Lee’s Ferry & The Colorado River

We didn’t even realize how much we were missing the sight and sounds of water until we got to the Colorado River at Lee’s Ferry at the end of March. Upstream from this point is Glen Canyon, the Glen Canyon Dam, and Lake Powell. Downstream is 277 river miles of the Grand Canyon. Lee’s Ferry is also where rafting trips that travel through the Grand Canyon are launched, and after watching groups leave all week, now we want to go! Our RVing adventure was supposed to check things off of our travel list, but instead, we keep adding to it.

We stayed at Lee’s Ferry Campground for a week, at $20/night for dry camping, managed as part of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. It is first come first serve and fills up every night. The campground overlooks Paria Beach, named for the Paria River.

Right across from Paria Beach, the Kaibab Formation rises and forms the top layer of the Grand Canyon. There was a sign on the beach that read “Entering Grand Canyon National Park”. The Kaibab Formation is also the bottom step of the Grand Staircase, which is a series of different color plateaus of increasing elevation from northern Arizona to southern Utah, ending at Bryce Canyon National Park.

The Vermillion Cliffs are the second step of the Grand Staircase. These cliffs were visible on the other side of Lee’s Ferry Campground.

Historically, Lee’s Ferry (Lee was the first ferry operator beginning in 1873) was the only place to cross the Colorado River for hundreds of miles. With Glen Canyon on the north and the Grand Canyon to the south, the ferry provided Mormon pioneers a way to travel and settle into Arizona from Utah. The homestead used by the ferry operators can be toured but it was closed for reconstruction while we were visiting. There is even an orchard that the NPS takes care of and in-season visitors are allowed to pick 5 gallons of fruit.

The ferry was replaced in 1929 with the construction of the Navajo Bridge a few miles away from the ferry crossing.

While we were visiting the bridge, we talked with people who were checking on a California Condor couple that were expected to lay an egg that day. A couple of decades ago there were only single-digit California Condors in the wild. Today, most are born in captivity and the Navajo Bridge and Marble Canyon is a great place to view them. These condors are the largest land bird in North America.

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There were two hikes within a couple of miles of the campground that we could do during the week after work. First, was the short but strenuous Spencer trail.

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The other hike was through Cathedral Wash, our first slot canyon. You could not completely hike along the floor of the canyon because of large puddles. But that was okay because there were many options of rock layers on the sides of the canyon walls, which made for a real problem-solving adventure. Some layers would dead end and you have to jump up or down to another layer or sometimes just go back and try another one. The hike ended with the beautiful Colorado River.

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On Saturday, we drove an hour to check out our next “scheduled” boondocking location, a beach! I had been having anxiety about towing our camper through sand and we wanted to make sure it was a feasible plan.

Along the way, we stopped to see Horseshoe Bend, along with several hundred other people. You can get to this beautiful and very busy overlook with a 3/4 mile hike right off the highway near the town of Page, AZ. 1000ft below you can see the Colorado River taking the funny path of least resistance through the sandstone of Glen Canyon.

We then headed to Lone Rock Beach on Lake Powell where the NPS allows dry camping. There were multiple “roads” down to the beach that we explored on foot so that we’d know exactly where was safe to drive. We found a route and parking areas that we were comfortable with and decided to move there the next day!