Packaged Tours: A Really Great Way to See It All

Packaged Tours A Really Great Way to See It All by Allen C. Reed

Whatever your pleasure, whatever you wish to experience or see when in the wild and magnificent Arizona-Utah Canyon Country, its wonders have been carefully wrapped in neat and complete packages called tours.

For starters, no visitor to the Lake Powell area should miss a self-conducted tour through the fascinating inner workings of Glen Canyon Dam. A visit to the John Wesley Powell museum in Page is also a must. Here, friendly Chamber of Commerce officials can be most informative and helpful in getting you started off right to see everything of interest to you.

A one-day smooth-water float trip, between sheer thousand-foot tapestried canyon walls, is a splendid way to experience 15 miles of natural, unchanged Colorado River canyon.

Or, for the more adventuresome, a variety of longer river trips is available, including a never-to-be forgotten canyon-locked minimum-eight-day river expedition from Lees Ferry to Lake Mead, accented with all the thrills of the Colorado's wild and exciting white-water rapids along the way.

Or how about a romantic Lake Powell sunset cruise beneath colorful towering sandstone monuments and buttes on the riverboat replica paddlewheeler, Canyon King. These evening champagne cruises are complete with an excellent buffet dinner, dancing, and a most enjoyable patter from the wheelhouse skipper concerning points of interest along the way.

A wide variety of daytime boat tours is ready to please you, from one informative hour, to half-day, full-day, or two-day cruises to some of Lake Powell's most sensational canyon sights... including a visit to the awesome natural wonder, Rainbow Bridge.

If you are so inclined, you can see it all from the air; the lake and its magnificent formations, or nearby Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and more.

Even a close-up, bird's-eye view of the Glen Canyon area and Rainbow Bridge is readily available during summer months by helicopter.With the development of Glen Canyon Dam, Lake Powell, and the city of Page, this until-very-recently isolated canyon country has become one of the leading and fastest growing recreation wonderlands of America. An estimated 3 million visitors from all over the world in 1980 alone pretty well attests to that.

There is a lot to see by land, too, but since most visitors explore the area in their own cars, scheduled land tours have, for the time being, been discontinued.

In the next five years, the influx of wet bikes and jet skis will be phenomenal.

Steve is a scuba diver and tells of "the relaxed nature of the dive" at Powell.

Scuba Utah, a dive shop out of Salt Lake City, makes at least one trip to Powell each year, bringing about 15 divers for check-out. They take a houseboat into Warm Creek, Hall's Creek, or Gunsight Canyon and dive from it.

The Page-Lake Powell Boat Club headquarters on Powell for activities for the 315 members and their powerboats and Hobicats. About two dozen sailboats scoot across Wahweap, Padre, and Bullfrog bays where there is room enough to maneuver and where winds are more consistent.

PERA Club (Project Employees Recreation Association of the Salt River Project out of Page) holds its activities on the lake, and groups of students arrive from Arizona schools to camp on the beaches, swim, and ski over long weekends and holiday breaks from classes.

Kayaks and canoes glide silently to the end of almost-inaccessibly narrow canyons. Hikers and rockhounds and nature lovers use the lake as a departure point for other activities.

And like some well coordinated staff of directors, the 30-member flotilla of the Coast Guard Auxiliary, under the command of Tom Owens and Gene Schaefer, stands in the wings, ready to provide any support service or training program that may be needed or requested by folks on the vast stage that is Lake Powell.

Powell abounds with twists and turns, holes and hollows and "favorite places." Water temperatures range from 50 to 75 degrees and the 96 canyons are usually free of winds. The scenery is outstanding. Where else could a sportsman find better conditions?

The Larry Eversull family heard about the lake and "checked it out in 1973."

"We fell in love with the scenery, the terrain, its cleanliness and its beauty. We like the fact that there are not too many people, so we have a sense of privacy up there."

They keep their big 58-foot cruiser, Ventana, at Wahweap and manage to use it on the lake several months each year, along with their 22-foot open bow ski/ fishing boat, Ventana Scout. Ventana means "Open window; view." Probably there is no name more fitting for a craft on Lake Powell-that big stage so naturally fitted for the colorful extravaganza that is water sports.