Lake Mead or Lake Powell?
 

My wife and I are going to Las Vegas and Southern Utah for a week in May. We will be soending half a week in Las Vegas, and half a week in Kanab, UT. We would like to take a day trip to either Lake Mead (from Las Vegas) or Lake Powell (from Kanab), rent a boat for the day, and do some sight seeing and swimming. Which of the two lakes is better for sight seeing, swimming, boating, inexpensive boat rentals, ect.<BR><BR>Thanks for the insight.

I am from Utah and go to Lake Powell 2-3 times a summer, and have also been to Lake Mead several times. Lake Powell is definetely better for sight seeing, but is a bit more crowded than Lake Mead (but if you don't waterski that will not matter). Lake Powell is an amazing place to see and explore the canyons--I highly recommend it. I'm not sure about prices of boat rentals.

I have reserved an 18' powerboat for this coming June from the Wahweap facility on Lake Powell, Page, Arizona. They have a website: www.lakepowell.com with all the information regarding what rentals are available. Check it out!<BR>

I love Lake Mead. The water is warm and crystal clear. You can swim in it and look down and see your feet treading water beneath you. There's also the Hoover Dam tour, which I thought was very interesting. I've not been to Lake Powell -- and know that people love it -- but here's a vote for Mead.

Hands down Lake Powell is more scenic. Take the all day boat trip out to Rainbow Bridge or you can take your rented boat out there too. <BR><BR>http://www.utah.com/places/national_parks/glen_canyon.htm<BR><BR>Utahtea<BR><BR>

Lake Powell is by far the better choice.<BR>Kanab is also a beautiful town. Look into taking a gentle raft trip down the Colorado form Paige. They bus you from a shoppping center in town under the dam to get the boats. They pull out at Lee's ferry and bus you back up. Our favorite water trip by far, even better than Rainbow Bridge or the Lake Tahoe Ferry to Emerald Bay. Lake Mead is of course a lot closer to Vegas. Valley of Fire is a great trip from there.

Lake Powell has more coastline to explore than the entire west coast of the United States.<BR>

Lake Mead is nice, but Powell is so dramatic. I don't think you'll find &quot;inexpensive&quot; boat rentals. As mentioned, there is a boat ride to Rainbow Bridge ;it's actually an organized ferry-like outing and very nice.

Gina, Tour Guide &amp; tjc,<BR><BR>I hope you realize you are answering a question that is almost one year old.<BR><BR>Would be nice if Scott came back and let us know what he did!<BR><BR>Utahtea