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Castle Rock Cut, Lake Powell

By Michael Williams on April 24, 2008 7:54 AM

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The National Part Service is planning to deepen Castle Rock cut on Lake Powell in order to shorten transit times when the water level is low. Not that relevant to most people perhaps, but if you look at the lake on Google Maps at two different zoom levels you can see the effect of the water level on the lake surface topography. Neat!

At this zoom level you can see Castle Rock cut submerged. The small, scorpion-tail island to the northeast of Wahweap is Castle Rock. When the water is high, boaters can go directly east from Wahweap to the northern parts of the lake.

This zoom level shows Castle Rock cut exposed. As you can see, boaters are forced to loop through that snake-like path to the south in order to access the eastern parts of the lake, which I'm told adds 12 miles and over an hour to the commute of many lake employees.

Here's an NPS brochure that explains the plans for deepening Castle Rock cut.

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the Pirate Author Profile Page said:

This was in the news yeaterday:

The Colorado mountains are poised to unleash more runoff than they have in 11 years. Streams in Washington and Oregon are forecast to carry up to 50 percent more water than usual. Lake Powell, stretching more than 100 miles across Utah and Arizona, is expected to rise 50 feet from its current depleted state.


"Overall, the entire West looks pretty good, Colorado and the Pacific Northwest in particular," said Tom Perkins, a senior hydrologist with the National Water and Climate Center in Portland, Ore. "There's no part of the West that's really what you'd call hurting."

This winter was the region's wettest since 2004-05.

It's rare for the entire region's mountains to enjoy a wet winter at the same time, said Doug LeComte, a drought specialist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Camp Springs, Md.

...

For the first time since 2003, the lake will be high enough to let boaters pass through a formation called the Castle Rock cut, lopping 12 miles off the voyage from the southern end of the lake to the northern.


LINK

April 24, 2008 11:05 AM

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