Glen Canyon, Arizona - September 5th to 8th, 2023
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area is very large. It is mainly in Utah, covering Lake Powell and borders Canyonlands National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. A small section of the Recreation Area extends into Arizona, below the Glen Canyon Dam, along the Colorado River, up to the border of the Grand Canyon National Park, with the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument bordering on the west side. Our time was spent in the Arizona section of the Glen Canyon, along with the nearby town of Page.
We were in no hurry to leave the North Rim in the Grand Canyon on Tuesday. Our destination for the day, Lee’s Ferry in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, was less than two hours away, less than 90 miles. Keith wanted to linger longer in his Happy Place, so we ate a large breakfast. We decided it was our brunch and we skipped lunch. After cooking and cleaning up, we still had an hour of relaxation before we needed to pack up. Check out was 11 am.
The drive to Lee’s Ferry was gorgeous. It was not raining like it was when we drove to the North Rim. This time the Vermillion Cliffs were in full sunshine.
The temperature rose as we went from over 8000 feet down to 3500 feet, from the low 70’s to the high 90’s. The general rule of thumb is that the temperature changes about 5 degrees for every 1000 feet of elevation change. Luckily, that was true just for the daily high temperatures. It was still expected to drop down into the 60’s at night.
Lee’s Ferry Campground is first come/first serve. We arrived in the early afternoon. The campground was completely empty except for what looked like the campground host. We were able to snag the best site in the campground, with a large shade structure over the picnic table and a great view of the Colorado River below us. There were only two restroom buildings in the campground and the one closest to us was closed. But we didn’t mind the walk to the open one in exchange for the excellent view.
We filled our fresh water tank at the potable fill faucet on the open restroom. However, we discovered later that there is an RV dump and potable fill station just a little further down the road from the campground.
After dinner, we walked down to the river. The Paria River enters the Colorado River nearby. Before the Paria River enters the Colorado River, the Colorado is a clear blue color. The brown, silty Paria River turns the Colorado River brown. It is hard to believe that the little tiny Paria River can have that much affect on the much larger Colorado River. As we walked along the beach area, we marveled at the animal tracks that criss-crossed the sand.
Before the night was over, four other campers joined us in the campground. It was still a long way from being full. We’re not quite sure why the campground is not very busy as it is a gorgeous setting. However, Labor Day weekend is over, so maybe it’s just beyond the high season. Although, it was probably pretty hot here earlier in the year.
Our plan for Wednesday was to get up early and hike the Spencer Trail. We got up on time, but Keith didn’t feel up to a hard hike. Instead, we had a leisurely morning, then drove over to where the rafts launch. Lee’s Ferry is where the rafting trips through the Grand Canyon start. After leaving Lee’s Ferry, there is only one option, to complete the trip. There is no place to climb out of the canyon, except for perhaps Phantom Ranch. It’s five nights on the river to reach Bar 10 Ranch on a motorized raft, the next place to exit. A full trip from Lee’s Ferry to Pearce Ferry is an eight day, seven night trip on a motorized raft. If you prefer a non-motorized craft, 13 days will get you from Lee’s Ferry to Diamond Creek, a distance in-between the other two motorized trips, but it goes slower. No matter which trip you choose, it is not a short trip. One of the many river raft companies is Arizona River Runners.
After watching a couple of the rafts launch, we walked the River Trail from the nearby trailhead. The River Trail follows alongside the Colorado River for about a mile. There are interpretative signs along the way, pointing out what is left from Lee’s Ferry. The trail goes through the historic site of the cabled ferry crossing. There are also remnants of Charles H. Spencer’s multiple failed attempts at mining in the area.
The Spencer Trail branches off from the River Trail. It is 3.9 miles with an elevation gain of 1650 feet. It wasn’t the distance nor the elevation gain that made the hike difficult, it was the terrain. After seeing the trail switchbacking up the cliff face and reading a description of the trail that included the words “steep, loose scree”, we decided the trail was not for us.
As we were walking the River Trail, we saw several rafts coming down the river and landing at Lee’s Ferry. The river looks calm upstream from Lee’s Ferry. The people on the rafts were not even wearing life jackets. Keith, who is not a water person at all, said that he would be willing to do that ride.
When we returned to the trailhead, we walked over to the boat ramps. The tour rafts were gone by the time we got there, but we talked to a staff member of a different boat service. They haul people upstream and drop them off with kayaks, so they can paddle back to Lee’s Ferry. The shortest trip they offered was about five hours of paddling. There was no way Keith was going to do that.
However, she also knew the name of the tour company that runs the other boat tours, Wilderness River Adventures, affiliated with Aramark. They run half day tours through Glen Canyon, starting at the dam and ending at Lee’s Ferry. A bus returns you to Page. It’s a little backwards for us, since we’re camping at Lee’s Ferry. That meant we would drive 45 minutes to Page, ride the raft back to Lee’s Ferry, then the bus back to Page to pick up our rig, then drive 45 minutes back to Lee’s Ferry. Such is life. But they had availability for Friday, so we signed up for the mid day tour, 10:30 am and returning to Page at 3:30 pm.
Since we weren’t hiking the Spencer Trail, we decided to drive over to Page and see Horseshoe Bend overlook. Horseshoe Bend is in Glen Canyon NRA, but the parking lot at the trailhead is run by the city of Page. So it is $10 to park at the trailhead. The trail is only 1.5 miles round trip to the overlook and back along a hard-packed trail. It’s not much of a hike, but it is a spectacular view. You’ll be sharing it with a crowd of people in the middle of the day. We’ve heard the crowds are smaller early in the morning.
After stopping at the Walmart in town for a couple of items, we drove back to Lee’s Ferry. Thank goodness the 45 minute drive is very scenic. We stopped at the Marble Canyon Lodge at the entrance to Glen Canyon on our way back. We heard there were showers and laundry facilities there, which would be a convenient place to do our laundry when we leave on Saturday. It’s a good thing we checked, because there no longer is laundry or showers at Marble Canyon. The closest laundromat is in Page.
Before returning to the campground, we stopped at the Cathedral Wash trailhead to check it out. The trail is three miles round trip from the park road down to the Colorado River, following a dry wash. We just walked a little ways, as it was getting late in the day. However, it looked like it would be an interesting hike. Just make sure there is no rain in the forecast in the surrounding area, because the wash may flash flood.
Thursday we had reservations for an Antelope Canyon tour. We needed to check in at the tour office in Page at 1:30 pm. So we needed to drive back into Page. If we had planned things out a little better, we would have done the Horseshoe Bend Overlook Thursday morning instead of making a separate trip the day before. Before we left Lee’s Ferry, we drove over to the Lonely Dell Ranch Historic District along the Paria River.
The Lonely Dell Ranch was where the ferry workers lived and grew their food. The settlement was occupied for over 100 years, even after the ferry stopped running. In addition to some historic buildings, artifacts, and a cemetery, there is a fruit orchard. Although earlier settlers also had orchards, this one was planted by the last private owners back in the 1960’s. You are allowed to pick the fruit, up to five gallons per person today, for personal use only.
The trail through the ranch is about one mile round trip. The Paria Wilderness Trail continues along the river past the end of the ranch. For multi-day backpacking trips along the Paria River, you need a permit. However, no permit is required for a day hike along the river. However, be prepared to get your feet wet, as the route follows the river bed, crossing the river dozens of times through rocks, mud, sand, and water. It looks like it might be an interesting trail, but we didn’t venture past the ranch.
We headed into Page early. We didn’t want to miss our tour. From the parking lot near the tour office, we walked over to the Birdhouse to have lunch. The place not only had a lot of character, but it had wonderful fried chicken. Ann got the spicy breast and wing while Keith had the original leg and thigh. For a side, Ann ordered the broccoli salad while Keith had the house-made pickled cucumbers and carrots. It was all very tasty. It wasn’t quite as good as Hattie B’s hot chicken in Nashville (Nashville, Tennessee - June 21st, 2023), but it was the next best thing.
Since we still had time, we walked down the block to Kelly’s Sugar House. Despite being located in a boat rental and boat tour shop, it was a very cute setting. The theme was an old-fashioned soda jerk. The ice cream was nothing special, but the fun atmosphere still made it enjoyable.
Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon known world-wide for its beauty. It is on Navajo tribal land and you can only visit the canyon with one of the authorized guided tours. There are actually two different Antelope Canyons, the Upper Antelope Canyon and the Lower Antelope Canyon. They say the best time to tour the canyons is between 10 am and 1 pm, as the lighting is the best. Of course, these are the time slots that fill up the fastest.
We chose the Upper Antelope Canyon and went with the tour operator called “Antelope Canyon Tours”. We didn’t book our reservation far enough in advance to get a good time slot, so our tour started at 2 pm. For our time slot, they had about half a dozen trucks loaded with 14 people each. It was a bumpy ride out to the canyon. Each truck driver was also the tour guide for the truck load. We walked through the canyon in one direction only, then hiked back over the top. The tour guides were pretty good about keeping the groups spaced out and given everyone enough time to take pictures. The guides even gave some photography tips on how to take good pictures of the canyon.
Being a photographer, Antelope Canyon has been on Ann’s bucket list for quite some time. Although Ann loves her Canon Powershot camera for wildlife photography, it does not do well in low light situations. So it was not the right camera for Antelope Canyon. Since she didn’t bring her Canon EOS Rebel camera on our trip, we mainly used our iPhones to shoot pictures inside Antelope Canyon. They actually do a pretty good job. We experimented a little with turning the long exposure setting on and off. As long as you could hold the camera steady, the long exposure provided a better saturation of color. In fact, the pictures looked better than seeing the canyon in person, in our opinion.
Did Antelope Canyon live up to all the hype? Seeing the canyon in person didn’t seem as spectacular as all of the pictures we had seen beforehand. Part of that may have been due to not visiting during the best lighting of the day. However, it is still a spectacular canyon and definitely worth the experience.
Friday was our Wilderness River Adventures rafting tour through the Glen Canyon. Again, we drove into Page. We needed to check in before 9:30 am for our 10:30 am tour. Before loading the bus to head down to the dam, we had a little briefing. Since the dam is a Homeland Security risk site, we had to go through a security check, where they searched all our bags and wanded us down. It was similar to an airport security check.
The bus took us through a two mile tunnel in the side of the canyon down to the bottom of the dam, where we loaded into our rafts. From the bus to the dock, we had to wear hard hats due to the danger of items falling off the bridge above us, like coins and rocks. We were not allowed to take any pictures or videos until we were on the raft.
Glen Canyon Dam is impressive. It is the second highest concrete arch dam in the United States. It is what created Lake Powell, one of the largest man-made reservoirs in the U.S. After marveling at the dam, we started our trip through Glen Canyon.
The trip, from the dam to Lee’s Ferry, is about 15 miles long. The Colorado River winds through tall, steep canyon walls, but the water is pretty calm along this stretch.
The rafting trip stops about half way, at Petroglyph Beach, just at the start of Horseshoe Bend. The petroglyphs are estimated to be between 3000 and 6000 years old. In addition to the short trail to see the petroglyphs, there are a set of toilets to use.
The tour gives you time to take a quick swim in the cold river. Normally the river stays between 47 and 52 degrees, but it has been a rather warm summer. So the water temperature was closer to 58 degrees. That’s still pretty chilly. To no one’s surprise, Keith opted to stay out of the water. However, Ann took off her shoes and waded into the water a little bit. She regretted not going completely in. It would have felt good in the heat as it was in the 90’s. Getting her clothes wet would not have been a problem. They probably would have completely dried by the time we reached Lee’s Ferry.
As we were stopped at Petroglyph Beach, we spotted a big horn sheep scaling the cliffs on the other side of the river. We were able to observe him for quite a while. What a treat!
As we rounded Horseshoe Bend, we could see all the people up on the rim at the overlook. Our tour guide had us all yell “hello” up to them, but we couldn’t hear anyone reply.
There were a lot of kayaks and SUP boards on the river with us. We don’t know how many of them were just out for the day or taking a multi-day trip through Glen Canyon. There are several camping spots along the river, complete with toilets.
Our tour guide was very interesting, providing us with all kinds of information, from history, geology, wildlife, and local trails. It was definitely a worthwhile tour. Next time, Ann might try paddling in the canyon, either in a kayak or on her SUP board.
After our tour, we boarded the bus back to Page to retrieve Red Tail (our Winnebago EKKO). While we were in Page, we decided to eat dinner there before heading back to Lee’s Ferry. We tried Slackers, a casual fast food burger place. Keith had the original burger with tater tots while Ann had the Dinéh burger with a fry bread bun and sweet potato fries. The burgers were OK, but nothing special. Ann regretted getting the fry bread bun. Unlike the previous couple of times she’s had fry bread this season, this time it added a little too much grease to the hamburger. She did enjoy the sweet potato fries, though.
It was still early, so we swung by the grocery store to stock up for the next five days. We had a long travel day planned for Saturday, so getting the groceries on Friday would save us some time. By the time we returned to Lee’s Ferry, we were both exhausted. Why is that? All we had done all day was sit on our butts, in Red Tail, on a bus, on a raft, and in a restaurant. Why did that leave us so tired?
By Friday evening, Lee’s Ferry campground was a little fuller than the previous nights. The number of campers slowly increased each night we were there, from three, to a dozen, to about twenty, and about two dozen. However, there were about 50 camp sites in the campground, so even by Friday, we were only at about half capacity.
Lee’s Ferry Campground is one of the most scenic campgrounds we’ve ever stayed in. Page and Antelope Canyon are not far away. However, the number of driving trips we made into Page, although scenic, got to be a little old. Next time, we’ll probably spend more time staying within Glen Canyon near Lee’s Ferry, such as hiking the nearby trails and paddling on the river.
Check out our related video: Glen Canyon, Arizona
(Ann)