The weather improved as we drove to slightly lower elevations east of Zion. Except for the unrelenting winds!
We spent two days in Vermilion Cliffs...just two miles from Marble Canyon. I think there are probably 100 residents, combined. Marble Canyon has a Post Office though.
We were lucky in that when I rang to make reservations (the only time I made reservations ahead, deciding with a place that small and SO far from anywhere else it might be prudent)...the receptionist advised that there was only one road into the area. The road from Page AZ had washed out.
Lees Ferry...down the road from Marble Canyon...was a ferry service across the Colorado River, first established by three Mormon families around 1870. Most of their homesteads, orchards and some equipment is still there.
Despite the unforgiving wind we hiked and explored this gorgeous (think I'm overusing this word on this trip) landscape...lots of photos to share.
One photo that didn't get taken. Soaring over the Colorado we saw a California Condor!!!! But I couldn't get my camera to focus before he/she was just a speck. Vermilion Cliffs is also one of the spots that they have been released and they return here in the spring. There is also a local non-profit trying to get hunters to use non-lead bullets in this area. Apparently lead poisoning from the food that the giant birds scavenge is one of their biggest threats.
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| Colorado River just below Lees Ferry...now starting point for rafting |
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| Our room at the Lees Ferry Lodge in Vermilion Cliffs |
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