Lee's Ferry/Navajo Bridge/Horseshoe Bend

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Saturday and Sunday at Lake Powell turned out to be really great days. On Saturday, we headed to Lee's Ferry. You drive about 22 miles directly south of our campsite and then make a 180 degree turn back north and slightly west for 30+ miles and you arrive at the Navajo bridge across the Colorado river. The location is actually 10 miles south and 5 miles west of the campsite as the crow flies, but there are just no roads to get there. The road south takes you up a mountain onto a plateau for several miles and then a 6% downgrade from the plateau and onto the road that turns back and travels along the mountain you just came down.

Next you arrive at the Navajo Interpretive Center right next to the Navajo bridge. The new bridge (built in 1995) replaced the original bridge (built in 1929) which is now used as a pedestrian bridge. The first bridge replaced Lee's Ferry (more in a few minutes).  

 On to Lee's Ferry. In an effort to provide access for Mormon expansion into Arizona, the church sent a ferry operator names John D. Lee to a remote outpost at the junction of the Colorado and Paria Rivers. The rivers create a short interruption in the canyon walls by separating the geologic features of Glen and Marble Canyons. This was the only location for hundreds of miles in either direction where the canyon walls go from violently sheer to mildly slopping. This enabled wagons and livestock to make it to the river's edge. In 1873, the ferry opened for business. The ferry was loaded, dragged upstream by ropes and then pushed out into the current to carry it to the other side. As you can imagine, it was not the safest crossing known to man. Property, life and even the ferry were periodically swept downstream. When the travelers made it to the other side, they had a long, arduous haul out of the canyon. The main road out, Lee's backbone, was steep with uneven climbs and drops of over 350'. But, the ferry operated for 55 years carrying pioneers on spiritual missions, surveyors looking to erase the word "unexplored" from their maps, native Americans trying to understand a new world, and even outlaws. The last trip took place in 1928 when, carrying three passengers and a model T Ford, the ferry capsized, the passengers and crew drowned and their bodies were never recovered. 

 
 On the way to the crossing, you pass the vermilion cliffs and sites to take your breath away.

Further down the road, we found a place called cliff dwellers where people had converted fallen rocks into homes. We still don't know who they were or when the homes were built, but they look pretty recent. Perhaps they were hippies who stopped along the way to California.

Then the long ride back and an early start the next day to Horseshoe Bend. Just five miles south of our campsite is the place where the river turns back on itself and creates an incredible sight. You hike only 1.5 miles but the walk up takes some stamina because at the end is an overlook, 1,000 feet above the river and the canyons. 

The walk back was just as challenging but the hike was worth it.  We said goodbye to one of the neatest places we have been yet.