Lake Powell

(Twenty fathoms under in a milky green light the spectral cabins, the skeleton cottonwoods, the ghostly gas pumps of Hite, Utah, glow through the underwater mist, outlined and edges softened by the cumulative blur of slowly settling silt.  Hite has been submerged by Lake Powell for many years now, but Smith will not grant recognition to alien powers.)
– Edward Abbey, “The Monkey Wrench Gang”.

In 1966, the Glen Canyon Dam was finished and Lake Powell was born.  There’s been a lot of controversy over the flooding of Glen Canyon, Edward Abbey made his feelings clear in 1975 in the book “The Monkey Wrench Gang”;  their ultimate goal is to blow up the Glen Canyon Dam.  And there are still environmental groups advocating draining the lake and restoring Glen Canyon.

Personally, I don’t know how I would have felt about the destruction of such a beautiful area back in the 60’s when they were building the dam.  At the time I wasn’t even old enough to be in grade school, and I was living a couple thousand miles away.

But now I think fighting to drain the lake is a waste of energy. 

First off, it isn’t going to happen.  We need the water and electricity it provides too much. 

Second, it’s become a part of life in Utah.  I don’t think I know anyone who hasn’t spend a decent amount of time down there camping, fishing, boating and overall recreating.  It’s a beautiful lake, with amazing scenery everywhere you go.

And finally, after 46 years of settling silt from the the rivers that flow into it, even if you did drain the lake, it would not be the same.  It would take decades, if not centuries, before it was even close to what it was before.

The Great Salt Lake

This is not a lake for swimming in. 

It’s too shallow:  At it’s deepest, the lake is 33’ (10m) deep, with an average of 14’ (4m).  Considering how big it is (28 by 75 miles, 45 by 121 km), it’s a long walk before I would be unable to stand up in it.

It’s too salty: The salinity ranges from 10% to almost 30%, depending on where you are on the lake and the current lake level. (Oceans average 3.5%).   Once you do get out far enough to swim, you have to fight to stay under water.

But it is great for diaper rash.  Before I was born, my parents drove through Salt Lake on their way to Berkeley, Ca.  They stopped off at the Great Salt Lake to go swimming, with their 1 year old baby.  Unaware of exactly how salty the water would be, they put my brother into the water and he immediately started screaming bloody murder.   When they got up the next morning, his diaper rash was completely gone.

I do like going out the Great Salt Lake.  It’s a nice, quiet place, wonderful for just sitting, thinking and relaxing.  The smell of the lake reminds me of the smell of the Atlantic Ocean, where I grew up.  The smell is a lot stronger, the water a lot calmer, but it’s still a good place to go when I miss the Atlantic.

Arches National Park

I used to go down to Arches National Park all the time when I was in high school and in my 20’s.  You could pull into their campground before noon and almost always find a spot.  On the occasions the campground was full, there was the beautiful Potash Road, along the Colorado River just down the road, where you could always find a spot.

I don’t go as often anymore.  Moab has become a huge tourist destination, and getting a spot in the Arches campground means booking it 6 months in advance.  Exactly six months, because that’s when reservations open online and by 12:05 that morning at least half the spots are booked.

And the last time we camped down the Potash Road, we felt like we were in a bad horror movie when two groups of teenagers (one on each side of the river) were shooting rifles in the air well after dark set in.

So, I don’t go down there as often.  Once or twice a year my brother and nephew-in-law will book 2 or 3 sites and portions of my extended family go.  Last time I partook was the summer of 2010.

These pictures are from the year before, all in the same general area inside the Arches campground, all on the same evening.  I took them with my Nikon D40x, on a tripod, in manual mode.  The beauty of digital photography is that I could just take a bunch at different settings and sort out the good ones when I got home.

Scenic Sunday

Thanks to Cashjockey, I found another outlet for my photographic interests; “Scenic Sunday”.  As the name implies, it theme is scenery, so here’s my first submission.

Somewhere outside of Eureka, Utah.  Contrary to some misunderstandings about my state, you can get alcohol here.  And from these pictures, it looks like even the horses enjoy the occasional brew.

‘Cause if it isn’t the horses they’re advertising to, who it is?