Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, established in 1972, provides a dramatic example of one of nature's most inspiring settings combined with a hugely Promethean human project. Impounded behind the Bureau of Reclamation's Glen Canyon Dam, waters of the Colorado River and tributaries are backed up almost 200 miles (320 kilometers), forming Lake Powell. The lake and more than 1 million acres (405,000 hectares) of desert-and-canyon country draws visitors from all over the world.

Earth forces shaped this topography that now appears as talus slopes, buttes, mesas, canyons, and cliffs. While all the park's roads travel through this gorgeous desert country, the Burr Trail is hands down one of the country's great desert drives. Fishing and motorized water sports are the dominant activities at Lake Powell. However, one of the best kept secrets is the incredible sea kayaking in Lake Powell. Hiking provides intimate contact with natural and cultural features, and gets you away from the lakeshores. And if you like to do your desert exploration on the seat of a bike, Glen Canyon offers plenty of great trail choices.

Glen Canyon is one of the most controversial engineering projects in the history of the southwest, and the controversy still rages. Glen Canyon Dam was completed in 1963, inundating—by all accounts—some of the most beautiful canyon country in the southwest. In 1996, the Sierra Club Board of Directors voted to recommend the dismantling of Glen Canyon Dam, and in September 1997 the U.S. Congress conducted a hearing on the subject. One of GORP'S most lively forums focussed on this question—and it's a question that won't go away. Advocacy groups for both retaining and draining Lake Powell continue to grow and search out ways to push their agenda forward. When it comes to preserving and protecting a beloved landscape, people can be mighty stubborn.