In a letter published Thursday, the National Park Service that due to declining water levels in Lake Powell and extensive damage from a 2021 microburst storm, the lake’s Dangling Rope Marina – shut down in 2022 – will not reopen.

“The water depth in the Dangling Rope cove can no longer support a marina . . . access is cut off and emerging rock features are a safety hazard,” Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Superintendent Michelle Kerns wrote in the letter. Kerns added that the NPS arrived at an unavoidable decision that “the Dangling Rope location is unsustainable.”

The NPS added that weather-related damage to the electrical system compounded the issues arising from lower lake levels.

The letter explained that a planned electrical upgrade, which got underway in 2017, was plagued by a sewage lift station that separated from the dock and sank and by delays brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Then came the May 2021 microburst, which cut utility lines and broke apart dock sections. That July engineers concluded the dock was too badly damaged. The upgrade was suspended July 15, 2021, with the drought-related decrease in water elevations being the final straw: “The design did not anticipate the water elevations being below 3547 ft. ASL.”

Dangling Rope Marina, which started operating in 1984, was the only place boaters could find fuel between the Wahweap/Antelope Point Marinas and the Bullfrog/Hall Crossing Marinas. It is located in a remote area mid-lake, which can only be reached by water or air.

The NPS said in the letter that they are planning a mid-lake fuel service station, which received Congressional funding authorization in the Fiscal Year 2024 budget in a Disaster Supplemental. Design concepts for such a station are being developed by the marine engineering firm Stantec.

“The decisions we have had to make about Dangling Rope have been difficult and painful. It is hard for all of us to accept the loss of experiences we cherished,” Kerns wrote. At the same time, we are pleased to have received the funding support . . . this gives us both hope and tangible options for new sustainable experiences mid-lake such as the fueling station concept and improved access to Rainbow Bridge.”