Lake Powell & Page, Arizona

Visited April 8-12, 2021

By Janell

Our drive from Williams, AZ to Page, AZ was quite scenic.

We had five nights in Page, Arizona at a campground right next to Lake Powell. While in Page we were able to experience two of the coolest adventures that we’ve had on this entire trip.

We thought they had a very nice campground sign

Lake Powell is a man-made reservoir on the Colorado River in Arizona and Utah. It's a major vacation spot visited by approximately two million people every year. It is the second largest man-made reservoir by maximum water capacity in the US behind Lake Mead, storing 24,3222,00 acre feet of water when full.

Lake Powell seemed massive

The first of our two adventures while staying in Page was not actually in Arizona. Page is so very close to the Utah state line, that we drove across the line into Utah for a hike. We started at the Wire Pass Trailhead and hiked into Buckskin Gulch. Buckskin Gulch is a “slot canyon”, something I’d never heard of before. This particular slot canyon is reputed to be the longest in the world, at about 15 miles. We only went about 3.5 miles in, (7 miles round trip), but it was absolutely amazing!

As seems to be the norm, we had heard how busy the trail can get, so we got there super early. We were rewarded: by the time we had walked 3.5 miles and decided to turn around we had only encountered 10 people, and 5 of them were in one family. We practically had the trail to ourselves. On the return path however, the people were streaming in. It pays to get out of bed early!!

The descent into Buckskin Gulch

Just look at how sheer these walls are!

You do not want to be down here in a rainstorm. Imagine the water coursing through here, carving out these walls. It would be something to see though!

If you're ever in this area, we highly recommend this trail for its unique beauty. The photos can only begin to describe it. To see it in person was simply amazing!

Before I launch into the other coolest adventure, let me show you Horseshoe Bend. It was just a ¾ mile trek out to this amazing viewpoint. We were looking down upon Horseshoe Bend – of the Colorado River.

This is Horseshoe Bend in the Colorado River

Not to ruin the suspense, but tomorrow we’ll be kayaking right down there!!

We heard that this looks more dangerous than it actually was. We wouldn't know.

Lake Powell was created by the flooding of Glen Canyon by the Glen Canyon Dam.

The second of our super cool adventures was to kayak the Colorado River beneath the Vermillion Cliffs. We parked our car at Lee’s Ferry at 7:45am, and we boarded a small motorboat that would take us ten miles upriver for our kayaking trip. (More on Lee’s Ferry in a bit.) We were dropped off at Petroglyph Beach, which is where you can walk a short distance to view petroglyphs that were etched on the canyon walls an estimated 3,000 to 6,000 years ago.

The tour operator made sure to tell us not to deface the canyon walls. We, of course, did not need to be told this, but apparently some folks do. There was a sign near the petroglyphs that told the story about someone named Trent who carved his name into the canyon wall near the petroglyphs. (I think we could still see remnants of it despite efforts to remove it.) Anyway, the sign went on to tell that Trent had been tracked down and slapped with a hefty fine. You saw the photos of the cliffs above the river. You’re not just going to wander out here on your own. Everyone venturing into the river in this area must complete and sign a waiver, so . . . I don’t imagine it was too terribly difficult to find Trent. Chalk that one up as another stupid criminal story.

This is known as the "Descending Sheep Panel"; we almost missed seeing the line of sheep in the lower left corner.

As you’ll see in the pictures below, we had a gorgeous sunny day for kayaking. It was cool enough however, that it felt nice to sit in the sun. The water temp was in the 40 degree range, so we were glad we didn’t need to jump in to cool off.

We were in Glen Canyon south of the Glen Canyon Dam. The water flow at this point of the river is about 3 miles per hour; a pretty gentle float. We did have to work a bit at the end of the ten miles though, as we were fighting the wind in the afternoon.

The water was quite clear, and we saw several good-sized fish that we presumed to be Brown Trout, as we've read they travel those waters.

Notice how small the kayakers seem to be compared to the cliff wall

Our lunch break on the river

The reflections were so clear!

Here's a 360-degree view (Marty spun the kayak around while I filmed) from the middle of the Colorado River, downriver of the Glen Canyon Dam.

Our kayaking route: from Petroglyphs Beach in the upper right corner, through Horsehoe Bend, and ending at Lee's Ferry Boat Dock

It looks as if these folks are preparing for a big journey -- as described in the panel below.

25 days, 250 miles, with no turning around or resupplying until take out. Can you imagine?!

The history on Lee's Ferry is that in the mid-19th century, John Doyle Lee, an American pioneer and prominent early member of the Latter Day Saint Movement in Utah, operated a ferry at this point. (Lee was later convicted as a mass murderer for his complicity in the Mountain Meadows massacre, sentenced to death and was executed in 1877, but that's a story for another day . . . just kidding, you can look it up yourself if you want.) The ferry system was the only way to cross the river for hundreds of miles until a bridge was built in 1929.

The bridge, originally named the Grand Canyon Bridge and renamed five years later as Navajo Bridge, became the main way to cross the river in those parts. A new Navajo Bridge was opened in 1995, and the original Navajo Bridge became a pedestrian bridge.

The Navajo Bridge (vehicle) as viewed from the Navajo Bridge (pedestrian)

After finishing kayaking we began the drive home and stopped to take a look at the Navajo Bridge(s). We walked out onto the foot bridge and saw a man with a tripod and camera with a massive lens pointed upriver; he seemed to be waiting for something to happen. Marty asked him if he was there to photograph the rafters; (You know, we had just seen those rafts loading up a ton of stuff, and it was a good guess that this man was perhaps paid to photograph the rafting excursion as they embarked on their journey.) The man replied that yes he was, if they took flight. Wait, “flight” -- What the heck??? Then he went on to tell us about the pair of California Condors that were on the cliff top.

Oh, raptors. Not rafters. That makes sense! We didn’t let on about our confusion. 😂

Prior to noticing the camera man, we had seen a couple of large birds underneath the new bridge, and we thought they were huge vultures. Now though, we knew they were actually California condors. The wingspan of these huge birds is 9-10 feet! Can you imagine, just add another 3 feet to Marty’s height, and that’s their wingspan!!!

The California condor became extinct in the wild in 1987, when the 27 remaining wild ones were captured. They've since been reintroduced to northern Arizona, southern Utah, the coastal mountains of central and southern California, and northern Baja California in Mexico. There are a little over 500 in the world now, and the camera man told us about 100+ are in Arizona and California.