After work it is time to drive for about five hours to Page. There are no surprises on the road this time and we make good time reacking Page around 10PM. Our AirBnB is an easy find and quite a nice house and after exploring it it is time to go to sleep as we have a long hike planned on Friday.
After breakfast it is time to drive to the Lee’s Ferry part of the Glen Canyon NRA. It is about an hour drive from Page but it is a beautiful drive passing the Colorado River before it creates the Grand Canyon.
We park at the Lonely Dell Ranch historic district and have our first glimpse of the Paria River that we will cross repeatedly during the hike. We take our backpacks and on we go, we are quite excited about the hike.
The Lonely Dell orchard is still well maintained and you can come and pick fruits in season, we are way past it as no fruits can be found.
However the historic district itself is interesting with some old cabins and icebox and good interpretative signs describing the history of the place.
In this area we are farther away from the river and therefore our trail/road passes some really stark terrain. But even here we see lots of antelope-squirrels, they are quite cute really.
One of the most photogenic spots in this early part of the hike is the abandoned truck. It really contrasts the surrounding red rocks and we take quite a few photos before moving on.
After the ranch the trail is more interesting for a while as it hugs the cliffside high over the river passing the old water pump before passing into the wilder zone of the area.
The trail afterwards is again continuing on the river plain passing a ruined cabin and a corral. The cabin especially is quite scenic even though we wouldn’t want to stay there.
Afterwards the trail starts hugging again the cliffside with some great views of the river and the fall colors before descending near another ruined cabin on the other side of the stretch.
And then we reach the first forced water crossing. We though we can evade crossing the water but it is not possible, the cliff is passable on the left and the river boxes us in on the right so it is time to change to water shoes and brave the cold river for the first time.
And this is how it goes from now on, a short stretch on dry land and then we have to cross the river again as it meanders from left cliffside to right cliffside and then back.
Where there is water in the desert there is life. We see quite a few birds as we follow the river besides the cottonwoods and willows with their beautiful fall colors.
We lose count of the water crossings as we make our way upriver, this is especially true as we make multiple crossings sometimes to carry our belongings safely. The views are exceptional though and make up for the cold water, the contrast between the yellow fall colors and the red rocks is quite stark.
We planned to hike about six miles in but we soon understand that won’t be possible if we want to make all river crossing before sunset and potential close to freezing temperatures. So we stop at about the four mile mark near the first landmark on the river side, a boulder full of petroglyphs both from ranchers and from Native Americans.
Here is the intersection with a faint trail that goes up to the rim and we decide to walk up a bit to find another petroglpyh site and to get an birds eye overview of the area.
We find the site easily and the views are beautiful, it would be worth to try a loop sometimes to return to Lee’s Ferry but today is not the day.
We return as we came crossing the river one crossing at a time. There is little sun in the canyon at this point and we are happy that we made the decision to return, the water feels much colder already. There was one site that we missed when we were going upriver, an abandoned mine and we keep a sharp eye for it when going downriver, luckily we find it easily now.
Some rocks are exhibited on a decayed wooden structure, to our surprise they are also accompanied by a sign that says that this is a radiation area, oops. The mine was a uranium mine and the rocks are quite beautiful but obviously also quite dangerous too.
And then downriver we go discovering how different the rocks look in the shadows versus the direct light of the sun, quite a difference.
We are happy when we discover that there are no more river crossings and change to the dry shoes, quite welcome. The passage back is otherwordly with the canyon taking deep red hues, really beautiful.
After this tiring day we celebrate with a BBQ meal from a good restaurant in Page. We take it to the AirBnB and rest our tired feet while eating the good food and recounting the many crossings (at least 10) over the river and already planning the next trip. But first we have to find something to do for the next day, luckily the AirBnB has a folder that gives us some ideas and we choose one and then it is time to rest and recuperate for the next day.
