An Eclectic Mind

The third of a four-part series about flying at Lake Powell.

Although Lake Powell is simply a beautiful place to overfly, it does have a few specific points of interest that you may want to check out from the air. I’ll cover them in this part of my series, beginning with the downlake points and moving uplake as far as the tour planes go on their standard tours.

To help you locate these places, I’ve included several maps, each of which has letters corresponding to their descriptions here. This first map is for the downlake points; the map you’ll find a bit farther down in this article is for the points that are farther uplake.

Horseshoe Bend

The first point isn’t even on the lake. Horseshoe Bend (A) is a horseshoe-shaped curve in the river a few miles downstream from the dam. It’s often photographed from the viewpoint at the outside “top” of the bend, which you can walk to from a parking area right off Route 89. Here’s a photo I took today from the overlook.

From the air, however, Horseshoe Bend takes on a completely different look, since you can see all of it at once. There’s an excellent photo of Horseshoe Bend from the air, taken by Mike Reyfman, in Part II of this series.

Keep in mind that this is one of the points visited by the tour planes. They’re normally flying a right hand turn around the bend at about 5500 feet, so be listening for them if you overfly.

Glen Canyon Dam

The Glen Canyon Dam (B) is the dam that keeps all the water in the lake. It’s accompanied by a bridge a few hundred feet downstream that crosses Glen Canyon. From the air, you can get good views of both.

Again, remember that the tour planes are also showing off this area. They tend to fly past between 4800 and 5500 feet, right after climbing out from the airport.

Wahweap Marina

Just past the dam, to the northwest, is the Wahweap area of the lake. It’s off the main channel and is home to the Wahweap Resort and Marina (C), currently managed by Aramark Services for the National Park Service. It includes a marina with slips and buoys, a tour boat dock, a rental boat dock, a resort hotel with two pools, and a campground. You can’t miss it.

The tour planes fly in the vicinity, usually at 5500 feet.

Navajo Canyon

Navajo Canyon (D) is an extremely long lake canyon that winds its way to the south. Outlined in white by the “bathtub ring” water line, it makes a fine subject for aerial photography early in the morning and late in the day. What sets it apart from other long side canyons on the lake is its width — it remains quite wide for miles. There’s also a huge sand dune against one canyon wall that’s a popular houseboat overnight spot.

The tour planes overfly this canyon, descending from 5000 feet (or higher) as they return to the airport.

Tower Butte

Tower Butte (E) is the iconic symbol of Lake Powell that you’ll see on various logos, etc. throughout Page. I don’t think it’s anything special, other than the fact that its top would make an excellent (but illegal) landing zone for a helicopter. It’s not even that close to the lake. But at sunset, it makes a good foreground subject for the illuminated cliffs and buttes behind it.

And if you’re flying low-level (think helicopter or ultralight) you might be able to spot some of the ancient ruins along the base of the butte — although I haven’t been able to find them lately.

This is a reporting point for the tour planes, which begin their descent for the airport right around here. Uplake beyond this point, the tour planes are on the uplake frequency (122.75).

Gunsight Butte

Gunsight (F) is a large rock formation that resembles a gun sight. It’s just uplake from Romana Mesa, which is one of the tour plane reporting points. Beyond the butte is beautiful Padre Bay, which has some interesting history and is popular with houseboats.

This photo was taken from the top of Romana Mesa on one of my 4WD outings. In it, distant Navajo mountain is lined up in the “sight” of Gunsight Butte.

Gregory Butte

Gregory Butte (G) stands out in my mind primarily because of its photogenic qualities. If you’re flying uplake early in the day and take a photo up Last Chance Canyon with Gregory Butte in the foreground…well, you get the photo you see here. It’s one of my favorite views of the lake. This shot was taken by my husband on one of our first helicopter trips to the lake together. The water level is a bit higher right now. If it rises some more, Gregory will become an island.

This is another tour plane reporting point, as they fly downriver at 5000 or 6000 feet.

Rock Creek

The mouth of Rock Creek (H) is also an extremely photogenic viewpoint. Whether you’re looking up Rock Creek’s three separate canyons or up Lake Powell itself, the view from the air at this point is magnificent. I usually see it from around 4800 feet, which is admittedly low — remember, I’m doing photo flights — but it’s also good from above.

This is one of the turnaround points for tours, so expect a lot of tour plane traffic here. Listen in on 122.75. Traffic coming downlake will be at 5000 or 6000 feet. Traffic turning downlake here will be descending in a right hand turn from 5500 to 5000 feet.

Dangling Rope Marina

Out in the middle of nowhere, on the north side of the lake, tucked into a canyon, you’ll find Dangling Rope Marina (I). This is an important fuel and supply stop for boaters on the lake. What’s odd about it, however, is that it’s only accessible by water. There’s no road in or out of this place. Supplies are brought in on barges and garbage is taken out on the same barges.

Rainbow Bridge

Everyone wants to see Rainbow Bridge (J) from the air. Everyone, that is, except those who know better.

The truth of the matter is, Rainbow Bridge is much better seen from the ground. The trouble is, it’s tucked into a relatively deep canyon that aircraft simply cannot get into safely. From a moving aircraft, you just get a glimpse of the bridge. And if you go too early or too late in the day, the whole thing is in shadow. Not the best experience.

If you’re serious about seeing Rainbow Bridge, get on a boat and take the 2-hour ride from Page to see it from the ground. You won’t regret it.

The Tour Points

Those are the basic downlake points of interest from the air. There are others, but I’ll let you discover them for yourself. As you’ll see when you overfly the lake, the entire lake is magnificent from the air. If it’s your first time visiting, you’ll be too awed to bother tracking down specific places to see. Just take it all in and enjoy.

In the final part of this series, I’ll tell you about some of the interesting points beyond Rainbow Bridge. If you’re flying in the area and aren’t on a schedule, you might want to check them out as well.

The second of a four-part series about flying at Lake Powell.

Lake Powell is a beautiful place and I can argue that it’s best seen from the air. So it should come as no surprise that a number of tour operators provide tours of the lake during daylight hours all year around.

To me, this is a major concern. After all, most of the time I’m flying at the lake, I’m taking photographers around. They’re telling me where to fly and directing my altitude and speed. I’m looking at what they’re shooting and listening to their instructions while I’m looking for other traffic and listening to position calls. At times, things get pretty intense — like the time I was flying orbits around Horseshoe Bend when a line of 9 tour planes flew past “The Shoe” 2,500 feet below me. Sure, there was plenty of separation, but only because I heard them coming and stayed clear. The photo you see here was taken during that flight by photographer Mike Reyfman as the planes flew by, one at a time, below us.

In this part of my Lake Powell article series, I’m going to provide you with a little bit of information about the tour planes — so you know where to expect them and how to keep in touch.

The Tour Operators

There are several tour operators at Lake Powell and most of them are based at Page. The two biggest are American Aviation and Westwind.

American flies small Cessna planes on 30- and 40-minute tours around the lake. They’re a part 91 operator, so they’re limited to tours within 25 statute miles of Page Airport. They have nine or ten planes and do a lot of business with bus tour operators. A bus rolls in based on a prescheduled time, the passengers are checked in, and the pilots take their passengers outside, load them on board, start up, and take off. They follow each other on the tours — in fact, they’re the tour planes I avoided at Horseshoe Bend that day. Their call sign is Lake Powell.

Westwind is a Phoenix-based operator with a location at Page. They also fly Cessnas, although I think they have a few larger planes, like Caravans. (Sorry, but I’m not an airplane person.) They’re a Part 135 operator, so they’re not limited to 25 miles and they can take people to places like Monument Valley. Their call sign is Explorer.

The Tours

The best way to tell you about the tours is to show you the routes on a map. But before I do, I need to make it clear that these routes are not carved in stone as they are at the Grand Canyon. The routes I’ve drawn in here are approximate. Tour planes can be anywhere around here, though. It’s up to the pilots to keep a sharp eye out and listen in on the radio to avoid collisions.

That said, here’s the map:

The tours are normally done clockwise, starting on west side before going east and then returning to the west. The solid line represents the tours done by American; the dashed line is the additional route past Rainbow Bridge that’s done by Westwind. Rainbow bridge is about 30 air miles from Page.

American flies at 5500 feet uplake and 5000 feet downlake. Westwind flies 5500 uplake and 6000 feet downlake. Again, that’s not carved in stone. The pilots vary altitude based on conditions; they’ll fly higher or lower if it’s turbulent, for example. The general rule is altitudes ending in 500 (for example, 5500, 6500) uplake and altitudes ending in 000 (for example, 5000, 6000) downlake.

So if you’re between 5000 and 6000 feet in the tour area, you should be keeping a sharp eye out for tour planes.

The Frequencies

There are three frequencies in use at Lake Powell:

• Page AWOS is 120.625. This automated system provides wind, temperature, dew point, altimeter, and density altitude. It’s important to tune in and get the altimeter setting, since the tour pilots will report altitudes as they fly.
• Page Unicom is 122.8. All pilots have this tuned in in the Page area.
• Uplake Unicom is 122.75. The tour pilots switch to this frequency uplake at Romana Mesa and switch from this frequency downlake at Submarine. (More on reporting points in a moment.)

If you’re tooling around the area about 10 miles from the airport uplake and you have two radios you can monitor, I highly recommend monitoring both the Page and Uplake frequencies. Otherwise, switch where the tour pilots do.

If you continue uplake past Navajo Mountain (you can’t miss it) to Monument Valley, keep in mind that the local frequency there is 122.9.

Reporting Points

The tour pilots have regular reporting points, as well as a few irregular ones. It’s a good idea to know where these are. Get your hands on a Lake Powell Map; many of them are right on the map. Others aren’t.

The main reporting points are:

On 122.8:

• The Dam - Glen Canyon Dam
• The Shoe - Horseshoe Bend
• Wahweap - Wahweap Marina
• Castle Rock
• Romana Mesa - switching point

On 122.75:

• Cookie Jar
• Rock Creek
• Balanced Rock
• Dangling Rope
• The Bridge - Rainbow Bridge
• Dangling Rope (Westwind may report after Rainbow Bridge)
• Mouth of Rock Creek
• Gregory Butte
• Submarine (switching point)

On 122.8:

• Tower Butte
• Navajo Canyon

But Wait, There’s More!

There are also some tour companies that go to Monument Valley. Those planes generally fly higher and fly uplake past Navajo Mountain before turning toward Monument Valley. They come back the same way. Other planes go to Monument Valley directly from the Grand Canyon, so they’ll be far south of the lake. You don’t really have to worry about them unless you fly up that far. Most folks don’t, but as Ill explain in part VI of this series, there’s some really incredible scenery beyond where the tour planes go.

Next Up

In the next part of this series, I’ll tell you about some of the sights you might want to tour in the area and give you some tips for visiting them.

In the meantime, if you have any comments about your experiences at Page airport or with the tour operators there, don’t hesitate to share them. Use the Comments link or form below.

The first of a four-part series about flying at Lake Powell.

I’ve been at Page, AZ on the dam end of Lake Powell for about a month now. Although I already knew quite a bit about flying at the lake from numerous photo jobs here, I’ve picked up quite a bit in the past month, mostly from my pilot neighbors at the campground. Since I have enough material to blog about it, I figured I’d write about it, mostly to get my mind off politics and the tech book I’m working on.

Anyway, this will be a four-part series and this is the first part. I have notes for the other three parts, so I’m sure I’ll get them done — probably within the next week or so.

About Page and Lake Powell

Page is the town built in the late 1950s to house the workers on the Glen Canyon Dam, which was under construction at the time. It sits atop a mesa to the east of the Colorado River. The current population of the town is about 7,000, but it attracts approximately 3 million visitors a year.

The dam was completed in 1963 and water began collecting behind it in what would become Lake Powell. It took 17 years for the lake to reach its high water mark at 3,700 feet elevation. Since then, the water level has fluctuated considerably over the years. As I type this, the water level is at 3,629 feet, a full 71 feet below full pool. Around the water line is a tall white line: the so-called “bathtub ring” that marks the high water line.

Lake Powell is outrageously beautiful. Its clear, blue water reflects the clear Arizona/Utah sky. Its red rock canyons, buttes, and other formations change throughout the day with the light. Deep, narrow canyons cut into the desert, making mysterious pathways for boaters to explore. When the wind and water is calm, the buttes and canyon walls cast their reflections down on the water. In the rare instances when weather moves in, low clouds add yet another dimension to the scenery.

I love the lake.

Flying at Lake Powell

The best way to see Lake Powell is from the air.

Sure, it’s wonderful by boat — especially by houseboat over 5 to 7 days with a bunch of good friends or family members — but views are limited from the ground and distances take a long time to cover. Let’s face it: the lake’s surface area is 266 square miles (at full pool) and it stretches 186 miles up the Colorado and San Juan Rivers. You could explore the lake by boat for a year and not get a chance to visit each of its 90 water-filled side canyons.

So if you have a plane (or helicopter) or feel like splurging on an airplane tour, you’ll get a special look at the lake that few people see. I highly recommend it.

[Air]Ports of Entry

There are technically four airports along Lake Powell. You can see them all on this pieced-together sectional. (The lake straddles the Las Vegas and Denver charts.)

• Page Municipal (PGA) is the main airport. It’s on east side of the mesa where the City of Page sits, and has two runways. Runway 15/33 is the more commonly used runway; it’s longer. But for strong crosswinds, there’s also 7/25, which does not have a parallel taxiway. There are two FBOs competing for the fuel business (AVFuel and BP). There are tie-downs and a mechanic on the field.
• Bullfrog Basin (U07) is at the Bullfrog Crossing marina. I haven’t landed there (yet), but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t have any facilities. It does, however, have transportation to the marina, where you might be able to get lunch.
• Cal Black Memorial (U96) is 10 miles from Halls Crossing. It’s a nice airport with a good, lighted runway and 24-hour fuel pumped by Maury, who lives there. (Maury’s getting over some surgery as I write this, but I hope he’ll be there if you stop in an visit. Tell him Maria with the red helicopter says hello.) There’s a shuttle to Halls Crossing, where there’s a lodge and boat rentals, during regular business hours.
• Hite (UT03) is near Hite Landing. This is a very scary runway — narrow and perhaps slightly crooked — and it’s marked “hazardous” on charts. The last time I drove through the area in 2005, the Hite marina was high and dry and the area was deserted. It might be a bit more active now that the water level is up a bit.

Most people fly into Page, since it’s the only airport near a town. If you come in from the northwest and land on Runway 15, as we are in this photo — well, we’re actually lined up for landing on the taxiway — you’ll make your descent right over the lake, west of Antelope Marina. (The town is all that green stuff to the right.) Taking off on Runway 33 has you shooting out over the edge of the mesa and lake. Pretty dramatic stuff. I have a lot of fun with it since I don’t really “climb out” after takeoff. The airport is at 4316 feet and the lake is currently at 3629 feet, so there’s no reason to gain altitude if I’m just cruising the lake.

Cal Black has the distinction of being the closest fuel to Monument Valley — about 25 miles away, I think. I made quite a few fuel stops there on a 3-day photo job at Monument Valley and even flew in before sunrise one morning. (Scary stuff; there’s nothing else out there.) I don’t know enough about Bullfrog to provide any tips, but I’d recommend staying clear of Hite.

If you’re a helicopter pilot and think you can set down anywhere near the lake or on one of its islands or buttes, think again. Lake Powell is in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and off-airport landing is prohibited. If you’re caught doing it, you will get in serious trouble with the National Park Service and the FAA. I don’t think it’s worth it, do you?

Coming Up

In the next three parts of the series, I’ll cover the air tour operations, which all pilots flying in the area should be aware of. Then I’ll tell you about some points of interest on the lake. Finally, I’ll tell you what to expect if you fly uplake, beyond the Confluence of the San Juan.

Meanwhile, your comments are welcome here. I’m especially interested in hearing from pilots who have landed at one of the four airports along the lake. Save your tips about points of interest for Part III or IV.

Here’s a teaser for a three-part series of blogs post I’m working on right now. And really — the best time for me to do talking head videos is definitely right after some moderate drinking.

Another video blog entry.

I brought my laptops to the airport today. The air conditioning there works a lot better than the air conditioning in my trailer. There’s a big empty space with desks on the second floor of the terminal building and that’s where I set up to work. I got a lot written today on the book I’ve been working on this month, but when 5 PM rolled around, I was burned out.

I made this video from the adjacent room, which we call the “tower” room. It’s just a second floor room in the corner of the building with windows on both walls. Excellent views of what’s going on at the airport. There’s a UNICOM radio there, too, so you can hear the pilots giving their position calls as they do their tours, as well as the occasional non-local pilot flying in. The room is right next door to where I work, so I can hear the radio while I’m writing. It’s a bit distracting, but with my backache, it’s good to get up and walk around every once in a while anyway.

This video shows the pilots at American Aviation loading up their passengers and taking off on a tour of Lake Powell. I narrate it so it’s not too boring. Near the end, I show off some more of the ramp while planes launch into the blue sky. I hope you enjoy it.