Monday 24 October 2011

Day 204: Glen Canyon Dam

Rafts below Glen Canyon dam on the Colorado River
 On our rides back and forth across Navaho country, we noticed a pretty impressive power station facility.  Between Tuba City and Kayenta is what looks like an enormous grain tower.  It has a conveyor that crosses the road on a bridge and goes all the way to the top like a giant slide.  On the other side the conveyor bumps over at least two hills, and who knows how far it goes.  From the conveyor is an electric railway that carries 80 miles to Lake Powell where the generator is.  We kind of pieced this whole story together from seeing first the railway, then the coal tower and conveyor, then the three enormous chimneys of the generator.  This system produces huge amounts of electricity and supplies Phoenix, LA and other large cities.



The dam wall
The Glen Canyon hydroelectric dam is a smaller installation, but one you can visit!  I don't have to tell you too much about it since we have photographs. I was really glad that it coincided with a good lunch spot because we were able to see beautiful Lake Powell behind the dam, tour the dam, and see the skeleton of a cool feathered dinosaur they found as they were carving it out.  Now we are back in Utah, and getting really confused with all the time changes.  Utah does winter time, but Arizona has decided not to bother, so we changed three times in the last 24 hours.

Lake Powell behind the dam - it's very odd to see a blue lake in such and arid environment.

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