Photograph of Fifty Mile Gulch in the Escalante Canyons of Utah. When the level of Lake Powell began to drop due to the drought which began in the year 2000, the sculpted sandstone bowl at the base of this small waterfall was completely filled to a depth of 30 feet with reservoir mud and sediment. This thick layer of debris was deposited one layer at a time over a period of 30 years as silt-laden flash floods poured down this canyon and emptied into the stagnant waters of the reservoir which invaded this canyon when the floodgates of Glen Canyon Dam were screwed shut in 1963. As the water level of the reservoir dropped due to the drought which began in 1999, this accumulated sediment was flushed out of the canyon by more recent flash floods, all the way down to the pre-reservoir bedrock, thus restoring the pre-reservoir conditions found here. Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Utah. Photo Date: October 2007. This horizontal photograph was captured using a 6x7 format camera. All photos in these galleries may be ordered as fine art framed prints or for stock photography usage.