We scheduled a six hour cruise tour on Lake Powell in Page, AZ that combined the cruise with the opportunity to hike to Rainbow Bridge National Monument, one of the largest natural bridges in the world.  We had to be at the dock at 7:00am, but weren’t able to  board the Little Emma for our cruise until almost 8:15 because the mechanics were working on the boat's air conditioning. Nevertheless, we had a beautiful day for cruising the lake.  Coincidentally, our boat captain is from Franklinton, Louisiana and is working on Lake Powell for eight months.

Lake Powell is a huge reservoir on the Colorado River, straddling the border between Utah and Arizona. It is the second largest man-made reservoir by maximum water capacity in the United States behind Lake Mead. Upon completion of the Glen Canyon Dam on September 13, 1963, the Colorado River began to back up and the newly flooded Glen Canyon formed Lake Powell.  it has 1960 miles of shoreline--longer than the combined CA, OR and WA coastline, and over 96 major side canyons.

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Our first stop was here where we got off the boat and walked a mile to the Rainbow Bridge National Monument.

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Once we got to Rainbow Bridge, we hiked up the mountain on the left side and were able to come back down on the other side of it.

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Here’s the view from the other side of Rainbow Bridge.

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This is the view walking back towards the boat.

We made one more stop to pick up the mail and to get some ice cream.  Because people rent huge houseboats and stay out on the lake for a week at a time, there is a convenience store with fuel tucked out in the middle of nowhere.

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Check out that road coming down to the dock.  I’m not sure whether that is how the fuel and supplies get to this store or what, but notice how the road matches the rock around it.