifornia
Keeper of San Juan Secrets
Not on that hike, since Coyote Natural Bridge is in Coyote Gulch, a few canyons farther upstream on the Escalante. But I have been there, hiking down from Hole in the Rock Road. Coyote Gulch is an awesome place to be, one of my favorites... Have you been there?
Trix
Keeper of San Juan Secrets
Yes! We had five boats in our little armada. We beached at the mouth of Coyote Gulch, across from Steven’s Arch, hiked to the natural bridge. Fantastic trip. I need to pull down the box of fading photos from the top of the closet to see what we have. We were not avid photographers but may have Instamatic pics from our early days.
JFRCalifornia
Keeper of San Juan Secrets
If you accessed Coyote Gulch from the lake, that had to be sometime in in the early 1980s when the lake was full... wow, very cool... would love to see photos... did you keep going another 2 miles past the natural bridge to Jacob Hamblin Arch?
Bird Brothers
Active Member
Old school 1982. I'm the blonde giant back right. Oh the good old days. Dad payed for the gas and food. Mom made the great food. We just laid in the sun on our K mart air mattress lathered in coconut oil. Swam and skied. 
JFRCalifornia
Keeper of San Juan Secrets
These shots were taken by Tad Nichols in the Escalante in 1964, when the lake was rising but still not quite to 3490. This is part of what's now the huge sandy beach between Clear Creek and Davis Gulch, near the Black Trail. Then it was a giant sand dune by a rising lake that looked more like a river.
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JFRCalifornia
Keeper of San Juan Secrets
This is the official dedication ceremony for Glen Canyon Dam, on September 22, 1966. Ladybird Johnson oversaw the dedication along with Arizona Gov. Sam Goddard and Interior Secretary Stewart Udall. In some literature, you'll see references to the dam not being completed until 1966. This dedication ceremony is the source of that confusion. In reality, the dam was operational in March 1963, and the last bucket of concrete was poured in September of that year.
FYI, the lake was already at 3531 when the dedication ceremony took place.
FYI, the lake was already at 3531 when the dedication ceremony took place.
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Jan Hertzen
Well-Known Member
The story I heard was that she saw the large flat area between the dam and the power plant building, directly below them in this photo, and exclaimed that they should grow a lawn on it. They thought it was a good idea, so they threw some seeds and named it the Lady Bird Johnson lawn. The lawn is still there.
Marina Bum
Escalante-Class Member
I liked all the photos and I remember the bridge having the short fence but I'd forgotten about the shade structures until I saw the old photo. I don't care for todays cage like high fencing, seems strange. Are they trying to prevent items being thrown off or jumpers? Seems if God forbid you are desperate enough to jump the canyon rim is at the end of the bridge so what's with the ugly fence with tiny portals to stick your camera through? Shade is always good in Page too!
Also Stewart Udall pictured and mentioned was a Kennedy appointee and holdover to the Johnson administration. The Udalls were descendants of John D Lee so It's kind of Ironic that the old ferry was just nine miles downstream from the "new dam." I know this history because my wife is related to both families also
Steward Udall standing next to Jackie Kennedy in a photo of JFK's cabinet with their families. This photo is a prized possession of one of the Udall children who is in the photo, he let me take a picture of it hanging on his wall. I can't image Stewart standing on the dam next to Ladybird at the dedication reflecting on his families history in the area and his then current position in the scheme of things.
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Bill Sampson
Keeper of San Juan Secrets
I heard the same story