Leaving our campsite at 7 am, 4.7 degrees C, and it is sunny. Our off-road camping worked very well. We had hot water and a furnace ... great!!
Heading back to the Park, we took the 43-mile scenic drive which follows the rim. An enjoyable winding drive thru a tall evergreen forest with occasional aspen.
First stop Pointe Imperial elev. 8803 ft. Highest point on the North Rim and windiest!! Yes, it is still windy. Again lucky there is a railing we can hang onto at the viewpoint. Quite hazy but it is still beautiful.
Again fire damage. Greenland Lake, a large sinkhole formed by water seeping thru the limestone.
Vista Escantada. We are alone! Less windy. Love looking at all the cliffs with the binoculars while Ross takes photos. No sign of any condors ...
Roosevelt Point - there is a truck alerting us to a fallen tree in the middle of the road which we could luckily contour.
Valhalla Overlook, 7993 ft. An easy walk on a flat, paved trail, take us to Angels Window (you can see the Colorado thru it) and then Cape Royale, the end of the road. It is all so beautiful...and grandiose.
1 pm. We have had lunch and head out of the park. The wind is back and it is 13 degrees.
After leaving Jacob Lake and the Kaibab National Forest, we find ourselves in complete new vistas. We drive along the Vermilion Cliffs. These cliffs are as their name says it, red. It is 21.3 degrees. What a difference 2000 feet in altitude will do!!
Now to our right light pink yellow striped cliffs. The town of Cliff Dwellers. 4086 ft elev.
Town of Vermillion Cliffs. Marble Canyon. Lees Ferry. We decide to drive up the road. You need to pay a fee of $15 to enter the Glen Canyon Park. We drive up to the Paria Riffle which enters the Colorado River. The water is green and very turbulent but beautiful. Up the next road, we come to a wharf where there are two large inflated boats getting ready for an expendition down the Colorado River. We talk with one lady who will be taking down a fiberglass 'dory' type boat mounted with oars. There are 3 of these. They will each take 4 people for 14 days at a cost of $3400 each. Very exciting...
We drove on to the Navajo Bridge which has quite a history.
It is almost 5 pm. We decide to return to the Lees Ferry Campground for the night. The wind is still very stroung but at least it is quite warm. This is a very quiet place.
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