Adventure Calls

Hi, I'm Dick Simmons, your host for this program. You know, progress is essential to our civilization, and that's as it should be. Unfortunately, however, sometimes it erases the old things and the old places. Erases everything but the memory, and this is what this program is all about. We're going to show you sites that will never again be seen by man. Glen Canyon Dam, started in 1956, is a giant step in progress because it added to the wonders of the southwestern part of the United States, including a new lake, Lake Powell. Lake Powell's shores are mostly in Utah as they fill the gorges of the Colorado and the many tributary streams that have for eons etched their way into the desert. Our host on this trip is Fay Hamblin, a direct descendant of the famous Mormon scout Jacob Hamblin. We met Fay in Kanab to pick up his 16-ft boat and 100 horsepower motor, and then moved eastward across the high desert's ever-changing face to the Colorado's ancient bed. Arriving at the resort of Wahweap on Lake Powell, the boat is checked by a ranger because safety is a cardinal rule here. While Cliff watches the safety inspection, Bob gets the soft drinks and the ice for the fish. Wahweap now has sturdy floating docks and an excellent general store. Try to remember this scene. Wahweap also has excellent asphalt launching ramps with extended steel mats. Remember this scene, too. As we glide along the surface, they tell us that the water will rise another 75 ft before the lake will be completely full. It's still a breathtaking sight. In one of the many pools, they stop the boat and the fishing gear comes out. Bob is first to cast his lure. It hardly hits the water before there's a strike. The fish puts up a valiant battle against Bob's ultra-light rig, but to no avail. Hey, that's a nice little bass he's got there. A little farther on, and it's Cliff's turn. It's a rainbow trout. It's fishing at its best in the midst of outstanding scenery. Well, there's no doubt about it. Lake Powell is progress. But what have we lost? Well, we've lost the sight of some of the most beautiful canyons and gorges in the world. But they're not all lost because we have them all on film and we're going to show it to you in just a moment. Ready for a little trip into the past? Well, let's go back a little while. Let's pretend it's 1964 and it's our first look at the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell. First, a stop at the new dam. The mighty bridge was built first. The dam came later. The bridge cuts out a drive of 200 mi in this rugged rocky terrain. Poised 770 ft above the tumbling waters, Glen Canyon Bridge is an engineering marvel, the highest steel arch bridge in the world. Glen Canyon Dam represents more than 7 years worth of skilled planning and hard work, turning blueprints into concrete, dreams into reality. The giant turbines and generators have not begun to hum. What changes they will bring to the states of New Mexico, Eastern Colorado, Utah, and Arizona. There will be eight generating units in the final complex. Completion is still many, many months away. But in a few weeks now, the first turbines will begin to turn and the dam will truly begin its days of serving man. Now, we retrace our trail to the resort area called Wahweap. It's where you take off for the fishing adventure of your life. Aquatic biologist, fisheries experts, fishing and game department officials saw to that. As Lake Powell grew from a pond to a lake, Fish and Wildlife Service planes zoomed in over the new waters and dropped a million bass and 3 million trout. They were first-generation immigrants. Today, the children of those bass and trout are swimming about inviting your rod and reel. When Wahweap was built, the residents developed a migratory personality. Each day, the waters would rise a foot or two higher. They calculated the rise each day and moved to higher ground. Now, you don't have to have your own boat to come to Lake Powell to enjoy the fantastic attractions. fuel, oil, fishing tackle, and licenses. Boat tours, rental boats, charter services, towing, boat and motor repairs, plus food and lodging. Remember Wahweap's general store and launching ramp from earlier in the program? They're still moving and all installations remain temporary until the lake reaches a permanent level. Let's say you arrived at Powell and you you wanted to take a scenic ride. Step aboard. Your host, Fay Hamblin, greets you warmly and welcomes you to the lake. You meet Jim Eden, supervisor of Glen Canyon Recreation Area, and Earl Johnson, who runs Canyon Tours. Their boat will guide you on your tour. So, we take off and momentarily head north. On our way, we see a big floating dock being towed way up the river to be used as a dock for resorts for tourists. And this dock is now 40 miles away. This whole region is constantly changing and shifting. They even joke about it. The tourist is out on his second day of this incredible navigation, and suddenly he shouts, "Hey, wait, wait, wait, see that beautiful canyon? It wasn't here yesterday." The permanent plan for Wahweap includes boat launching ramps to accommodate the visiting public at all stages of lake elevation. There'll be a permanent marina, a swimming area, no sharks or barracuda to worry about, and the Lake Powell Motel, plus a public campground. We'll see all of these later. Now, we head for the dam, and we see its mightiness rising from the sides of the lake, 700 ft up. Then we set off to explore those wet canyons, those giant fissures in rock formations. Many of these are doomed to extinction as the waters continue to rise at the rate of a foot every day. 7 miles from Wahweap, you enter Antelope Canyon. The boat glides smoothly over the newly created surface. Sometimes in these canyons the sides are so close together that you can just barely squeeze in between them. Your boat can get wedged in there, but not if you're using reasonable caution. Actually, it it adds to the fun. It's a feeling of the dramatic. This kind of situation is unique. It occurs nowhere else in America. Probably occurs nowhere else in the world. Men who have been boating all their lives call this boaters paradise. Above and all about you rock formations appear in ever-changing variety to remind us that nature, not man, is the greatest sculptor of all. Caves, arches, tunnels, and sudden turnings keep you alert every moment. In these unexplored waters you'll have to be very careful that your camera doesn't lose its mind. Where else would you be cautioned to be on the lookout for underwater cactus? Where else would you see red sandstone walls and buttes reflected in still waters for a hundred miles? In this photographer's heaven, you simply aim your camera. You just snap as many shots as you can from any and every angle. You'll be able to count your treasures later when you see them projected on your screen. Now we enter Navajo Creek. It twists and turns so that the steep walls of rolling slick rock are seen at every turn of every bend. The camera frames a scene through a shadowy foreground tunnel. In the background the reddish, bluish, purple cliff reflects the full sun. The scale of the region is immense. The cathedrals with their arches seem more majestic and inspirational than any man has ever created. As the guide boat enters into another turning, twisting canyon, a sand slide begins. Now, watch this. When the waters of this newest miracle of nature finally reach permanent level, Lake Powell will have 1,800 mi of shoreline, longer than the distance between Los Angeles and Chicago. Now, all vacationers can come here for a Shadow Mountain adventure, where you can shoot fabulous pictures more than most people ever catch on film, as fishermen to pluck bass and trout from the waters, as adventurous nature lovers wanting to feast your eyes on this newly discovered beauty, or you might just want to spend your vacation on water skis, or some of you would like just swimming in the welcome coolness of the lake. It's all here. Complete collaboration between the primitiveness of nature and the ingenuity of man. According to recent estimates, half a million visitors will come to Lake Powell each year. They'll be cruising on the lake with speedboats, hiking up trails that lead from the inlets, camping on the rocky shores, exploring, sightseeing, admiring, and photographing. Just about 80 years ago, men would come here to prospect for gold among these rocks in the dirt of this canyon. Now, since the river is dammed and the rising waters cover every crack and crevice, we find debris, floating debris that once was landlocked in old creek beds. Here and there a tree sticks its head out of the water, its branches still stretching heavenward, but its hours are numbered. The leaves are green even now, but soon it will submit to a more terrible autumn than any it has ever experienced. Among all this majesty, there are echoes. Echoes of prehistoric Indians who crisscrossed the Colorado River, leaving petroglyphs, legends cut into the rocks for us to find. It's no surprise that a citizen contemplates markings left by primitive man, yet there it is, irrefutable evidence millenniums old. Now, it's a private museum seen only by the fish. At first it seems a little complicated to get fishing and hunting licenses because they're issued by two states instead of just one, but it's smoothly expedited. You can get them at Lake Powell service stations and Wahweap marine store. Gradually, the National Park Service has been removing restrictions on water skiing as more and more safe water becomes available for the sport. And such water skiing it is, especially against the dramatic background placed by nature millions of years ago. This is Labyrinth Canyon. It winds and winds more than any other canyon, and this one twists and turns back on itself, hence its name. No two of these canyons resemble each other even remotely. Each has a personality of its own. Its own formations, its own series of grotesque shapes and convolutions. The boat passes under a ledge of overhanging rock, and you look down and you see the ledge mirrored in the water below. The boating enthusiast must be sure not to become too enthused. We have to stay away from the shores to avoid hitting submerged rocks or driftwood when cruising at high speeds. To some, the red sandstone will seem particularly beautiful. Others will exclaim with wonder about the arch formations. Gregory Arch, Davis Arch, Broken Bow, and the Cathedral of the Desert. Then there are the narrow places where a boat can just manage to squeak through. Here again, caution with common sense is needed. It's a thrill though edging your way through the opening between the walls. As the sun hits the water, it shimmers and bounces upward in checkers of flickering light. The fishing is something out of a fairy tale. The 7 million bass and trout dumped from the skies in 1963 have grown older and bigger. Their children and children's children now swarm through Lake Powell. It's not unusual to haul in a 17 or 18-in trout or a bass weighing 2 lb. To catch your fish, you'll want to use yellow flat fish. They're the best lure for trout and bass on the lake. The limits are generous. For trout, 10 fish or 7 lb plus one fish, whichever comes first. For bass, 10 fish or 15 lb plus one fish, whichever comes first. You can also pull in 20 catfish and 25 whitefish. There are no size limits on any fish. Yes, this is the fabulous Lake Powell, America's newest playground, named in tribute to the memory of Major John Wesley Powell, famous explorer of the Colorado River canyons nearly a century ago, surveyor and map maker, the man who really probed the Grand Canyon and Zion and Bryce canyons. Well, as I said in the beginning of this show, that the sights you have just seen are now gone forever, but there are some new ones, some just as spectacular. And there's no doubt about it, Lake Powell is really something to see. So, until our next program, this is Dick Simmons saying so long. Hey.