California 2021:
Day 19 - Page, AZ


Bundlings.com: [Main] [Contact Us] [Events] [Family] [Fun] [Garden] [Misc.] [Photos] [Search] [Site Index] [Travel]

California 2021: [Day 1 - Chicago] [Day 2 - Route 66: IL] [Day 3 - Route 66: MO] [Day 4 - Route 66: OK] [Day 5 - Route 66: TX] [Day 6 - Route 66: NM] [Day 7 - Route 66: AZ] [Day 8 - Route 66: CA] [Day 9 - Route 66: CA] [Day 10 - Los Angeles] [Day 11 - Los Angeles] [Day 12 - Palm Springs] [Day 13 - Joshua Tree NP] [Day 14 - Death Valley NP] [Day 15 - Las Vegas] [Day 16 - Zion NP] [Day 17 - Grand Canyon North Rim] [Day 18 - Toroweap, Grand Canyon] [Day 19 - Page, AZ] [Day 20 - Durango, CO] [Day 21 - Great Bend, KS] [Day 22 - St. Louis, MO] [Day 23 - Heading Home]

Thursday, November 18, 2021: We slept in, loaded our stuff, and headed for Page, Arizona, eating the Pop-Tarts and other snacks we bought yesterday for breakfast.
We were leaving the Kaibab National Forest and the high plateau, ...
... and trading it for a view of the Vermilion Cliffs.
We descended to the valley floor, and almost as soon as we were at the bottom, ...
... we turned off onto a dirt road on BLM land ...
... through the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, ...
... including a sketchy, not-quite-dirt, not-quite-mud section, ...
... to the Condor Viewing Site.
This is one of the spots where California condors are released into the wild.
There are informational signs at the site explaining the breeding and recovery program, and one of the pictures ...
... shows the condor enclosure that we were looking for on the cliff. We had not been able to spot it, ...
... when this couple showed up and pulled out a 70x zoom spotting scope. He scanned the cliffs, located the pen, ...
... and took this amazing shot with his iPhone through the scope. There are nine condors on top of the pen.
Off to the left, he spotted two more and photographed them as well. That's eleven condors, and considering that there are only about 300 living in the wild today, that's a significant number.
Now that we knew what to look for, we were able to spot the pen on our own.
Debbie zoomed in with her camera and discovered later that ...
... there were two more condors in this picture, above the white stains on the rocks.
This is our picture of the enclosure, and there are still eight birds hanging out.
Tom's outstretched arms are bigger than a red-tailed hawk, but not as large as the golden eagle we saw yesterday, and nowhere near the condor's amazing 9 1/2 foot wingspan.
We drove back back to the main road, and Debbie realized that all of the little holes on the side of the road were snake holes. Yikes.
Happily back on the pavement of US-89A, ...
... driving through the Dominguez-Escalante Historic Trail, ...
... we stopped at the Dominguez y Escalante Expedition monument, a roadside stop with interpretive displays explaining the expedition by two Franciscan priests in 1776 trying to find an overland route from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Monterey, California. The route of their expedition eventually became the Old Spanish Trail, which we had been on during part of our drive on Route 66 through California.
It was a nice monument, laid out in on a circular drive, with four intersecting paths leading to the interpretive displays in the center.
As we continued along the Vermillion Cliffs, wegot a view of Hatch River Expeditions, with their name on the roof of their warehouse building.
Next stop: Navajo Bridges to see the river and California condors.
The pedestrian bridge, which is the original bridge, has a great view up the Colorado River, and it also has great views under the newer automotive bridge, which is where most of the condors can be seen.
54 is condor #354. He was hatched at World Center for Birds of Prey in June 2004. His father and mother are condors #62 and #51. We had seen him before when we were here four years earlier. All of the condor information here is from condorspotter.com.
T8 is condor #834. He was hatched at World Center for Birds of Prey in April 2016. His father and mother are condors #99 and #88. We learned about the World Center for Birds of Prey from condorspotter.com after our visit here in February, and went there in May.
X8 is condor #918. He was hatched at World Center for Birds of Prey in April 2018. His father and mother are condors #50 and #57 which makes him the younger brother of ...
... big sister J4 who is condor #541. She was hatched at World Center for Birds of Prey nine years before her brother in May 2009.
T8 flew over to mess with J4, ...
... but according to condorspotter.com, J4 is currently paired with condor #388 and she didn't appear interested in T8.
P8 is condor #741. She was hatched at Oregon Zoo in April 2014. Her father and mother are #348 and #155.
01 is condor #610. She was hatched in the wild in April 2011 Her father and mother are #193 and #241.
Such a pretty river; so many condors on the bridge.
We watched for a while, and then 01 flew off, ...
... and landed on the cliff behind the bridge.
A little while later, she was joined by 54.
19 is condor #619. He was hatched at World Center for Birds of Prey in May 2011. His father and mother are #83 and #96.
P5 is condor #735. He was hatched at the Los Angeles Zoo in April 2014. His father and mother are condors #27 and #139. We had seen him before when we were here nine months earlier.
There were two plaques near the interpretive center, one honoring the Johnson family that operated Lees Ferry from 1875 to 1895, ...
... and the other honoring Marble Canyon Lodge, which has operated nearby since 1929.
We went inside to check out the souvenirs and other items for sale, but didn't find anything we had to have.
We put our National Park pass back in the window and headed into Lees Ferry National Recreation Area.
The campground where we stayed earlier this year is to the left on the hill.
We made our way down to Paria Beach, ...
... which is a great area right by the river to have a picnic lunch.
We got out the sandwiches and chips we bought in Kanab along with a couple of cans of ice-cold Caffeine Free Diet Coke, and sat on a log to enjoy the river.
We were surprised to see a boat go through the rapid, ...
... and then several more. There were five boats in the group headed downriver.
Lunch finished, we headed to the Lonely Dell Ranch Historic District, which we had missed last time.
The ranch includes an orchard with nine different types of fruit trees. The current trees were grown from new seeds planted by the last private owners of the ranch.
Near the edge of the property, there is a sign explaining the importance of the ranch as the home of the operators of the ferry, John D. Lee and his wife Emma. After John's death, Emma remarried Franklin French and moved to Winslow, Arizona. We had seen her grave in Winslow in February.
The ferryman and his family struggled to grow crops here with primitive irrigation channels connected to the unpredicable and muddy water of the nearby Paria River.
This small cabin was originally built in 1886 for the Johnson family while a larger family house was built next door. After the larger house was built, this was used as housing for farm hands until it was converted into a schoolhouse in 1897.
A pioneer stove sat ouside the cabin looking like it could be used today.
There was a large, empty space on the grounds next to a sign marking the former location of the family house. The large family house was built in 1886 and added onto in 1897, but unfortunately burned down in a fire in 1926. The salvaged wood and stone from the remains of the house were used in the other buildings on the site.
Oooh. A root cellar. Let's go check it out.
Built half-way underground, the cellar provided some relief from the summer heat and stayed above freezing in the winter cold.
When Leo and Hazel Weaver purchased the ranch in 1936, they hoped to turn it into a thriving lodge. They built this large house to act as the main building and rented out the other buildings as cabins for the guests. They named the place Paradise Canyon Ranch, but without electricity or running water, they struggled to make a profit. There were a few other owners until 1974, when it came under the management of the National Park Service.
The Paria River runs around the property before joining up with the Colorado River.
We spent some time at the Lees Ferry boat landing, ...
... checking out the November schedule for boat trips heading down the river, ...
... and remembering Debbie's three previous trips and Tom's previous one. They all started right here.
Even though the water was very, very cold, it was hard to resist getting in.
Farewell for now, Lees Ferry. We'll be back here in June 2022 to run the river again.
We saw coyote melon plants by the side of road leaving the boat landing. There were both ripened yellow fruits and not-quite-ripe green ones.
We took a drive through the campground, and someone was parked in our campsite where we stayed nine months earlier.
The cliffs of the canyon were absolutely gorgeous, ...
... as were the rock fingers sticking up from the end of this one.
We had to make another stop at Navajo Bridge to check on the condors (but we saw none), ...
... and to take one more look at the Colorado River.
We crossed over the new bridge, heading south along US-89A until we linked up with US-89, ...
... turning left to go to Page instead of continuing to the McDonald's at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
The road climbed up the cliffs, and we stopped at the Antelope Pass Vista to get a view of the valley to the south, ...
... and Marble Canyon and the Vermillion Cliffs to the north.
Tom loves to get panorama shots of these big, sweeping views.
The road cuts right through the rock, ...
... and turns north on the top of the plateau.
We checked out the changes at Horseshoe Bend since the last time we drove by. It looks much more professional now, and hopefully the safety improvements have helped.
We arrived at the lower outskirts of Page, ...
... and kept driving to the Glen Canyon Dam Overlook. There are stairs leading down ...
... to a lovely overlook with shaded seating, ...
... and a view of ...
... the majestic Glen Canyon Dam.
We had been here at the base of the dam on a river rafting trip on Thanksgiving Day four years earlier.
Here's the view downriver toward Horseshoe Bend and Lees Ferry.
Back up the hill, we could see our hotel in the distance.
We drove up the hill into Page, and drove by Fred's Liquor Store, immortalized on a t-shirt that Debbie still has from 1980.
We passed the third location of Grand Canyon Brewing, coming soon to Page. We had seen their brewery in Williams, but we still haven't managed to stop there. Someday. Someday.
We continued our driving tour, passing the Powell Museum, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2019, ...
... and the Canyon Inn, formerly the Page Boy Motel, where we had stayed four years earlier.
We checked into the Quality Inn View of Lake Powell, where the rooms are set at an angle so all of the rooms have a view of Lake Powell.
It was a king room, ...
... with a balcony looking to the west, ...
... and a perfectly lovely, if oddly positioned, bathroom.
We took the last of our chips and salsa from El Jefe in Pahrump out to the balcony as an appetizer before having freeze-dried chicken fettuccini for dinner.
We really enjoyed the view from here.
Here's a closeup of the Glen Canyon Dam and bridge in the distance. The water in Lake Powell is very low, as you can see from the white marks on the canyon walls.
Tom was suprised and quite excited when he connected to the hotel wi-fi and saw that internet was provided by SpaceX Starlink. It's the first time we've ever seen service provided by Starlink.
We went back out later to check out the changing sky. ...
As it got darker, there was a gorgeous sunset.
You just couldn't beat this room for a great view.
We were back out after it was fully dark to watch the International Space Station go overhead. We were only able to see part of the pass due to the increased cloud cover, but it is always nice to see it fly by.

Day 20 >


California 2021: [Day 1 - Chicago] [Day 2 - Route 66: IL] [Day 3 - Route 66: MO] [Day 4 - Route 66: OK] [Day 5 - Route 66: TX] [Day 6 - Route 66: NM] [Day 7 - Route 66: AZ] [Day 8 - Route 66: CA] [Day 9 - Route 66: CA] [Day 10 - Los Angeles] [Day 11 - Los Angeles] [Day 12 - Palm Springs] [Day 13 - Joshua Tree NP] [Day 14 - Death Valley NP] [Day 15 - Las Vegas] [Day 16 - Zion NP] [Day 17 - Grand Canyon North Rim] [Day 18 - Toroweap, Grand Canyon] [Day 19 - Page, AZ] [Day 20 - Durango, CO] [Day 21 - Great Bend, KS] [Day 22 - St. Louis, MO] [Day 23 - Heading Home]

Bundlings.com: [Main] [Contact Us] [Events] [Family] [Fun] [Garden] [Misc.] [Photos] [Search] [Site Index] [Travel]

Copyright © Deborah Schilling/Thomas Bundy