Thanks for sharing these breathtaking 🎬 ✨️👍WOW ⭐️. I'm praying for a turnaround of our Colorado & reservoirs. The gems of the beautiful desert /canyons 🙏✌️
Nice video. Idea for future videos, show the old landing strips. I was pilot for Lake Powell Air Service in the early 1990’s based in Page. We flew daily to Hite, Bullfrog, Halls Crossing and Cal Black. Hite landing stip was on north side of river just downstream to the bridge, there are about three landing strips at Bullfrog, some dirt, one paved, Halls Crossing was dirt. When Halls Crossing was closed they built Cal Black, paved and nice airport but way out in the middle of nowhere. We were flying boat parts and cash receipts, etc.
The Hite airstrip is still there and it is still used by the river outfitters. Just off the highway North of the bridge. Look for the orange windsock. Once upon a time ('97) I flew back to Moab with an injured woman from a Cataract trip that I was guiding on. We were in a little single engine Cessna, four or five seater. It was early Spring and we flew over Canyonlands NP with thunderstorms all around. The updrafts would toss us a couple hundred feet in all directions. Still to this day, I have never been so scared in my entire life. You pilots got some huge balls.
Yeah, it’s literally right off the highway. Now you’re making me regret not feeling it. Those small planes can definitely have their ups and downs. I remember dropping like 500 feet one time in one of those scariest moment of my life. Those thunderheads or nothing to play with. Glad y’all made it out safe.
Yes it is I think they should cut California off and let it fill to the 50% point then only let out the same amount of water that comes in - evaporation that way we can use the lake from end to end
@cool wiz LMAO, people have zero idea how much of the food on their table comes from the desert SW, especially while the rest of the country is frozen. Having said that Cali could do a much better job with retaining much of its water from the north
In 1980 We had the bright Idea to buy Fry Canyon Hotel and Cafe. It was pretty fun and a terrible loss of money. It was a boom town in the uranium boom, because there was a spring that provide water. It turned out that the water was very contaminated with uranium. We had many guests from all over the world. Charles Steen was around quite aa bit still looking for his next big strike.
That’s awesome! I love the history. Yeah based on the BLM archives, Fry Canyon Spring had groundwater contamination of uranium, copper and radium. A nice cocktail of heavy metals.
My wife and I traveled from Hanksville intending to camp at the lake in 1978. Cannot camp on sandstone, everyone there had a camper. It was getting late and after looking at a map, decided would have to try for a room in Mexican Hat. So off we go blazing along in the dark went I see lights off to the right. I had noticed something named Fry Canyon when we had looked at the map. So hard right to check it out. To our delight, it had a general store and four cabins. No one was staying there. Wow. We had a place to stay and cooked a meal on our propane stove. During the night, there was a rain and the air smelled wonderful. In the morning we left and again I’m blazing down the road. My wife said maybe you want to slow down because of the steep grade ahead. Slowed down and pavement ends and out of nowhere is this gigantic drop off at Moky Dugway. We stopped and marveled. If we had not found Fry Canyon, I may have very well driven straight off the road hitting earth hundreds of feet below. Fry Canyon saved our life. God was looking after me again.
house boated in 83 and again in 87 first from Wahweap and then from halls crossing Hite was a regular marina at the time. Dangling rope was a must stop for fuel. I drove a 52 ft houseboat right up to rainbow bridge towing a ski boat. Most of the people on the trips have passed,. a truly magnificent area
Love the Hayduke Lives... Gonna have to grab a shot next time I roll through. Powell has always been a conundrum for me... A beautiful lake and being from the west I know the need for water... On the other hand, all we lost underneath it.
We used to camp with our boat just right of the ramp. the water was about 1/3 up the ramp. I think they should let much more water out so Lost Vegas can have their hotel fountains and golf courses. They are letting out thousands of acre feet of water out now (May3,2023) supposedly to re-create the beaches in the Colorado but I think it was so Mead gets more for Nevada Thanks, I was there a few months ago at the same spot you are on and wanted to see what it looked like now. I flew over this area as a search and rescue pilot and always am stunned bu the beauty of the area. I have rafted the Colorado twice and camped and boated the lake at least 4 times a year for 30 or more years. I love this area. I also explored the uranium mine and hiked the hole in the wall and across the lake to the other side.. Thanks again!
Beautiful country down there! You are absolutely right about the solitude. The Hite area is deserted. I am optimistic that we will be pleasantly surprised with water inflows. There is a massive snowpack which could substantially replenish this arid region.
Our very first Lake Powell experience was renting a houseboat out of Hite. Hard to believe it's been that many years. Thanks for the information you shared about the upper reaches of the Colorado River.
Fun to watch ~ with amazing footage and interesting facts and information. I worked for a company that did kyack trips through Desolation, Cataract..One of the bennies was we got 4 and 5 day trips FREE SO. MUCH. FUN. Another great video, TYVM
Very Nice, thank you. You showed me so much that I had never seen before it quite amazing how scrub land can be so kind to the eye, such vast openness that has been washed and wind blown into something beautiful. Great work when Mountains were shown.
Great video. My father (Hal M. Clyde) built the Colorado River Bridge, Dirty Devil Bridge and the road from the North Wash to the area beyond the Colorado. This was done in the early sixties before the lake was filled. Many artifacts and canyons were lost but now are re-emerging. During that project our family spent three summers in the work camp in the North Wash. It was a great adventure.
Nice video. I was in Hite in December 2021. My previous visit was in the early 1990s. I found the fish cleaning station at the former Hite Marina both humorous and sad. Great video and thanks for sharing.
Great images and explanation. Lake Powell water is being released into Lake Mead at present, in anticipation of Powell filling from snow-pack melt. Mead has been rapidly getting deeper over the last few days.
In the early seventies the lake reached its maximum I descended from the vista point and there was a makeshift marina on the north side of the lake Hite about a mile before the DD bridge. I launched an aluminum canoe with a 3hp motor it was big water to the gouge and CR bridge made it to Gypsum Canyon but couldn’t push any farther because of the current it was mid Sept. water was running clear. Spent a week exploring the Dirty Devil and Dark Canyon. This was before the marina was put in on the south side and people started coming.
Thank you for sharing. Well done. You did your research too. I vividly remember taking river boats out of the water on the Hite boat ramp back in the 90's. Our trucks would back 40' trailers down and you could float your boat on. Now, it looks like it's a quarter mile from the water. The current take out is super sketchy. (Just downstream from the bridge on river right.) Otherwise, you need to go all the way down to Bullfrog. It will be interesting to see how things will turn out down there. I'd love to float Glen Canyon one day. The rewilding of damned rivers is a thing and I'm down. Hayduke Lives!
This is what I'm talking about showing places that nobody ever shows around lake mead lake Powel. You know Different areas around the lakes and the history of them spots. Awesome video thank u. Like I said before I'm from the Pittsburgh area I've always wanted to go out West to lake Mead and lake Powel The Grand Canyon Death Valley the superstition mountains ect ect ect. And I hunt for videos like You've been making Thank you. I would like to add the audio was a little low in the video here that's all
Another fine video, Sir Rat. Thanks. The river is certainly making a dent in all that sediment which is up to 150' feet thick in this area. It's all being blasted downstream to send the delta-front ever southward. I doubt the rise this year will trouble this area - probably we'll see the lake reach Trachyte but Farley and White canyons will have their respective lakes remain in splendid isolation. Farley sits at a fairly constant 3585 and White is probably at a similar level. White, having such a high load of dirt flowing into it, is fast getting filled in. 0:53: The lake is over 10 miles from where you're standing. 2:14: It's difficult to make out but opposite the mouth of the Dirty Devil, there's a rocky outcrop in the centre just to this side of the Colorado. As we look at it, the river used to flow to the RIGHT of here. There was an airstrip on the triangular-shaped rocky feature just to the left. 5:40 'Dandy Crossing' was downstream at the mouth of White Canyon near where the ferry operated from 1946-64. There was a huge sand bar that facilitated that crossing but there was also plenty of sand opposite the mouth of North Wash so who knows? I don't have photos of Hite Marina but the aerial shot is there from 1993 on Google Earth. I have a fairly grainy picture, taken from Hite Overlook in 1983, of the reservoir at full pool+ showing the top of the ramp peeping out of the lake . The marina is obviously there but difficult to make out. The level of the water against the Hite ramp is most interesting though. I don't have 'a channel' on here so have no idea how to share this picture with you, Sir Rat. I also have a few pics of the marina at Piute Farms on the San Juan arm of Powell where the depth of water was always marginal. I think it existed for a couple of years, 87-89 maybe, before the lake receeded and it was dismantled. You can still see the traces of the concrete ramp on Google Earth. Keep these great videos coming, Ratty.
Oh, my! Such extraordinary footage. What a powerful and beautiful land. The title caught my eye because I am a "water watcher" for many years now and wanted to see what Lake Powell looked like. Not sure why you stopped short, but the images of the landscape are critcal for people to understand the crisis that is heading our way by 2026. Lake Powell is a huge player in whether or not the lower basin states and Mex get water in the future. Do you have a picture of Lake Powell April 2023. Thank you for sharing this!
@@DesertRatExploration do you have a picture of Powell's ramp for April, 2023? I can use this in one of my articles and give your channel credit. I live in Baja and 80% of our clean water comes from Lake Mead. Right now I understand that Powell is not going to release water to Mead. If Mead goes Dead Pool, our river water doesn't make it to us. Thanks!
I’m almost glad I haven’t been able to travel to Lake Powell due to medical and physical conditions the last six years. Looking at those massive mud flats that used to be a launch point go fishing and some of my favorite fishing areas. I do appreciate the tour a great deal. I just hope to see it come back to what it was 20 and 30 years ago.
I used to camp / fish out of Hite all thru the seventies. you could go miles up the Dirty Devil in the back waters of Powel to a sandy beach where the "river" was running slow most of the time. So sad to see what it is now.
I have been there. Hite, twice. Once by car, once by canoe. You still showed me as much and more than I have seen. Thank you. What I wished you had videoed and investigated is the raft take out for the crews on Cataract Canyon. I will be at the Confluence, mid July, and I am threatening to continue down to Hite. I have heard they use a winch to get the boats up to the parking lot, at the North Wash Boat Ramp. I think I saw the turnoff in your video,,, laughing,, I was wishing you had taken the turn off and driven down to the parking area and ramp.
Hydro electricity has been generated now for 100 years. It’s been successful, safe, cheap and powers peoples day to day life. Without it this part of the country that fuels much needed agriculture to the rest of the country would be nearly impossible. It’s one of man’s great achievements of land and water management.
Hydro electricity has been generated now for 100 years. It’s been successful, safe, cheap and powers peoples day to day life. Without it this part of the country that fuels much needed agriculture to the rest of the country would be nearly impossible. It’s one of man’s great achievements of land and water management.
@@Bouncer-id1rh well it’s very in depth and complicated subject but some Dams were built for the purpose of solely making a profit. The term is called “cash register facility” in the buisness. These types of facilities provide funds for future reclamation projects through the sale of cheap hydropower. Some critics of Glen Canyon Dam say that it in of itself is one of those facilities. It’s a long story but old timers say that’s why the 1983 flood at Glen Canyon Dam happened. The B.O.R topped off the Lake so they can sell more electricity and didn’t project storms in the Rockies in May of 1983 which, almost took out the Dam with cavitation of its spillways. There is my explanation my good sir.
@@DesertRatExploration Thanx for the reply. I hear ya, it's one explanation. I see these public works projects as just as that ...public works projects. They benefit society, and the long term benefit is they pay for themselves over time. The Profit from the Hoover Dam once it was paid for, has sent more money into our Federal treasury then any other public works project in our country's history. They are the definition of "win/win"-other than from the environmentalists perspective. As far as Glenn Canyon, the cavitation was really about an engineering failure when the dam was built. Mead also had water going over the spillways, yet it's spillways didn't have the cavitation issues. Also, it wasn't so much a mistake, it was the fact that the BOR couldn't get the information to the managers at Glen Canton fast enough. The info was slow coming, and each day the volume estimates increased, not giving the managers enough time to release water before the volume hit flood stage, almost cresting the the dam. So I don't see it as the Dept of Energy holding back water to sale electricity...that to me is urban myth. Besides, the DOE doesn't regulate water releases, that's the BOR's responsibility. The BOR wouldn't say..."hey, let's hold back some water so our friends at the DOE can sale more power". The BOR operates under a metrics... do you know how irresponsible it would be for the BOR to do that. Had that dam failed, people would of gone to jail once an investigation found the BOR wasn't operating under it's obligatory operating metric. Changes were made after that event, particularly from a communications aspect, and those protocols have been updated since the changes in 1984. Anyways, than for listening to my opinion. Thanx for the convo.
For me, your video throws up a lotta red flags for Las Vegas real estate, especially these high-end multi-million dollar properties with views. Like what's the point if you got no water. The area might get a little relief with the El Nino cycle returning but then what happens when La Nina returns. This has been happening now for over two decades and still counting. Watching this also makes me feel fortunate just to take a sip of ice cold water and know that I can get another glass with impunity, no water shortages here in Hawaii. Your thoughts on LV real estate though?
Shoot that’s a good question. Las Vegas has lead the way believe it or not on conservation. They are THE roll model for conserving water, crazy. In regards to real estate I’d recommend Vegas over Phoenix. Vegas will last especially that it’s a city with more worth. Phoenix has provided little effort with conservation of water and is just growing like cancer.
@@DesertRatExploration Ok, I can work with that. The dark underbelly of all that conservation though just means more water for California, the big stinky elephant in the room. The only solution I see for Lake Meade and Vegas would be pipelines from the North West or even the Great Lakes. Almost a federal plan of redistribution but on a national scale, not just Vegas. Phoenix also has quite a homeless problem, water woes as well, as per the videos I see here on YT. Thank you for all of your help and hard work!!!
@@derrickstanley3804 No. There is a huge amount of sediment blocking the mouths of both White and Farley canyons. Behind the sediment, both canyons have their own captive lakes, each approximately a mile long. The lake in Farley has a fairly constant surface elevation of ~3585 which, currently, puts it over 60' above the level of Powell. It is therefore safe to assume the sediment is banked to an elevation of at least 3585. As of 4-27-23, the flat water of Powell is over six miles downstream of Farley. The lake in White canyon is interesting in that it has been divided in two by the silt washing into it from the creek. To the west, towards the river (and sediment dam), it is getting filled in with deposits and appears a muddy red colour. To the east, the water remains fairly blue and is probably substantially deeper. Again, the top of the sediment at the mouth of White is probably at ~3585 so any change in this area will require Powell to rise more than 60 feet this year. It will be interesting to see what happens. Check out the state of Powell as it rises on Sentinel Playground. The resolution is pretty good down to 300m / 1000ft.
@@DaveFiggley thanks for the information!! I used to launch a flat bottom and fish White and Farley, my buddy lost what might have been a world record crappie at the boat!
Hite was the boat ramp, marina, ranger station when lake was there. When he says there's the ramp, that's how high water used to be. Lake is a long way off now.
Water once covered the highest bluffs visible here, overwashing the entire area with something like 350-500 trillion acre-feet of water, eroding the bluffs, creating the arches, and generally defining everything within sight. It was NOT the "seabed" of an inland sea, but it was the site of an immense "lake", one that stretched from north of Price, down to Show Low, Springerville and Pie Town, northwest to southeast, from the Humphreys (San Francisco Peaks) to the Sierra Nacimiento's, around 87,964.59 sq miles, containing 140.7 billion acre-feet of water. This was left over from the larger surge, a body that would eventually create the Grand Canyon, and the other 7 National Parks in the region, as it slowly drained away. Not "millions of years ago" (anyone who thinks the arches are even ONE PERCENT of that scale doesn't understand the desert, or the area, much less the process they were created by), but within the period of "recorded history" (not textbooks). The Anasazi camped alongside this lake for nearly a millennium, until the water finally drained away to leave the desert as we know it. The first wide-angle view in your video reveals a landscape that can best be described as "what anywhere would look like after a half-quadrillion acre-feet of water flowed across it, at the speed of a tsunami", if, of course, other, more dramatic, events were occurring, pushing up mountains, uplifting ancient seabeds (no longer found at the bottom of a sea). How anyone can look at the American Southwest, and NOT think, "biggest flood, ever" escapes me. Lap-lines, the result of longstanding water lapping at an edge or shore, abound, at 2,500-3,500 feet elevations.
I have a copy of John Powells float down that river. I thought he was crazy to float it like he did. But my eyes were from the 1970's and all they really had was wood.
@@DesertRatExploration I know! And, he had a chair strapped to the top of one of the boats to ride in. I've done many floats in Montana and when I read about his float I was amazed that no one died. He did a lot of the river.
Lake Powell may gain a few feet this season but it looks like they plan to transfer much of that water to Lake Mead. Lake Powell is unlikely to rise much and may even be lower this time next year than it is now. California and Arizona consume a crap ton of water from the Colorado River but they get most of if downstream from Hoover Dam so the upper basin states can look elsewhere thank you very much...
@@Bouncer-id1rh You are a zero content troll who's YT channel was created one month ago! The fact that you found me again tells me you are part of a troll farm with tools to track people!
I feel like the reason for the lake drop is they have constantly built Cities and Communities all over that area, Reno, Las Vegas and other places all over and over used the Water.
its not a natural lake. its a resevoir built to SERVE WATER to those cities and generate electricity. Of course the lake drop is because of the cities. How fucking retarded can you be to think hey this is a natural lake in the desert.
@@deviates1 The problem is.. they haven’t built any New reservoirs in California, Arizona, Nevada in the last 30 years!!! But the populations have more than doubled… California also has a homeless problem because of drugs and state-local regulations on building housing and apartments…
'They' are banking water in the upstream reservoirs first before releasing down to Powell. Flaming George, Blue Mesa and Navajo reservoirs all need to be replenished before any significant quantity of water is sent down to Powell. There is a huge snowpack to play with and once they're happy that these smaller, but important, reservoirs are at a satisfactory level they'll start sending significant quantities of water to Powell. The Upper Basin states still 'owe' the Lower Basin shitloads of water so much of what arrives in Powell will go through the dam and head down the Grand Canyon to Lake Mead. I'm not an expert but I reckon the 'water managers' will be happy to see Powell at 3550 at the end of this Water Year with the peak level being, maybe, 3560. Then it's time to pray for more snow.
I keep forgetting about the smaller dams. From what I’ve seen regarding the Bureau of reclamations website, they anticipate the end of the water year to be near 3564-3606 feet above sea level respectively.
@@DesertRatExploration BuWreck's predictions are notoriously optimistic. If Powell gets anywhere near 3600 I'll eat my wife's testicles. Er, don't try that at home kids. Once Powell has 'paid' Mead, 3560 sounds more realistic, which is an improvement on the 3520 of a few weeks ago. The river was over-allocated in 1922. Powell taking 17 years to fill should have been the first warning sign, although the upstream reservoirs were coming online in the late sixties and swallowed plenty of water. The last time Powell came anywhere near to being full was in July 1999 when it reached 3694.74. The Bureau of Reclamation should put away their slide rules and get out the prayer mats.
Yeah, they are optimistic. I would assume science and math was put into their calculations but to be fair, the B.O.R has done some Hail Marys these past few years.
Hite, named for Cass Hite, was originally a small settlement close to the mouth of Trachyte Canyon. The Colorado at this point often ran slow and shallow with a substantial sand bar appearing at low water. Horses could walk / swim to the opposite bank with little trouble and this became known as 'Dandy Crossing', probably one of only three points in 200 miles that the river could be traversed with relative ease. Fast forward to the twentieth century and Art Chaffin, an erstwhile prospector, saw the potential for a permanent, fixed crossing of the river at this point and in 1946 opened his home-built ferry which, via a rough and torturous road, connected Hanksville with Blanding. The east bank landing was a half mile downstream of White Canyon. Ruben Nielsen operated the ferry from 1949 until 1964 when the reservoir flooded the site. From memory, the ferry landings were at 3443 so would eventually end up under 257 feet of water. The Nielsens also created a thriving farm at Hite growing all sorts of exotic fruit and veg. Fast forward to 2023 and 'Hite' is just a concrete boat ramp, four miles north, that nobody has used in decades.
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Thanks for sharing these breathtaking 🎬 ✨️👍WOW ⭐️. I'm praying for a turnaround of our Colorado & reservoirs. The gems of the beautiful desert /canyons 🙏✌️
They really are gems. You’re welcome. Thank you for watching.
Nice video. Idea for future videos, show the old landing strips. I was pilot for Lake Powell Air Service in the early 1990’s based in Page. We flew daily to Hite, Bullfrog, Halls Crossing and Cal Black. Hite landing stip was on north side of river just downstream to the bridge, there are about three landing strips at Bullfrog, some dirt, one paved, Halls Crossing was dirt. When Halls Crossing was closed they built Cal Black, paved and nice airport but way out in the middle of nowhere. We were flying boat parts and cash receipts, etc.
Appreciate the feedback. To be honest, I don’t know why I discriminated towards landing strips will do.
The Hite airstrip is still there and it is still used by the river outfitters. Just off the highway North of the bridge. Look for the orange windsock.
Once upon a time ('97) I flew back to Moab with an injured woman from a Cataract trip that I was guiding on. We were in a little single engine Cessna, four or five seater. It was early Spring and we flew over Canyonlands NP with thunderstorms all around. The updrafts would toss us a couple hundred feet in all directions. Still to this day, I have never been so scared in my entire life. You pilots got some huge balls.
Yeah, it’s literally right off the highway. Now you’re making me regret not feeling it. Those small planes can definitely have their ups and downs. I remember dropping like 500 feet one time in one of those scariest moment of my life. Those thunderheads or nothing to play with. Glad y’all made it out safe.
Thank you for uploading this footage & documenting it for those of us who are not near enough to see it in person.
I work for the people.
Thanks. Being a Lake Powell boater from 1967 until late 80's, this is sad. Terrible governmental control plus water hungry CA
A terrible mix of state and federal at the citizens expense.
Yes it is I think they should cut California off and let it fill to the 50% point then only let out the same amount of water that comes in - evaporation that way we can use the lake from end to end
So you want to starve. Ok! No skin off our ass here in cali. People like you probably have enough stored fat to make it through a winter anyways.
@cool wiz LMAO, people have zero idea how much of the food on their table comes from the desert SW, especially while the rest of the country is frozen.
Having said that Cali could do a much better job with retaining much of its water from the north
Wonderful video-thank you!
I appreciate the feedback. Thank you.
In 1980 We had the bright Idea to buy Fry Canyon Hotel and Cafe. It was pretty fun and a terrible loss of money. It was a boom town in the uranium boom, because there was a spring that provide water. It turned out that the water was very contaminated with uranium. We had many guests from all over the world. Charles Steen was around quite aa bit still looking for his next big strike.
That’s awesome! I love the history. Yeah based on the BLM archives, Fry Canyon Spring had groundwater contamination of uranium, copper and radium. A nice cocktail of heavy metals.
My wife and I traveled from Hanksville intending to camp at the lake in 1978. Cannot camp on sandstone, everyone there had a camper. It was getting late and after looking at a map, decided would have to try for a room in Mexican Hat. So off we go blazing along in the dark went I see lights off to the right. I had noticed something named Fry Canyon when we had looked at the map. So hard right to check it out. To our delight, it had a general store and four cabins. No one was staying there. Wow. We had a place to stay and cooked a meal on our propane stove. During the night, there was a rain and the air smelled wonderful. In the morning we left and again I’m blazing down the road. My wife said maybe you want to slow down because of the steep grade ahead. Slowed down and pavement ends and out of nowhere is this gigantic drop off at Moky Dugway. We stopped and marveled. If we had not found Fry Canyon, I may have very well driven straight off the road hitting earth hundreds of feet below. Fry Canyon saved our life. God was looking after me again.
Thanks for the awesome videos.
Appreciate the feedback!
Your Videos are Awesome! You do a good job. Be proud=)
Thank you for the feedback. I really appreciate the kind comment.
house boated in 83 and again in 87 first from Wahweap and then from halls crossing Hite was a regular marina at the time. Dangling rope was a must stop for fuel. I drove a 52 ft houseboat right up to rainbow bridge towing a ski boat. Most of the people on the trips have passed,. a truly magnificent area
I would love to see any old photos if you got them!
Thanks for the up date,m good footage. you looked at things that matter. Thanks
Love the Hayduke Lives... Gonna have to grab a shot next time I roll through.
Powell has always been a conundrum for me... A beautiful lake and being from the west I know the need for water... On the other hand, all we lost underneath it.
Very true
We used to camp with our boat just right of the ramp. the water was about 1/3 up the ramp. I think they should let much more water out so Lost Vegas can have their hotel fountains and golf courses. They are letting out thousands of acre feet of water out now (May3,2023) supposedly to re-create the beaches in the Colorado but I think it was so Mead gets more for Nevada Thanks, I was there a few months ago at the same spot you are on and wanted to see what it looked like now. I flew over this area as a search and rescue pilot and always am stunned bu the beauty of the area. I have rafted the Colorado twice and camped and boated the lake at least 4 times a year for 30 or more years. I love this area. I also explored the uranium mine and hiked the hole in the wall and across the lake to the other side.. Thanks again!
Thank you for the video!!
Thank you for watching.
Gorgeous footage and interesting information! Thanks for sharing
Appreciate you watching.
Beautiful country down there! You are absolutely right about the solitude. The Hite area is deserted. I am optimistic that we will be pleasantly surprised with water inflows. There is a massive snowpack which could substantially replenish this arid region.
It’s stunning. Optimism is key that’s for sure.
@Desert Rat Explorations Optimism? How does that help water move? 😅
@@rogertucker2613 poop in one hand and wish in the other hand kind of deal.
Our very first Lake Powell experience was renting a houseboat out of Hite. Hard to believe it's been that many years. Thanks for the information you shared about the upper reaches of the Colorado River.
That’s awesome to hear. Do you have any only photos of Hite? I’ve never seen a photo of the Marina
@@DesertRatExploration Wow, that was back before digital photography. I might have an album around somewhere. I'll have to look.
Fun to watch ~ with amazing footage and interesting facts and information. I worked for a company that did kyack trips through Desolation, Cataract..One of the bennies was we got 4 and 5 day trips FREE SO. MUCH. FUN. Another great video, TYVM
Thank you for the feedback. Free river trips sound nice.
Very informative and wonderful production.
Thank you very much!
Very Nice, thank you. You showed me so much that I had never seen before it quite amazing how scrub land can be so kind to the eye, such vast openness that has been washed and wind blown into something beautiful. Great work when Mountains were shown.
Thank you! The desert is like Medusa, beautiful, but deadly.
Great video. My father (Hal M. Clyde) built the Colorado River Bridge, Dirty Devil Bridge and the road from the North Wash to the area beyond the Colorado. This was done in the early sixties before the lake was filled. Many artifacts and canyons were lost but now are re-emerging. During that project our family spent three summers in the work camp in the North Wash. It was a great adventure.
That’s awesome to hear! What was the name of your fathers company he worked for?
@@DesertRatExploration WW Clyde & Co
@@jonclyde3873 love the history
Nice video. I was in Hite in December 2021. My previous visit was in the early 1990s. I found the fish cleaning station at the former Hite Marina both humorous and sad. Great video and thanks for sharing.
Appreciate the feedback. That’s cool you got to see it back in the day.
Glad your channel came up in my feed. Great footage. I subscribed and give you thumbs up 👍
Thank you!
Enjoyed the tour of Height and surronds.....love that terrain.....Thank you.
Thank you, your welcome.
Great images and explanation. Lake Powell water is being released into Lake Mead at present, in anticipation of Powell filling from snow-pack melt. Mead has been rapidly getting deeper over the last few days.
We are expecting 50 feet here at Powell but, majority of that is going to Mead down stream.
Thanks for sharing the history. I've been to the Hite Overlook and driven UT95. I really enjoyed this. I am now a subscriber 😊.
Awesome! Thank you!
I work full time for the Harbor team. We're expecting 60ft of water over the next few months. We will be moving boat rentals twice a day soon.
Twice a day! That’s more work for y’all. Good to hear. Thank you for the information
Excellent!!!
Thank you!
In the early seventies the lake reached its maximum I descended from the vista point and there was a makeshift marina on the north side of the lake Hite about a mile before the DD bridge. I launched an aluminum canoe with a 3hp motor it was big water to the gouge and CR bridge made it to Gypsum Canyon but couldn’t push any farther because of the current it was mid Sept. water was running clear. Spent a week exploring the Dirty Devil and Dark Canyon. This was before the marina was put in on the south side and people started coming.
That’s awesome to hear. I’ve bet exploring those rivers with lots of fun.
Thank you for sharing. Well done. You did your research too.
I vividly remember taking river boats out of the water on the Hite boat ramp back in the 90's. Our trucks would back 40' trailers down and you could float your boat on.
Now, it looks like it's a quarter mile from the water. The current take out is super sketchy. (Just downstream from the bridge on river right.) Otherwise, you need to go all the way down to Bullfrog.
It will be interesting to see how things will turn out down there. I'd love to float Glen Canyon one day. The rewilding of damned rivers is a thing and I'm down.
Hayduke Lives!
That’s great history that you’ve lived. Also, how was the Marina? I’ve never see photos of it.
This is what I'm talking about showing places that nobody ever shows around lake mead lake Powel. You know Different areas around the lakes and the history of them spots. Awesome video thank u. Like I said before I'm from the Pittsburgh area I've always wanted to go out West to lake Mead and lake Powel The Grand Canyon Death Valley the superstition mountains ect ect ect. And I hunt for videos like You've been making Thank you. I would like to add the audio was a little low in the video here that's all
Thanks for the feedback! Yeah, I’m trying to get a mic soon. You definitely need to come out and check things out over here.
Another fine video, Sir Rat. Thanks.
The river is certainly making a dent in all that sediment which is up to 150' feet thick in this area. It's all being blasted downstream to send the delta-front ever southward. I doubt the rise this year will trouble this area - probably we'll see the lake reach Trachyte but Farley and White canyons will have their respective lakes remain in splendid isolation. Farley sits at a fairly constant 3585 and White is probably at a similar level. White, having such a high load of dirt flowing into it, is fast getting filled in.
0:53: The lake is over 10 miles from where you're standing.
2:14: It's difficult to make out but opposite the mouth of the Dirty Devil, there's a rocky outcrop in the centre just to this side of the Colorado. As we look at it, the river used to flow to the RIGHT of here. There was an airstrip on the triangular-shaped rocky feature just to the left.
5:40 'Dandy Crossing' was downstream at the mouth of White Canyon near where the ferry operated from 1946-64. There was a huge sand bar that facilitated that crossing but there was also plenty of sand opposite the mouth of North Wash so who knows?
I don't have photos of Hite Marina but the aerial shot is there from 1993 on Google Earth.
I have a fairly grainy picture, taken from Hite Overlook in 1983, of the reservoir at full pool+ showing the top of the ramp peeping out of the lake . The marina is obviously there but difficult to make out. The level of the water against the Hite ramp is most interesting though.
I don't have 'a channel' on here so have no idea how to share this picture with you, Sir Rat.
I also have a few pics of the marina at Piute Farms on the San Juan arm of Powell where the depth of water was always marginal. I think it existed for a couple of years, 87-89 maybe, before the lake receeded and it was dismantled. You can still see the traces of the concrete ramp on Google Earth.
Keep these great videos coming, Ratty.
Thanks for the feedback David . I always appreciate your insight and history regarding these areas.
Oh, my! Such extraordinary footage. What a powerful and beautiful land. The title caught my eye because I am a "water watcher" for many years now and wanted to see what Lake Powell looked like. Not sure why you stopped short, but the images of the landscape are critcal for people to understand the crisis that is heading our way by 2026. Lake Powell is a huge player in whether or not the lower basin states and Mex get water in the future.
Do you have a picture of Lake Powell April 2023. Thank you for sharing this!
I appreciate the feedback. Thank you I don’t have any photographs, but I do have more videos of each launch ramp.
@@DesertRatExploration do you have a picture of Powell's ramp for April, 2023? I can use this in one of my articles and give your channel credit.
I live in Baja and 80% of our clean water comes from Lake Mead. Right now I understand that Powell is not going to release water to Mead. If Mead goes Dead Pool, our river water doesn't make it to us.
Thanks!
Oh, I just found the Lake Powell Thank you!
I’m almost glad I haven’t been able to travel to Lake Powell due to medical and physical conditions the last six years. Looking at those massive mud flats that used to be a launch point go fishing and some of my favorite fishing areas. I do appreciate the tour a great deal. I just hope to see it come back to what it was 20 and 30 years ago.
Only time will tell that is for sure. Thank you for watching!
Nice filming.
Thank you!
Like your videos
Thank you!
I do admit I had to refresh my brain on "Hayduke Lives!". Suppose I am glad you forced me to look!
Yeah, I choose not to explain that phrase. Don’t want any prying eyes.
Well done
Thank you!
How much of the heavy snowpack will end up in Lake Powell ??
Everything west of the Rockies so, a good amount to be fair.
The estimates I've heard are that Lake Powell is expected to rise 6% this year.
I used to camp / fish out of Hite all thru the seventies. you could go miles up the Dirty Devil in the back waters of Powel to a sandy beach where the "river" was running slow most of the time. So sad to see what it is now.
Thank you for sharing your story. I’m happy you got to experience full pool.
🎣 now that looks like a good spot to do some fishing, tubing, whitewater rafting and some swimming.
I will say beautiful view
Good fishing this time of the year and also with the water
2019 was when I was at Hite last. Very crazy the difference since then.
Right!
I miss boating and fishing at Hite the last time I was about to fish there from a boat we got several hundred fish between two of us
That sounds like a good day!
It was we spent 4 days that trip and every day was like that
Incredible
Thank you!
I have been there. Hite, twice. Once by car, once by canoe. You still showed me as much and more than I have seen. Thank you. What I wished you had videoed and investigated is the raft take out for the crews on Cataract Canyon. I will be at the Confluence, mid July, and I am threatening to continue down to Hite. I have heard they use a winch to get the boats up to the parking lot, at the North Wash Boat Ramp. I think I saw the turnoff in your video,,, laughing,, I was wishing you had taken the turn off and driven down to the parking area and ramp.
I Camp where the take out is. It’s a very steep hill right now. The opening shot of this video is below that dirt take out.
Thanks
Thank you!
Great vid. Please keep them coming.
Thanks for the feedback!
Cool I need to check it out just moved to church wells😊
A lot to see in the area
My first view’s of Hite since I worked there in Boat Rentals almost 50 years ago. We could take boats miles up the Dirty Devil!
That’s crazy to think about. You need to see it for yourself this summer!
Hydro electricity has been generated now for 100 years. It’s been successful, safe, cheap and powers peoples day to day life. Without it this part of the country that fuels much needed agriculture to the rest of the country would be nearly impossible. It’s one of man’s great achievements of land and water management.
Your not wrong Frank.
Which is why the reservoir(s) would never get to "deadpool". The Ag industry COMPLETELY understands this.
I believe that making hydro electricity is more important than keeping water in both Powell and Mead has brought this problem on
Money money money
Hydro electricity has been generated now for 100 years. It’s been successful, safe, cheap and powers peoples day to day life. Without it this part of the country that fuels much needed agriculture to the rest of the country would be nearly impossible. It’s one of man’s great achievements of land and water management.
@@DesertRatExploration How is it about money? Explain.
@@Bouncer-id1rh well it’s very in depth and complicated subject but some Dams were built for the purpose of solely making a profit. The term is called “cash register facility” in the buisness. These types of facilities provide funds for future reclamation projects through the sale of cheap hydropower. Some critics of Glen Canyon Dam say that it in of itself is one of those facilities. It’s a long story but old timers say that’s why the 1983 flood at Glen Canyon Dam happened. The B.O.R topped off the Lake so they can sell more electricity and didn’t project storms in the Rockies in May of 1983 which, almost took out the Dam with cavitation of its spillways. There is my explanation my good sir.
@@DesertRatExploration Thanx for the reply. I hear ya, it's one explanation. I see these public works projects as just as that ...public works projects. They benefit society, and the long term benefit is they pay for themselves over time. The Profit from the Hoover Dam once it was paid for, has sent more money into our Federal treasury then any other public works project in our country's history. They are the definition of "win/win"-other than from the environmentalists perspective.
As far as Glenn Canyon, the cavitation was really about an engineering failure when the dam was built. Mead also had water going over the spillways, yet it's spillways didn't have the cavitation issues. Also, it wasn't so much a mistake, it was the fact that the BOR couldn't get the information to the managers at Glen Canton fast enough. The info was slow coming, and each day the volume estimates increased, not giving the managers enough time to release water before the volume hit flood stage, almost cresting the the dam. So I don't see it as the Dept of Energy holding back water to sale electricity...that to me is urban myth. Besides, the DOE doesn't regulate water releases, that's the BOR's responsibility. The BOR wouldn't say..."hey, let's hold back some water so our friends at the DOE can sale more power". The BOR operates under a metrics... do you know how irresponsible it would be for the BOR to do that. Had that dam failed, people would of gone to jail once an investigation found the BOR wasn't operating under it's obligatory operating metric. Changes were made after that event, particularly from a communications aspect, and those protocols have been updated since the changes in 1984.
Anyways, than for listening to my opinion.
Thanx for the convo.
I don't know if the water management is intentionally causing this problem or if they are just Stooo pid.
Both?
@@DesertRatExploration probably.
What’s the problem? Too much solitude?
@@johnbel2992 not enough.
It appears the river is dying to return to her natural state. 🌎💙
The river is just showing us it’s in control.
"Do not, my friends become addicted to water. It will take hold of you and you will resent it's absence." - Immortan Joe
Beautiful
Thumbs Up !
Thank you!
@@DesertRatExploration
You are welcome.
I camped up at Hite back when it was an actual Marina.
Your time there was valuable. Not a lot of eyes have seen it like that.
@@DesertRatExploration rode my bike across the country. It was a nice stop. Helluva climb out heading north in July heat,… THAT I remember!
The Lake is 119ft below Hite currently.
Thank you!
For me, your video throws up a lotta red flags for Las Vegas real estate, especially these high-end multi-million dollar properties with views. Like what's the point if you got no water. The area might get a little relief with the El Nino cycle returning but then what happens when La Nina returns. This has been happening now for over two decades and still counting. Watching this also makes me feel fortunate just to take a sip of ice cold water and know that I can get another glass with impunity, no water shortages here in Hawaii. Your thoughts on LV real estate though?
Shoot that’s a good question. Las Vegas has lead the way believe it or not on conservation. They are THE roll model for conserving water, crazy. In regards to real estate I’d recommend Vegas over Phoenix. Vegas will last especially that it’s a city with more worth. Phoenix has provided little effort with conservation of water and is just growing like cancer.
@@DesertRatExploration Ok, I can work with that. The dark underbelly of all that conservation though just means more water for California, the big stinky elephant in the room. The only solution I see for Lake Meade and Vegas would be pipelines from the North West or even the Great Lakes. Almost a federal plan of redistribution but on a national scale, not just Vegas. Phoenix also has quite a homeless problem, water woes as well, as per the videos I see here on YT. Thank you for all of your help and hard work!!!
At 11:45 I believe that's the White Canyon Bridge.
You are right! Wow I can’t believe I mixed them up. White canyon was a important by transportation.
@@DesertRatExploration Is white canyon still connected to the lake or possibly river now?
@@derrickstanley3804 No. There is a huge amount of sediment blocking the mouths of both White and Farley canyons.
Behind the sediment, both canyons have their own captive lakes, each approximately a mile long.
The lake in Farley has a fairly constant surface elevation of ~3585 which, currently, puts it over 60' above the level of Powell. It is therefore safe to assume the sediment is banked to an elevation of at least 3585. As of 4-27-23, the flat water of Powell is over six miles downstream of Farley.
The lake in White canyon is interesting in that it has been divided in two by the silt washing into it from the creek. To the west, towards the river (and sediment dam), it is getting filled in with deposits and appears a muddy red colour. To the east, the water remains fairly blue and is probably substantially deeper.
Again, the top of the sediment at the mouth of White is probably at ~3585 so any change in this area will require Powell to rise more than 60 feet this year. It will be interesting to see what happens.
Check out the state of Powell as it rises on Sentinel Playground. The resolution is pretty good down to 300m / 1000ft.
@@DaveFiggley thanks for the information!! I used to launch a flat bottom and fish White and Farley, my buddy lost what might have been a world record crappie at the boat!
@@derrickstanley3804 I don't really do fishing but I manage a world record crappie most mornings.
The recent three fold surge in the river's discharge must have been a sight to behold
I got a surprise for you.
the top of the reservoir is presently at white canyon
:edit thx for the vid, liked and subbed :D
Thank you for the info!
I was wondering about that, is it still connected?
What is "hite"?
Hite was the boat ramp, marina, ranger station when lake was there. When he says there's the ramp, that's how high water used to be. Lake is a long way off now.
Water once covered the highest bluffs visible here, overwashing the entire area with something like 350-500 trillion acre-feet of water, eroding the bluffs, creating the arches, and generally defining everything within sight. It was NOT the "seabed" of an inland sea, but it was the site of an immense "lake", one that stretched from north of Price, down to Show Low, Springerville and Pie Town, northwest to southeast, from the Humphreys (San Francisco Peaks) to the Sierra Nacimiento's, around 87,964.59 sq miles, containing 140.7 billion acre-feet of water. This was left over from the larger surge, a body that would eventually create the Grand Canyon, and the other 7 National Parks in the region, as it slowly drained away.
Not "millions of years ago" (anyone who thinks the arches are even ONE PERCENT of that scale doesn't understand the desert, or the area, much less the process they were created by), but within the period of "recorded history" (not textbooks). The Anasazi camped alongside this lake for nearly a millennium, until the water finally drained away to leave the desert as we know it. The first wide-angle view in your video reveals a landscape that can best be described as "what anywhere would look like after a half-quadrillion acre-feet of water flowed across it, at the speed of a tsunami", if, of course, other, more dramatic, events were occurring, pushing up mountains, uplifting ancient seabeds (no longer found at the bottom of a sea). How anyone can look at the American Southwest, and NOT think, "biggest flood, ever" escapes me. Lap-lines, the result of longstanding water lapping at an edge or shore, abound, at 2,500-3,500 feet elevations.
I enjoyed the spillover theory. It does explain a lot of cutting. Thank you for your comment.
I have a copy of John Powells float down that river. I thought he was crazy to float it like he did. But my eyes were from the 1970's and all they really had was wood.
And one arm!
@@DesertRatExploration I know! And, he had a chair strapped to the top of one of the boats to ride in. I've done many floats in Montana and when I read about his float I was amazed that no one died. He did a lot of the river.
Lake Powell may gain a few feet this season but it looks like they plan to transfer much of that water to Lake Mead. Lake Powell is unlikely to rise much and may even be lower this time next year than it is now. California and Arizona consume a crap ton of water from the Colorado River but they get most of if downstream from Hoover Dam so the upper basin states can look elsewhere thank you very much...
Yeah, Saint George has been trying to get their cut these past three years vigorously.
@@DesertRatExploration -- Unfortunately, St George wants the water for golf courses -- in the desert!
@@Raptorman0909 Oh no, more dumb comments.
@@Bouncer-id1rh You are a zero content troll who's YT channel was created one month ago! The fact that you found me again tells me you are part of a troll farm with tools to track people!
😮
🙂
The real runoff this year from the upper Colorado Basin is just starting. You aint seen nothing yet.
Yes if we continue to get the extremely hot summers
Any word on the gas station?
The NPS website is the best place to get any reliable information. Besides me driving out there and checking it out.
Beautiful scenery. Apparently nature "claimed back" their possessions.
Throughout thousands and millions of years, she always will.
Lake Mead can now sell more water to California
How do they "sale" more water? Calif has an allocation already. What water are they going to sale?
Californication just steals it because they thinks they entitled
you mean buy water from California.
Beautiful
Thank you!
Have you been to the airport at Hite? Actually it's just a strip.
I have but unfortunately I didn’t film it this trip.
I feel like the reason for the lake drop is they have constantly built Cities and Communities all over that area, Reno, Las Vegas and other places all over and over used the Water.
its not a natural lake. its a resevoir built to SERVE WATER to those cities and generate electricity. Of course the lake drop is because of the cities. How fucking retarded can you be to think hey this is a natural lake in the desert.
@@deviates1 The problem is.. they haven’t built any New reservoirs in California, Arizona, Nevada in the last 30 years!!! But the populations have more than doubled… California also has a homeless problem because of drugs and state-local regulations on building housing and apartments…
I’m going to sleep, wake me when you get to the good part.
None of it is good.
WW Clyde&Co
So they are lying. The water is not going up like they said. So sad
It is going up right now by about a half a foot. By the beginning of May, we should start seeing a rise of a foot or more a day.
'They' are banking water in the upstream reservoirs first before releasing down to Powell. Flaming George, Blue Mesa and Navajo reservoirs all need to be replenished before any significant quantity of water is sent down to Powell.
There is a huge snowpack to play with and once they're happy that these smaller, but important, reservoirs are at a satisfactory level they'll start sending significant quantities of water to Powell.
The Upper Basin states still 'owe' the Lower Basin shitloads of water so much of what arrives in Powell will go through the dam and head down the Grand Canyon to Lake Mead.
I'm not an expert but I reckon the 'water managers' will be happy to see Powell at 3550 at the end of this Water Year with the peak level being, maybe, 3560.
Then it's time to pray for more snow.
I keep forgetting about the smaller dams. From what I’ve seen regarding the Bureau of reclamations website, they anticipate the end of the water year to be near 3564-3606 feet above sea level respectively.
@@DesertRatExploration BuWreck's predictions are notoriously optimistic. If Powell gets anywhere near 3600 I'll eat my wife's testicles. Er, don't try that at home kids.
Once Powell has 'paid' Mead, 3560 sounds more realistic, which is an improvement on the 3520 of a few weeks ago.
The river was over-allocated in 1922. Powell taking 17 years to fill should have been the first warning sign, although the upstream reservoirs were coming online in the late sixties and swallowed plenty of water.
The last time Powell came anywhere near to being full was in July 1999 when it reached 3694.74.
The Bureau of Reclamation should put away their slide rules and get out the prayer mats.
Yeah, they are optimistic. I would assume science and math was put into their calculations but to be fair, the B.O.R has done some Hail Marys these past few years.
wtf is hite?
Upper Lake Powell.
Hite, named for Cass Hite, was originally a small settlement close to the mouth of Trachyte Canyon.
The Colorado at this point often ran slow and shallow with a substantial sand bar appearing at low water. Horses could walk / swim to the opposite bank with little trouble and this became known as 'Dandy Crossing', probably one of only three points in 200 miles that the river could be traversed with relative ease.
Fast forward to the twentieth century and Art Chaffin, an erstwhile prospector, saw the potential for a permanent, fixed crossing of the river at this point and in 1946 opened his home-built ferry which, via a rough and torturous road, connected Hanksville with Blanding. The east bank landing was a half mile downstream of White Canyon. Ruben Nielsen operated the ferry from 1949 until 1964 when the reservoir flooded the site. From memory, the ferry landings were at 3443 so would eventually end up under 257 feet of water. The Nielsens also created a thriving farm at Hite growing all sorts of exotic fruit and veg.
Fast forward to 2023 and 'Hite' is just a concrete boat ramp, four miles north, that nobody has used in decades.