Bitter Betty - Glen Canyon National Recreation Area - 5/25/10

This one is the least enjoyable to write......Too....Much....Bitterness....

Glen Canyon Recreation Area is an interesting and striking area of the country to visit. Stretching over 1.2 million square acres through Arizona and Utah, the deep canyon walls and inviting marinas are a haven for watersports enthusiasts. IF the water levels are deep enough, which lately has not been the case. Water is at a premium and no where is it more evident than this oasis in the desert.

 We arrived in Glen Canyon via the small town of Big Water, UT. The surprise at this visitor center was the wealth of information and stamps for other NPS sites (Grand Staircase-Escalante, Vermilion Cliffs etc). We filled the book with no less than 6 stamps at this one location. After our drive from Pipe Spring the same day, and weaving our way through the outskirts of the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, we were in a upbeat mood.

Then....we arrived in the nightmare of Page, AZ. A community of 5,000 hearty yearlings and retired snowbirds, Page is in the middle of nowhere, and has nothing to show for its name on the map but the lake visible from just about everywhere. Our hotel cost a mini-fortune and was equipped with a distinct smell of old people, the decor of Sanford and Son's garage and an air conditioner from the 1970's that struggled with even blowing air into the room while it eclipsed 100 degrees outside. But all of this, was mere child's play compared to the biggest disappointment of all.

Might I draw your attention to the photo above and to the distinct white lines laying across the rocks at every turn. The water, as previously mentioned was at an 15-year low, and boats were mooring further out than the Marina. What does this mean to the Cale's??

Any hopes of visiting Rainbow Bridge were stolen.....The largest natural bridge in the world never fails to elicit the highest praise and superlatives from anyone who is fortunate enough to visit. We wouldn't know......all boat tours were canceled due to the lack of water allowing the boats to anchor within a 20 mile hike of the bridge itself. The wind was the equivalent of an F2 tornado the day we visited, so a helicopter ride was out of the question as well. We were sunk and heartbroken.

A dinner cruise!!! That will take some of the disappointment away. The brochures laid out before us at our "hotel" highlighted the cruise around the Wahweap Marina portion of the lake. We are definitely in....

Or not.......you see, the cruise had left 15 minutes before we picked up the phone. The 6:00 start time apparently changed to 5:30 without notice. Denny's it was.....But first, the 5 minute drive through the entire town of Page and the Glen Canyon Dam

We visited the Glen Canyon Dam Visitor Center and much to our horror.......had to hold the Rainbow Bridge passport stamp in our hands and then place in back in its holder. And to make matters worse??? Someone thought that brown ink was close enough to green for the Western Region Stamp. A trivial matter to any other traveler in the center that day (and there were hundreds....Page was hoppin'), but it was the capper to our short visit. Page will be visited again, the very second the water levels rise to get to Rainbow Bridge, but not a second before.

And next time....we're bringing our own green stamp-pad.

FINAL RATING

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area - Whatever......