Grand Canyon Sweet

Day 25 – Bluff, UT

Today was kind of the beginning of the end.  While we still have 5 very full days with a lot of stuff we are excited about doing and seeing, but today was the day we pointed the car back east, the beginning of the long trek back home.

We began the day just like yesterday: a rough start.  I woke up at 3:30 to see that I had a huge number of e-mails and Facebook messages.  Apparently, my e-mail had been hacked again.   I spent a few hours changing passwords, deleting cookies, and arguing with a “customer service” representative at Norton about the lack of protection we were getting.  They were absolutely no help, but I think I got it figured out on my own.  From there, the fun moved to the Ford/Lincoln/Mercury dealership service center.  The amount of time it took them to finish the work would determine how much we were able to do today.  Luckily, they had the car fixed by 9:30 so we were on the road by 10.  Rough start, but that happened yesterday too, so we were optimistic for a good day.

Rough start, but all smiles by the time we got to the Grand Canyon.

Our lodging for today was in Bluff, Utah in the southeastern corner of the state, so we had all day to get there, stopping as often as we liked.  We had hoped to make stops at the Grand Canyon’s North Rim and possible do a short hike in Monument Valley.

View of the Grand Canyon from the North Rim.

We were at the Grand Canyon by a little after noon and hopped out to take a look.  We had been at the South Rim just a few months earlier and were interested in comparing the two sides.  The North Rim is harder to get to, is only open part of the year, and is generally considered to not have as good of views as the South Rim.  And it’s true that the South Rim does have absolutely spectacular, breath-taking views.  But so does the North Rim.  In fact, we couldn’t say we liked one more than the other, they are both stunning.

Angel's Window.  You can't see it in this picture, but the Colorado
is viewable through the Window.

We had only planned on spending an hour or so at the Canyon, but with the distance between viewpoints, our desire to take a few short walks out to the observation areas, and just the fact that we love it there meant we stayed for almost four hours.  We began at Bright Angel Point by the visitor center before driving over to the viewpoints on the eastern side of the park.  My personal favorite was Point Imperial, which faced east, giving views of the Canyon, the San Francisco Peaks outside Flagstaff, the Painted Desert, Navajo Mountain, and numerous side canyons.  Both at and on top of Angel’s Window, we had views of the Colorado, the only point in the North Rim where that is possible.  And at all points we had views of the rain clouds which seem to be following us.  Luckily, this only added to the view.

"Wow, more rain!"  Still an incredible view.

We left the park and made our way through northwestern Arizona on our way to Bluff.  Once you come down from the Grand Canyon, which at the North Rim is at an elevation of over 8,000 feet (1,000 feet higher than the South Rim), you enter an area called The Arizona Strip.  Here, elevations dip below 4,000 feet as you enter a vast plain with cliffs on all sides (the most famous of which are the Vermillion Cliffs, home of North and South Coyote Buttes and “the Wave”).  You can literally see for miles.  One thing that is difficult to see until you are right up next to it or when you are above the plain is the giant crack zigzagging through the middle.  This is the Colorado River as it makes its way from Lake Powell to the Grand Canyon.

the arizona strip, with the Vermillion Cliffs on the left and the Colorado river cutting through the middle.

"One law isn't enough.  we must have two!"

The river is crossed on the Navajo Bridge, an impressive steel structure over 700 feet in length.  Despite being more than 400 feet above the water, there is apparently a need for multiple signs commanding people to not jump from the bridge as well as two laws enforcing this ban.  You would think the results of such a jump would be persuasion enough to not jump, but I guess not.

Wait, I can't jump the 400+ feet down into that river?

Going through the reservation, almost to Monument Valley.

The rest of the drive flowed through this area without much excitement.  The red rocks were beautiful and became even more so as the sun started to set.  The openness and vastness of the landscape was incredible.  Most of the last part of this drive was through the Navajo reservation, and the roads were dotted with makeshift jewelry and pottery stands.  In a lot of ways, this area wasn’t too far off from what we saw in Mozambique.  I guess I really don’t have more to say about that.

The eastern Monuments at susnset, moon already high overhead.

We crossed into Utah and, with some unplanned good fortune, arrived at Monument Valley just as the sun was setting.  It was too late for the hike, but we were able to get some great views (and pictures) of a view of the monuments from the road.  We will explore it more tomorrow, but tonight was a great preview.

We arrived at our lodging, which was a very cute little cabin (with A/C, satellite TV, full bathroom – not exactly roughing it) at the Desert Rose Inn.  Gonna wake up for sunrise tomorrow and have a cup of coffee on our porch.  Then, off to Monument Valley before heading to Albuquerque for the night.