More of NW Arizona & Southern Utah

Lake Havasu City, Lake Powell & Vermillion Cliffs
In May 2005 we made a short, one-week trip back to the Southwest desert to complete another link in the Grand Circle Tour: the north rim of the Grand Canyon and Lake Powell, including the Rainbow Natural Bridge. Usually we hit the interstate and roll along, bored by miles and miles of sand. However, this time we decided to take a different type of route. We took CA state route 78 from near the coast and drove it all the way to Blythe, CA. Guess what? Again, we were bored by miles and miles of sand! From Blythe we went into AZ and up the eastern side of the Colorado River, passing through Lake Havasu City. There we saw the London Bridge, a couple pictures of which you see below.
It's interesting to see the contrast between the bridge and the dry southwestern landscape. It's not shown in these pictures, but to the left of the bridge is an interesting little shopping area. (Oh by the way, across the street from all of this is an In-N-Out Burger where we had lunch - better than McDonald's ever thought of being.)

From Lake Havasu City we continued north, joined with I-40, went east to Flagstaff and then north to Page, AZ. We spent three nights and two full days there. The first day was fairly low key adjusting to the higher elevation: 4300 feet. We went to the Carl Hayden Visitor Center at the Glen Canyon Dam and took the tour of its innards. As you might imagine, security is quite high at a place like this; I had to empty my pockets completely and remove my belt, but still got wanded.
Above left is the dam itself seen from the south, spanning from one side of the narrow canyon to the other. On the right side is a view from the dam top looking south down-river. The bridge across the gorge is seen in the foreground.
We took the dam elevator down to the bottom, several hundred feet below the visitor's center. One interesting note is the area between the base of the dam and the generator building. Originally, it was just a graveled area, but when Lady Bird Johnson toured the dam when it was dedicated, consistent with her highway beautification theme, she remarked that they needed to plant some flowers down there. So, in went what the staff refers to as the putting green. From the top of the dam it looks like shallow green water, but from the bottom it is indeed grass.
The next day we took a boat trip up Lake Powell, which is formed by the Glen Canyon Dam, to see the Rainbow Natural Bridge. The boat trip is about fifty miles each way and each leg takes roughly three hours. Because the lake is only at 40% capacity and the tour boats can't go further, there is a 1.5 mile hike up the canyon to the bridge. Below left is the entrance to the Rainbow Natural Bridge, obviously a very narrow water way. The two of us are on the right at the overlook approaching the bridge. In the left background of that photo is Navajo Mountain. Its flood waters carved the Natural Bridge and it is considered sacred to the Navajos.
Above are two pictures taken from the visitors' area at the end of the trail. In the photo on the left, I just had to get the yucca flowers into the scene and found myself sprawled across the hot rocks trying to look up through my hat. Another gent was sitting on a near by rock and quipped with a smirk, "Well, that's certainly dedication." Later, as I was taking the second picture, I glanced over and there he was, sprawled on the same rocks taking the same picture, except his wife was taking a picture of him taking his picture.

Naturally one is always taken with the beauty of desert flowers, and this trip was no exception. We found the flowers shown below on a brief drive south of Page. In the photo on the left you can again see Navajo Mountain in the background. Not surprisingly, the mountain can be seen all over the area within a 100 miles radius. On the right is a close-up of some other desert flowers.
From Page we went back south on 89 to 89A and then back north towards Lee's Ferry. For a time, Lee's Ferry was the only safe place to cross the Colorado River for a 200 mile stretch. En route one crosses the Navajo Bridge, the original span is seen below left. Note San Diego's drinking water flowing south in the Colorado River below. As Major Powell said, the water in the Colorado is too thick to drink and too thin to plow. Below right is a shot of one of the raft boats arriving at Lee's Landing. Their trip starts in the waters at the base of the Glen Canyon Dam. (If you look carefully in the dam pictures, you can see tiny blue specks in the water just below the dam.) Here the water is fairly clear since the silt settles out while transiting Lake Powell. However, just south, a small tributary flows in, bringing more of the muddy waters.
As always when one travels across the desert, one invariably encounters interesting rock formations. A couple of unusual ones in the vicinity of Lee's Ferry are shown in the two photos above. The pictures look hot, and, yes, it was hot. The area was experiencing record-breaking temperatures for May (100+).

From Lee's Ferry we headed west on 89A, passing the Vermillion Cliffs. A panorama of the cliffs is at the top of the page. We drove up the plateau to Jacob Lake and then south to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. That adventure is on the next web page.

Go to the index of our previous Grand Circle Tour
travels in Southern Utah and Northern Arizona

Back to Dave & Dru's Home Page