Had a great night’s sleep yesterday! Kind of surprising given that the reviews on Tripadvisor were so poor that we had considered just cutting our losses and booking a room elsewhere.
Our first stop involves a short detour, but turns out to worth it in so many ways. Driving through the colorful Vermillion Cliffs.
We stop at the visitor center for Navajo Bridge NM and get my passport stamped for Navajo Bridge and Marble Canyon, which theoretically is still part of Glen Canyon NRA.
In ’95 a new bridge was built and the old Navajo Bridge is now open to pedestrians, providing you with great views of the Colorado River some 400feet below.
There’s a throng of people on one side of the bridge and it doesn’t take long for us to realize what they’re all looking at; three condors are perched on one of the steel arches underneath the new bridge! That might not seem worthy of all the commotion, but there are just hundreds of condors left in the wild.
You can look up a little bio for the condors we found on the Grand Canyon Condor Chart. We find out that #73 is a now 9 year old male, bred in Idaho and released in the wild in '03.
#67, a 6 year old female from Oregon is deeply in love with #54, a 7 year old male bred at the same facility in Idaho as #73. All three of these birds were bred in captivity, either by a foster parent, or using a puppet.
Poor #73 keeps trying to butt in, but the love birds have only eyes for each other.
One by one the swoop down from the ledge and graciously soar over the river before disappearing from view. At over 9 feet their wing span is incredibly wide!
The bridge immediately clears out once they’re gone.
We turn down the road for Lee’s Ferry and drive all the way to the small historic district where we walk part of the River Trail. As one of the easiest spots to cross the river it played a prominent role in the history of the Southwest. Great views across the river.
Notice how blue the water looks? It didn't always look like at; the Colorado used to be a murky brown here because of all the sediment it picked up, but the controversial Glen Canyon Dam changed everything.
Some of the cacti are in bloom, such pretty pink flowers! It’s funny because generally when we think of the desert, we imagine a barren landscape almost devoid of color, but in actuality it’s awash with color, especially around this time of year with all the spring flowers.
Tons of lizzards here. This one is pretty big! I like the blue on his chin.
Beautiful Vermillion Cliffs in the background.
Of course, I have to test the water … it is a balmy (not) 47 degrees year round. I’m tempted to get my bathing suit on for a quick dip, but there’s an angler trying to fish nearby and he probably wouldn't appreciate my splashing.
We drive down a short gravel road to the old historic Lone Dell Ranch. It’s an attractive spot to enjoy lunch under the fruit trees. Too bad we don’t have any food with us!
On a whim we decide to drive down the short, dead-end road along the river only to be greeted with yet another unforgettable view; the creamy white Paria River merging with the deep blue Colorado.
It looks just like a sandy beach, but in reality it’s think mud, almost like a type of clay. The water is too turbid to see what’s on the bottom so my poor new sandals literally get dragged through the mud.
It takes quite some time of scraping it with a stick to get it off. Really tenacious stuff!
Emerald waters where the two rivers starts to dilute each others color.
There’s a small rocky “beach” near the end of the road, with a set of mild rapids. The rapids are caused by the Paria River joining the Colorado, which narrows the rivers channel by depositing large pieces of debris in the riverbed and increases the force and speed needed to pass.
Because of the calm waters a lot of the white water rafting trips set off at Lee's Ferry and we’re lucky enough to see several groups enjoy their first stretch of white water. Definitely on my to-do-list for a future trip.
The Cameron Trading Post is like a Navajo superstore for tourists. We walk through room after room of Native American arts and crafts; jewelry, pottery, rugs, souvenirs … you name it, they sell it. What was meant to be a quick walkthrough turns out to be quite time consuming, but it’s great to browse through all the beautiful craftwork. Sandy manages to resist temptation, while I end up buying a nice piece of horsehair jewelry.
There’s a scenic view pull-off on the road to the Grand Canyon and as always we pull off the road to snap a quick picture, only to realize that we’ve been had! We have to pay a $2 entry fee to a Navajo tribal park called Little Colorado River Gorge. Oh well, you win some, you lose some … at least there were a lot of purple wild flowers.
I am so excited when we enter Grand Canyon National Park! After all these years of seeing it on TV, reading about it and hearing friends talk about it I finally get to see it myself.
My very first view of the canyon at Desert View Point.
Big smile even though it was really cold and windy at the canyon! :D
The Watchtower provides a view from a little higher up.
I love the decorations on the inside.
We visit several more viewpoints along the Desert View road, but it’s so hard to capture the immenseness and depth of the canyon on film. Add in the air pollution and the setting sun and it's nearly impossible.
We head to Bright Angel Lodge for dinner at the Arizona Room. There’s supposedly a 40 minute wait, but we only have to wait for about 10 minutes before getting called. I finally get to try a buffalo burger; it tastes a lot like beef, except it’s drier. Yum!
No internet anywhere at Maswik Lodge, kind of disappointing!
Miles for today: 297 (largest distance of any one day this trip!)
Hotel: Maswik Lodge
Restaurant: Arizona Room at Bright Angel Lodge
Hotel: Maswik Lodge
Restaurant: Arizona Room at Bright Angel Lodge
