Deep blue water sur­round­ed by tow­er­ing red rock cliffs makes the pic­turesque Lake Pow­ell well worth a trip. Known for being the sec­ond-largest human-made reser­voir in the coun­try, this pop­u­lar sum­mer des­ti­na­tion is locat­ed in south­ern Utah and spills into north­ern Ari­zona, where it is one of the state’s most pop­u­lar lake des­ti­na­tions and places to vis­it.

The water is used for swim­ming as well as water sports, such as kayak­ing and pad­dle­board­ing. Motor­ized water sports, includ­ing Jet Ski­ing and motor boat­ing, are also allowed. (There are many equip­ment rental areas in the area.) The reser­voir is encir­cled by 2,000 miles of shore­line, although much of it is only acces­si­ble by foot or by recre­ation­al vehi­cle. This means there are quite a few hik­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties on its shores, includ­ing trav­el­er-approved areas like Davis Gulch and West Canyon.