A Dam Tour

By Andrea Luella Gohl

Glen Canyon Dam

August 31, 2015

N 36°59.73’

W 111°29.99’

Elevation: 3998 feet

We spent a couple days at Wahweap Campground in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in order to visit Glen Canyon Dam.  Before going to the dam, I knew it was huge, but I didn’t understand just how massive it is.  We had the opportunity to tour the dam- both outside and inside.  Did you know you could go inside the dam?  The concrete dam is so large, it took 3 years of continuously pouring concrete to complete the structure.  The top of the dam is 1,560 feet long.  Amazing right?!  If you have not had the chance to visit this area, I would recommend it.  The short amount of time we spent here really helped to illustrate and generate conversation about some of the water issues, particularly in the west, but also on a larger global perspective. 

 We packed our tents in tight at Wahweap Campground.  It was a beautiful site full of colorful tents.

This is the view of Glen Canyon Dam from on top of the bridge.  It is hard to invoke scale through a photo but hopefully this gives a little sense of how large the structure is.