Just returned from Lake Mead a few days ago.
Over the past 23 years Joyce and I have spent more than 1,000 nights camping at Lake Mead, which is the largest reservoir, by capacity, in the United States. In addition, I have done numerous solo backpacking and bicycle trips in the area.
Much of Lake Mead is within the boundaries of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, which is administered by the National Park Service. At just under 1.5 million acres, Lake Mead NRA has a plethora of outdoor recreational activities.
In recent years Lake Mead and its declining water level has frequently been in the news. Many people wonder how this winter’s record snowfall in the Western US has impacted the lake.
But first, before discussing water levels, a few other tidbits about our trip.
Weather
The lake sits at lower elevations in the Mojave Desert, and at full capacity, the lake level is 1,229 feet above sea level. Summer temperatures are similar to our home in Palm Springs.
For us the weather was mild, with most days seeing highs in the 90° to 100° F range. Overnight lows were in the 70s. As a comparison, on June 21, 2016 I was repacking the wheel bearings on our trailer and the temperature hit 123° F that day, as I shared in this post.
On this trip to Lake Mead the high temperature was 90° F on June 21, 2023.
We spent every night (actually wee hours of the morning) sitting outside and enjoying the night sky until 2 AM or 3 AM in the morning. Thus, our trip was a complete success based on our nights alone.
An Insane Reservation System
The developed campgrounds at Lake Mead NRA have now implemented a reservation system.
It sucks!
Perhaps the National Park Service needs to read my post, The Problem With Campground Reservations And How To Fix it.
We first experienced this reservation nightmare last year when we arrived at our campground without reservations, unaware of the new system. Although the campground was nearly empty, we had to go online and make a reservation, which wasn’t easy with my itty bitty 2016 iPhone SE. There were 10 campsites (out of 150) that were first-come-first-served, but these were the least desirable sites in the campground.
This year, the policy has changed. All 150 sites are reservation only, even though over 90% of the campsites were empty during our 10-day trip, to include weekends!
Of course, when you make a reservation you have to provide the government with your address, vehicle license and even your credit card number. Can we trust the Federal government with all of this personal information that is in the hands of a contractor? To add insult to injury, the government does not accept cash which I thought was the legal tender in the US.
So if you want to camp at Lake Mead NRA you need some sort of computer, internet access and a credit card. You cannot pay someone in person. Apparently you can call an 800 number, but where does one find that number if you don’t have access to the internet?
Lake Mead Water Level
At full pool, the lake sits at 1,229 feet. For decades the water level hovered around 1,150 to 1,200 feet elevation. The highest recorded level occurred in 1983 when the lake reached 1,219 feet.
The lake’s level has been declining since the year 2000 when Lake Powell, which is more than 300 miles upstream on the Colorado River, starting reducing the amount of water released into Lake Mead. Factors for this reduction were drought and an ever increasing consumption of water for residential, commercial and agricultural purposes.
Over the 20+ years, residential and commercial development, along with increases in farmland planted in water thirsty crops such as alpha and Bermuda grass has sky-rocketed. Declining water levels was predictable at Lake Mead, but ignored by government agencies that allowed too much development throughout the Colorado River Compact States.
And really, the water situation is very complicated, especially along the Colorado River. I wrote about the problems in California back in 2015 in California’s Water Nazis, recommending the book Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, by Marc Reisner, to get an understanding of our water crisis. Although the book is about 20 years old, it lays out how we got into this mess.
Historic Lake Levels
Back in 2008 and 2009 I did a couple of backpacking trip in the Lake Mead Recreation Area and wrote about them here, along with many pictures.
Both years, in late December, the water level was around 1,110 elevation.
You can see in the picture above the “bathtub ring” left behind from the declining water level.
Last summer the lake hit a record low of 1,040 feet. 60 feet lower than those to trips in 2008 and 2009.
Today the lake is at 1,055 feet and the experts expect it to rise to around 1,070 feet by February 2024. It could get even higher if effective conservation efforts are put in place. Of course conservation efforts are often aimed at individual households, not the farmers who use most of the water.
Do we really need to grow commercial Bermuda grass and alpha? How will the government get the farmers to reduce water usage? The farmers will be paid, with our tax money, not to grow crops. The price of produce will increase along with the sales taxes collected. As mentioned, it is complicated.
Oh well — time to plan our next camping trip 🙂
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