THE GRAND CANYON

The trip from Page over to the north rim of the Grand Canyon was a no-brainer when this little trip of ours was planned, but the best laid plans, you know the rest. A chunk of highway 89, south of Page, decided to leave the side of the mountain and was obviously closed to traffic for ????????????????? I have copied a picture of the scene from the Arizona DOT to show you what happened



We were left with three options at this point, one of which was a road through the Navajo Indian Reservation, 28 miles of which was gravel, condition unknown. So, when the going gets tough the Cinders get going. It was quite a ride but our Kia Sportage AWD rental car made it through this OK.

Our first stop was at the Marble Canyon where two bridges that cross the Colorado River exist today. There is quite a story here. A few miles upstream from here one finds Lees Ferry, which is not a town but a location. Way back when, a guy by the name of Lee made a ferry that crossed the river here, and this was the only place to cross this river for hundreds of miles. Naturally, as time went on and traffic increased, it was decided to build a bridge and stop depending on the antiquated ferry service. Shortly before the bridge was finished, Murphy's Law happened. The ferry died and traffic got to see lots of Arizona. Today, Lees Ferry is the starting point for all the raft trips that go through the Grand Canyon and it is hopping all summer long.
The bridges pictured below are the newer, and used one on the left and the older, walking bridge on the right. The river is far below..

We made our way across Arizona, and then headed south, reaching our first stop on the north rim, Point Imperial. Craig hasn't seen this canyon since his youth and this was Ken's first time so they were naturally in awe. This was their first look.

I'm not going to attempt to editorialize much further. We left Point Imperial and headed south towards Cape Royal, 13 miles away. We stopped at a couple of lookouts, took lots of pictures, and decided to show just a few. The boys were always willing to be the centerpiece at our stops.

Cape Royal is a very popular area and has some views that are widely shown, so much of this will not be new, but, what the heck! There is a large arch opening and folks can walk on top at the Cape so here's the first of a few at this wonderful location.

This next photo was taken, despite the haziness in the distance, to show the culprit that created this amsterpiece, the Colorado River. If you look closely in the middle of the picture, you can just see a bit of it, I have no idea how many miles away from us the river was running,

Two more pictures without any conversation. It's hard to not take pictures here. A photo paradise.

And finally, sunset over the canyon. I wish I had the technology to play Ferde Grofe's Grand Canyon Suite for you while you look at these pictures but I'm one of the few neanderthals left out here who were taking pictures with a real camera so don't expect music. My cell phone is a cell phone and I haven't a clue how to take a picture with it.

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Well, two down and one to go. The Cajuns have their trinity: celery, onions, and peppers and Utah has its own: Bryce Canyon, the Grand Canyon, and Zion. So now we head over to Zion National Park