Shorewoods Photography-Boarding Group 2 Travel Blog

After a great rest in our comfortable room at Cliff Dwellers Lodge, there was a moment of awe as we opened the front door to our room, and were welcomed with breathtakingly beautiful scenery. Knowing the Grand Canyon was out in the near distance sparked excitement for what lies ahead, just tomorrow, when we launch our trip on the raft.

We enjoyed breakfast on the porch of the lodge restaurant. We were serenaded by the presence of hummingbirds, counting 5 at one time enjoying their feeders while we enjoyed avocado toast and eggs.

This evening we will meet our community of travelers on this journey….but before then we have the opportunity to go and explore!

We drove about 10 minutes down the road to Glen Canyon National Recreational Area. This is a beautiful area with rainbow rock formations and towering landscapes.

We saw many “umbrella rocks” along the roadside during our travels, and were able to explore them up close here at Glen Canyon.

We walked down to Pariah Beach, which is also where the Pariah River meets the Colorado. There was a very distinct difference between the clear Colorado waters and the muddy Pariah waters, carrying the sand and silt from the recent rains we had. It is monsoon season, as locals remind us. The second photo is a view from the beach looking up towards Lees Ferry.

Here at Glen Canyon is Lees Ferry, the start of the Grand Canyon and the launch site for our trip tomorrow.

While we were there, we watched another tour load and depart for the Canyon. This group looks to be at least 3 times as large as our group of 12 on 1 raft.

We travelled about 4 miles up the road to Navajo Bridge. Constructed in 1927, to replace the crossing by ferry boat at Lees Ferry, the first span supported traffic for 66 years, when the second span was built to carry more and heavier vehicles and traffic. The original span, on the left, is now a pedestrian bridge, while vehicle traffic is carried on the right span. While we were there, we saw the rafts that launched at Lees Ferry travel under the bridge. This is one of only 7 crossings of the Colorado River for 750 miles

We thought, since we were here, we would take a drive up to the Glen Canyon Dam, and the city of Page, Arizona. The dam visitors center was nice, and gave us a chance to get a dam photo.

We decided to have lunch in Page, and luckily found a Dam Bar & Grille at the Dam Plaza.

With a full day of new sights and experiences, we headed back to Cliff Dwellers for our meetup dinner with our community of photographers.

We met Colleen and our fellow “Hatchlings” along with Josh and JP our boatmen. The wonderful energy of this group of people, and sharing a common bond of photography and adventure adds to our excitement for launch day tomorrow.

Art and I returned to our room to have one last FaceTime chat with the kids, since we will be off grid for the next 8 days. There will be no cell service, no internet. In fact, we will be on parts of the river where if there were an emergency, we would not be able to call for help or have help arrive due to the geography of the Canyon. We settled into our room for one last indoor sleep, shower, and luxury of modern plumbing before we depart for the wilderness.

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature—the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”

Rachel Carson