Cathedral in the Desert is a stunning monument located in the heart of one of the most beautiful places on earth, Glen Canyon. Originally named for its natural resemblance to a cathedral, it is currently buried nearly 100 feet under the flood-waters of Lake Powell reservoir. In 1963, Glen Canyon Dam was completed causing the flooding of 186 miles of the Colorado River’s main channel. With that flooding, however, also came the loss of 125 major side canyons of Glen Canyon, including the drowning of the spectacular monument, Cathedral in the Desert. David Brower, then head of the Sierra Club, referred to this event as “America’s most regretted environmental mistake.”

Cathedral in the Desert was originally named by two modern explorers on a quest to find geologic features outstanding enough to name and include in an environmental article. In the summer of 1954, Burnett Hendrix and Harlon Beamont were on their burros, slowly making their way up Clear Creek, a small canyon just off of the incredible Escalante River Canyon. Not many had preceded them here, yet they had been told that one of the most beautiful places on earth existed at the end of this canyon. They soon found that to be true.

Sun hits the chamber in April, 2023 at water level 3,523. Later in 2023, the reservoir is projected to rise and re-drown Cathedral.

After years of the reservoir hovering around half full, in 2019 the elevation of Powell began a precipitous drop. By 2023, the reservoir had dropped to a historic low of elevation 3,520, down from 3,600 in 2019. At 180 feet below full pool, Cathedral was able to begin its return in earnest.

At water level 3,520 not only is the whole chamber revealed, a hiker hears the water before they see it. More important still, after two years of low water and monsoonal cycles in the region, 20 feet of sediment was scoured away from the floor of the chamber, further revealing a more naturalized Cathedral in the Desert. With just a few years of being out of water, we are seeing what those traveling in the area before the reservoir would have seen.

Cathedral in the Desert from left to right: May 2021, lake elevation: 3,560; October 2021, 3,545; and 1950s pre inundation.

Furthermore, as of 2023, maidenhair ferns, cottonwood, grasses, and willow have begun to return to Cathedral in the Desert.

Maidenhair fern in Cathedral, April 2023 elevation 3,520