Lake Powell's shoreline

BULLFROG — The water level at Lake Powell is up roughly 30 feet from where it was six months ago. Visitation, too, appears to be rising ever so slightly.

Which isn't something many destination resort areas can claim.

Only the regular visitor would probably know about the rising levels. As always, there are beaches and bays to visit and endless waterways to use.

Old beaches, however, are now covered and new ones are being reached. Water now goes deeper into canyons and, as is always the case, the shoreline is changing.

Over the past four years the water level, proving naysayers wrong once again, has been steadily climbing. Levels hit a low elevation of 3,556 feet, roughly 150 feet down, several years back. It is now at 3,640 or 60 feet below "full pool," which, said Steve Ward, director of public relations for Lake Powell Resorts and Marinas, "is really on the lower end of what is normal for this lake. We've been at this level many times and seen it go higher."

At its current level, the "Cut" — which offers more convenient access up-lake from Wahweap — is open and officials at the National Park Service say it should remain open for the remainder of the year.

When water levels were lower and the Cut was impassable, boaters had to follow the main channel around Antelope Point, which added an additional 12 miles or anywhere from 45 minutes to more than an hour traveling time up-lake.

The Cut was flooded with enough water to allow passage last summer.

As far as visitation goes, numbers are down from the all-time highs, but Brian Sweatland, public information officer for the NPS, said counts show figures for June of this year are up 1.5 percent. Consensus among those serving visitors at the marinas and in Page, Ariz., gateway to the lake, is that July was also strong. NPS is currently compiling those numbers.

Total count for 2008 to the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, aka Lake Powell, was close to 2 million visitors. Along with visitors from around the nation, including a strong contingent from Utah and Colorado, Sweatland also noted, "We get a lot of visitors from out of the country who have heard about Lake Powell, most notably Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, France and Switzerland.

"We had a large number of visitors from Europe last year, and it seems to be the same way this year. So far we've had a good summer. Visitations have been steady," he said.