Lake Powell 2026 Antelope Has a Major PROBLEM

kayaked into Analopee Canyon to see what Lake Pal looks like at this low water. And this place is changing fast. The canyon walls are more exposed. The old watermarks are way above the lake. And areas that used to be underwater are now being used by people on foot. Later, crossed the main channel to see Analopee Point public ramp from Analopee Island. And from that side, the problem is easy to see. Lake Pal is so low that the ramp is now 61 ft above usable water. Analopee Canyon is one of the most famous side canyons on Lake Pal. Most people know it from the tall canyon walls, the narrow turns, and the way the light hits the rock. But when Lake Pal drops, this place changes. The water pulls back, more canyon is exposed, and the walls start to feel even taller because the lake is sitting so much lower than it used to. You see the old water line high on the rock. That line shows where the lake used to be. But low water does not just reveal beauty. It also reveals problems. Welcome to Analopee Canyon, everybody. We're kayaking back here and I'm going to show you the changes that have been going on here at Analopee Canyon. So, stick around. It should be good one. Looks like we made it to the end. Let's park this kayak. Wow. It's been good while since I've been back here, but it's gone down lot, that's for sure. Now, we're the only ones out here right now. The kayakers haven't showed up yet, and that's treat because it's hard to get into this canyon without having someone here these days. The full pool line is where the brown meets white, and it's interesting when we're out here right now because there's only couple of bins inside of Analopee Canyon before you hit land. So, seeing it this low, it's interesting to see. remember coming back here with boat back in the day. One of the first big changes noticed with the low water is all the muscles. You can see the muscle line right there, the quaga zebra muscles. It's definitely feeling like it's turning back into canyon. Just need some flash floods to cut all of this dirt out. You can kind of already see the sedimentation right here. The different layers. This must have been after flood. All like the little bit of debris. So, that part remember back in the day. The last time really was here in boat, the water was about still over here. Lots of deter here. Deter is plant do not mess with. Yeah. No. And there's just so much of it here. Different patches everywhere. Look at that. Always that beautiful white flower there. Got little bee on it. There's where the mouth is. Got people already carving their names into the rocks. Hopefully it doesn't get too bad up in the slot area. You can see floods have already taken this layer out pretty much. It cuts all the way down to right here. That was connected to this. So the flat land above, that's where the mud was. Bunch of pebbles that came in. And then you can see the bio part right up there. Okay, we're starting to tighten up over here. But you can see there's no muscles on the wall. The muscles must have been implemented further back over there as the level rose at the time. So water line hasn't been up this far in long time. lot of people think low water means you can explore more places. Sometimes that's true, but it's not always that simple. When the lake drops, it can leave behind steep banks, mud, loose rock, and areas that were never built to be trails. These places were underwater before. Now, people can reach them, but that doesn't mean they are ready for heavy use. That is one of the biggest changes happening around Lake Pal right now. The lake is moving, but the roads, ramps, trails, and the restrooms do not move with it. And inside Analopee Canyon, found one problem that shows exactly what happens when access changes faster than the infrastructure. Nice. What is that? man. Is that what think it is? Is that bag? Come on, people. Pack your out. God, part of me wants to go and pick that up. We'll see what can do. think have Ziploc bag on the way back. I'll grab it. Okay, full pool line is still right there. And we're getting into some slottier canyon. We like to get slotty around here. Very slotty. that's pretty cave. Nah. So, this is where in flash flood it becomes problem. Then your only options are to climb up, but there's only limited amount of space you have there. If you could shimmy up that, that crevice is your safest bet. But what people don't realize in flash floods, all of the debris, the debris that's coming ahead of it. So it's not just water you could swim through. But all of this small rock debris here, that's what carves this canyon. Not just water. It's going to be the pebbles banging against the wall. that's cool. The kayak company's left the ladder or the park service. Who knows? Wow. I'm genuinely surprised of how much slot canyon is in here cuz remember years ago walking through here, but don't think this canyon was exposed. really don't remember. think the flash floods have cut it out more and more obviously, but I'm so surprised. It's just so wavy. That is so trippy. Big old boulder stuck there. Don't get stuck in between that boulder and the freaking slot canyon. All right, keep going. Hey, now we're getting to some interesting geology here. We'll see if have to take my backpack off, but it's looking doable. Left, right, right, left. Wow. Okay. Okay, it looks like we reached fork in the road. Okay, here's the game plan. This is the border between the recreation area and the Navajo Nation. We're not going to go into the Navajo Nation. We're not going to go further up Analopee Canyon. This isn't hiking video. I'm going to show you the lake. So, we'll walk back out. We'll check out the rest of Analopee Canyon, try to get it from above, and I'll show you something different. Then, we'll go out to the bay. When the shoreline moves and more people start using exposed areas, problems show up fast. If there are no nearby bathrooms, no clear rules, and no real trail system, some people treat this place like it doesn't matter. But this is still Analopee Canyon. This is still Lake Pow. And what gets left behind here doesn't just disappear. guarantee the person that took this poop didn't think was going to make content out of it. But got to clean this up, bro. To all the Lake Pal kayak companies, tell your guests to clean up their poop. Hi. Good morning. Good morning. Good. How are you? I'm good, thank you. First people seen at 8:30 in the morning. Jesus Christ. Okay, so this is the bathroom. my god. Yep. Can't do it, guys. I'm sorry. Can't do it. God, this is what happens when all those kayakers come back here, Just bathroom spot right over here. Jeez. Like, don't mean to complain. understand people got to go, but give me break, man. I've heard complaints about this problem for years since like 2023. Ever since it got popular with Analopee Canyon and the kayakers, dude, whoever's doing those companies, give them bags, dude. Give them bags and gloves. It can't be that hard and that expensive, dude. Come on. Try to educate people cuz they're not educated. They're going to take dumps wherever. But digress. Let's go. After seeing that, wanted to look at bigger low water problem from different angle. But that's already group of people. wonder if there's like 20 or 30. Where's everybody parked their stuff? So you can see it's mainly the muscles. Muscles have infested so much of this area. think originally the muscles started here at Analopee and Wawweep. So it was kind of like the epicenter. Then everything branched out from there up lake, then further down into the river below the dam. Hi. How far is it on this point? it's just around the corner. Yeah. Thank you. You're welcome. Those guys are like, "Damn, we're done paddling." So, we got to paddle all the way back. So, there's still water over here in Analopee Canyon, that's for sure. So, left the canyon and kayaked across the main channel towards Analopee Island. From the water, Lake Pal is still huge. But when you look closer, the shoreline tells different story. Okay, we're at the mouth of Analopee Canyon, 5 mph, wakeless cuz of all the kayakers, obviously, including me. So, guess I'm kind of complaining for no reason. But yeah, main channel right over there. We're going to go back towards Analopee, the launch ramp. The bathtub ring is high above the lake. The rock that used to be underwater is now dry, and some parts of the lake look completely different than they did years ago. Seeing Lake Pal in person matters. Numbers on chart don't show you the full picture. But the clearest sign of change is not inside the canyon. It was on the launch ramp. Okay, we made it pretty close to the launch ramp. More kayakers over there, but we need to try to get on Analopee Island. don't see many spots. It's all cliff. Then from there, it looks like could kind of get kayak up there and climb up the cliff. All right, made it to the other side. can't seem to find spot. Let's keep looking. Cliffs, cliffs, cliffs, cliffs. There has to be way. There's the Analopee launch ramp right there. Then all the kayaks, all the kayakers about to go to Analopee Canyon. This might be my only option. Right over there. Up, up, up. don't know. We have to park the kayak in good spot. It's just how can park the kayak? I'm going to have to drag it up on those rocks. think we could do this. Hold on. might have to turn this camera off. No. Back. Back. You ain't going to float away on me. think it should be good. I'll kind of shimmy it up. The only thing is if freaking tour boat drives by, then might be screwed. But I'll swim back with life jacket and I'll come back for the gear. don't even know if can climb up this thing. We're going to have to test it. But at least the kayak is stowed away. So, all right, I'll get to it. These muscles are sharp. All right, this is looking good. Just don't follow that. Okay. All right. baby. All right. We made it up the cliff, which makes me happy. So, let's go. There is analopee right there at the launch ramp. Wow. 60 ft until that's usable. Zoom out. Then there are kayakers. Then the rest of them down there going to where we just went. You guys saw how that was when we were in there. It's confined. So in there, it's going to be zoo in line of people. But I'm glad could show you guys the executive tour. The lake is about 178 ft below full. And at Analopee Point, the public launch ramp is now 61 ft below usable. From Analopee Island, you can see what that really means. The ramp is still there. The concrete is still there. But the lake is not high enough to use it. That is the difference between working ramp and stranded ramp. And this is bigger than one ramp. This is what low water does to whole lake. Okay. brought you guys to the 2011 water line. 3,600 and something feet. It was only 33 30 feet below full pool. So this is where the water would be in 2011. Now let's look at that ramp. There she is. The analopee ramp with all of the kayak people's cars and the kayak companies getting their stuff ready. But that is about 60oot rise before this can be used again right there. So don't know if park service can do much for this ramp because it goes straight into the drop off of the main channel. So think their plan is to do something at the marina further upstream, but I'm not too sure yet what's going on with that. There is analopee in the floating restaurant right there. You could see it's in its little channel. Let me zoom in little bit more. Got some house boats on the breakwater. Then further in, you can't really see the restaurant. Well, it's right there. So, that marina is in the deepest water and it doesn't really need to move around. It just needs to go down or up. So, it doesn't seem like lot of work, but it's probably lot. 2024, the water line was right at the start of the concrete. So, it's gone down since then. But that is the main channel going downstream. Well, you still got people recreating on this May day, even though the lake is super low. It is what it is. But yeah, it's nice day. Happy Mother's Day to the ladies out there. There's the little hill that park service built to make it easier for people to get their stuff down. But another shot of the ramp all the way up. Damn, bro. Is that really bar? All the way up here. That stuff is super dangerous, dude. Like the house boats just anchor off like that and leave it there. They drill into the rock, then they bounce, and that's still there. You jump off into the water and hit that thing, you're going to be impaled. All right, where'd park that damn thing? think it's in that crack over there. Time to climb down this bad boy. Just one step at time and we should be good. Not the worst crack I've ever done. Okay, definitely going to need that on this trip. and bats. the kayak's going. Kayak's going. No, stay here. my god, that was sketchy, actually. Okay. we're free. All right, let's hope didn't leave anything on the beach. Yeah, think the best course of action is going to wait until all these guys pass us cuz am not willing to get hit by boat today. Yeah. So, he's slowing down. The guy behind him is coming. do not mess with people in rental boats. that guy's privator. But that guy's rental right behind him. Okay. Where do we begin? we got that big ass hill to go up. Solo, baby. we got some helicopter action right there. Okay, think the game plan is I'm going to take all the stuff first, then we'll get to the kayak. Got line. Okay, let's go. came out here to kayak into Analopee Canyon and to see what Lake Pal looks like here. But this trip showed me more than just low lake. It showed me exposed canyon walls. It showed me public ramp sitting about 61 ft from usable water. And it showed me how fast this landscape can change when the reservoir drops. Lake Pal is still here, but it's not the same Lake Pal many people remember. And Analopee Canyon is one of the clearest places to see the change that's happening right now.