Although the spring runoff has not started in earnest because of cold temperatures, enough of the low elevation water from Pole Canyon and Pine Draw has joined with South Creek (photo above) to raise Loyd’s lake over five feet in the past two weeks. With 20 inches of water still in the snow at Camp Jackson on Blue Mountain, when temperatures rise it should not take long to fill Loyd’s Lake west of Monticello. With no place to impound the rest of this year’s runoff, hundreds of acre feet of water will be passed through the Loyd’s Lake Dam to run down to Montezuma Canyon, and then to the San Juan River. Eventually our excess water will help raise Lake Powell a projected 50 feet this summer.

Buckley Jensen*