Page, Arizona

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It may be difficult to believe that a mere half century ago, the land beneath Page, Arizona and Lake Powell was a vast and bleak desert landscape. Carved out of the rocky terrain, Page sits atop Manson Mesa and overlooks the 186-mile long lake, the dramatic Glen Canyon Dam and the surrounding canyons, arches and historical Native ruins. A mild climate year-round makes Page the perfect central hub for visiting the Grand Circle sites, as well as the neighboring Navajo Nation, home to Window Rock.

Several films have been shot in the Page area including:
Into the Wild (2007)
Hulk (2003)
Eight Legged Freaks (2002)
Evolution (2000)
Planet of the Apes (2000)
Broken Arrow (1996)
Maverick (1994)
Motorama (film) (1991)
Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time (1991)
Highway to Hell (1990)
Hands of Steel (1986), shot in 1985 by Sergio Martino
Superman III (1983)
Thunder Warrior (1983)
Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
Planet of the Apes (1968)
The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)

Page has an arid climate with hot, very dry summers and chilly winters with very little snow. Its very low rainfall is due to the rain shadow on the more southerly Arizona mountains blocking Pacific moisture, so that it receives even less rainfall than Phoenix and less than a third as much as Flagstaff.

Unlike other cities in the area, Page was founded in 1957 as a housing community for workers and their families during the construction of nearby Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River. Its 17-square-mile ( site was obtained in a land exchange with the Navajo Nation. The city is perched atop Manson Mesa at an elevation of 4,300 feet above sea level and 600 feet above Lake Powell.

After the dam was completed in the 1960s, the city grew steadily to today's population of over 7,000. Because of the new roads and bridge built for use during construction, it has become the gateway to the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Lake Powell, attracting more than 3 million visitors per year. Page is also the home of two of the largest electrical generation units in the western United States. Glen Canyon Dam has a 1,288,000 kilowatts capacity when fully online. The other power plant to the southeast is the Navajo Generating Station, a coal-fired steam plant with an output capability of 2,250,000 kilowatts.

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