The nearby town of Dutch John, Utah, was built to serve as a base camp during construction of the dam, and as an administrative site afterwards.

[citation needed] The foundation of the reservoir is a steep-sided narrow canyon composed of siliceous sandstone and hard quartzites inter-bedded with softer shales, siltstones, and argillites.

About 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of the dam, a road cut has revealed a fault scarp on the southbound side with about 9 feet (3 m) of slippage.

Campgrounds operated by the U.S. Forest Service close in the winter months, with the exception of Dripping Springs near Dutch John.

The river's ice cold water and beautiful structure make it a world class, world-renowned fly fishing stream.