Horseshoe Bend

To give us a change of pace, we booked a rafting trip down the Colorado River for the day. We met at the Colorado River Discovery in Page where they loaded us on a bus. The bus took us down through the access tunnel to the bottom of the Glen Canyon Dam. We had stopped at the dam last night after dinner (Mexican food) and enjoyed the views in the setting sun. Now we got to walk along at the base of the dam. We had to wear hard hats for the very short walk because of the bridge above; don't want a falling pebble to hit us. We hopped into the rafts and started down river.

The water temperature is a constant 44F because it is released from the bottom of the lake where is never gets warmed. So, we were very warm in the sunshine (hot!) but the water was shockingly cold to the body. It was nice to sit on the pontoon with a foot dragging in the water. We all would take off shirts and hats and cool them in the river and then wear them again.

Our guide was very knowledgeable as he had been guiding for many years. Good information and stories. We all had eaten our lunches near the start of our trip so it was nice when he brought out cold lemonade for us all. He had packed the cans in a bag and drug it in the water which made it nice and cold. We made one stop at some petroglyphs (and pit toilets). It was nice to stretch the legs and wade in the water (not very far, it was so cold).

The boat was motored which made it easy for our guide to show us interesting rock features or wildlife. We saw bighorn sheep, herons and osprey, and wild horses. As for geology, there was a fault line and a vertical bridge along with the normal rock varnish to enjoy.

Our trip took us through Horseshoe Bend, nice to see from the river level, and ended at Lees Ferry. It was interesting to see the walls of the canyon drop to river level at Lees Ferry. Looking downriver you can tell that the walls grow quickly again. This is the only natural river landing for miles. A bus took us back to Page.

The rest of the afternoon was spent driving to the Grand Canyon. We followed along the Vermillion Cliffs to Jacob's Lake and then down the road toward the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We stayed at Kaibab Lodge outside of the national park. We had a nice little cabin that bordered a meadow. It was filled with deer at sunset. We ate in the lodge restaurant and then enjoyed the local astronomy club as they brought out their telescopes. They love places like this because there is no light pollution and the viewing is spectacular. We saw galaxies, nebulae, and special stars; whatever the astronomers found interesting. They were fun to talk to and clearly enjoyed themselves.Read more