Wahweap launch ramp Hazard Buoy. Credit: National Park Service
PAGE, AZ — Those wishing to launch a houseboat at Lake Powell can’t do so at the Wahweap main launch ramp. The National Park Service has closed that ramp to houseboats, due to low water levels.
Visitors are currently able to retrieve houseboats using the boiler plate temporary extensions, the NPS said in a statement sent to KSL.
However, “today’s ramp assessment showed no more than 10 feet of water depth at the end of the longest temporary boiler plate extension,” the NPS said.
Further, the National Park Service warned about use of the boiler plate ramp extension.
“Boaters are advised that at the current rate of water loss, only 60 feet of temporary boiler plate will remain by Saturday, July 24.”
The National Weather Service predicts temperatures in the upper 90s this week in Page, Arizona. The Glen Canyon National Recreation Area projects that, at a lake elevation of 3,551 feet, the Wahweap Main Launch Ramp will “likely become unusable for all motorized watercraft,” according to the statement.
“This could result in a full closure of the ramp to motorized vessels,” the National Park Service said.
To help alleviate issues for boaters who wish to visit Lake Powell, the NPS said it will begin working on two projects. One will rehabilitate a legacy ramp in the Wahweap area, the other will temporarily extend a launch ramp in the Bullfrog area. The completion of these projects will assure at least one boat ramp in the south area of Lake Powell, and one ramp in the north area.
All boaters are asked to check the National Park Service website, and often, to determine if their preferred launch destination is operating as expected.