Lake Powell is named after John Wesley Powell, the scientist/adventurer who led two hazardous rowboat trips down the the Green and Colorado rivers in 1869 and 1871. He named this stretch of the Colorado "Glen Canyon" because of its "curious ensemble of wonderful features — carved walls, royal arches, glens, alcove gulches, mounds and monuments."

The Glen Canyon Institute is dedicated to getting the government to carefully study the value of Lake Powell — and to ultimately breaching 4-decade-old Glen Canyon Dam and draining the lake it has created.

The dropping water levels, Peterson believes, haven't hurt their cause.

"It has made people start to ask questions."

For tourists still drawn to half-full Lake Powell, the lower water level hardly seems a detraction.

"It was magnificent," said one member of a group of eight visitors from Washington, D.C., who spent three days on a houseboat in mid-September. The canyon walls were higher, they agreed, yet there was still plenty of water in the lake.

And the Escalante River Canyon, a major tributary, was a treat to behold with low water, they said.

Fewer visitors?

Indeed, those who visit the changing lake are apt to find signs of both rebirth and death in the canyons.

A craggy, pre-lake tree at the end of Warm Spring Creek Canyon, north of Bullfrog Marina, clings to life in a rocky alcove not visible for about three decades. Released by the receding waters, the hardy shrub is starting to partially leaf again.

Meanwhile, downstream the tops of a half-dozen lifeless trees in Annie's Canyon are sticking up from the water — evidence of a shady grove that's now a navigation hazard, empty plastic bottles hanging from branches to alert boaters. Elsewhere in the lake, swirls of waves and turbulence signal new shallows where once-submerged cliffs and pinnacles are almost ready to surface.

Such sights are witnessed by those who explore the 200-mile-long lake by houseboat, speedboat, kayak or other watercraft . And by some counts, their numbers are dropping.

Through August, there were 1,426,528 million visitors to Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, according to spokeswoman Char Obergh — 14 percent fewer than during the same time period in 2002.

On the other hand, Joan Staveley, executive director of the Page-Lake Powell Area Chamber of Commerce, says visitation for the entire year so far is actually up 1 percent over last year for the south section of the lake.

She admits the perception among some visitors, that "we didn't think you had any water," is undoubtedly keeping some people away. But the lower the water, the more campsites there are, she said.

"You're seeing things you haven't seen," Staveley said. "In truth, more places have opened up, with more places to hike."