Arizona, Page - Monday, September 17, 2018 - Grand Canyon North Rim

A few years ago we visited the South Rim of the Grand Canyon – it was magnificent!  When we visited then the day was cold and overcast.  About 90% of the 5 million per year that come to visit the Grand Canyon go to the south rim, so it was also crowded.  The north rim is harder to get to, in fact from the time we left Page until we returned we had been gone 9 hours, about 6 hours of that was driving – thank you, Greg.  The north rim is definitely less crowded, we could find parking at every pull off and didn’t feel rushed to move on, we could just stand and enjoy.

Scenery is good even before we get close to the Grand Canyon.

This section of 89 south is not one of my favorites, the views are great but the steep inclines and sharp turns make me nervous.  We’ve taken the motor coach this way several times and we will do it again tomorrow as we head to Flagstaff.

We are headed to Lee’s Ferry, a short detour, before we go on to the Grand Canyon.  This photo shows the Vermillion Cliffs which run for a good ways between Lee’s Ferry and the Grand Canyon.

The area around Lee’s Ferry is wonderful.  At one time the Lee family ran a ferry across the Colorado River.

These huge boulders lay at the base of some of the mountains, it looks like they came from the very top of the mountains.

The water of the Colorado River is calmer here, guess that is why it made a good place for a ferry.  I was very tempted to take my shoes off and walk in the cool water.

It always amazes me where wildflowers pop up and bring a smile to my face.

More views of the Vermillion Cliffs.  When the sun is shining on the cliffs the abundance of colors is amazing.

The boulders around the cliffs.

Going into the Kaibab National Forest all you can see is small shrubs and open plains where buffalo used to run.

My guy and the Jeep with the Vermillion Cliffs in the background.

As we get to higher elevations in the national forest we start to see pine trees.

I caught this sign as it was between words.  What it says is “wild fire in progress, don’t report”.  We saw some faraway smoke as we were headed to this area.

The aspens are starting to turn yellow and make a dramatic contrast to the pine trees.

We stopped for lunch at the Grand Canyon Lodge before heading out to explore the north rim.

You can view some of the canyon from the lodge area.

Point Imperial is the highest point in the canyon and has the deepest view.  If you can’t take the time to stop at the rest of the viewpoints at least get to this one, it brought tears to my eyes.  Sometimes something is so beautiful that it just takes your breath away.  Although I like my pictures, they don’t do the view justice.

More views of the canyon as we visited other viewpoints.  I don’t think we will ever make the trip to the north rim again since it does take so long, but I am so appreciative that Greg was willing to drive all that way.  What a great day!

Arizona, Page - Sunday, September 16, 2018 - Antelope Point

Antelope Point wasn’t what I was expecting.  I thought the Wahweap Marina was the main marina around Lake Powell, I think I was wrong.  Looks like this is where more of the action takes place.

When we pulled in lots of big speed boats were loading up.  These were the ones we saw on the lake yesterday.

Now we find out why they were here – the 10^th Annual Lake Powell Challenge Poker Run to support finding a cure for type 1 diabetes.  That is a cause that is close to our hearts.

The view from the visitor’s center.

A view of the visitor’s center.

We are having lunch at the Point restaurant which is a large floating restaurant at the marina.  The Asian combo platter appetizer is wonderful.  3 pot stickers and 3 small egg rolls with dipping sauces.  We should have had one of those apiece and forgot the turkey bacon, avocado wrap we split.  The wrap was ok but kind of bland, and it was huge. 

Boats of all sizes are coming in and out.

After lunch we were glad to catch one of the courtesy shuttles back up the hill.

There is a public ramp, but there is also a “valet” ramp.  There must be more people in the world like me who can’t back a trailer worth a darn.

Scenery in the area.

Arizona, Page - Saturday, September 15, 2018 - Dam Tour and Wahweap

On Saturday I suggested we get up early and take a tour of the Glen Canyon Dam.  The tour is $4 for seniors and lasts about 45 minutes.  We had about a twenty minute wait so we enjoyed some views from the visitor’s center patio.

See where those people are down below?  That is where we will be in a few minutes.  Silly me, I never thought about how they got down there.  In a few minutes I found out.  The whole tour group, in this case 16 people gets on one elevator and goes down through the rock of the nearby mountain 100+ feet.  My claustrophobia and I were glad the tour guide kept talking on the way down so I could concentrate on what she was saying instead of the fact that we were in a very enclosed space and couldn’t get out if it got stuck.

Some of the original equipment used to build the dam was on display on top of the dam.  This concrete bucket holds 24 tons about 1 and ½ truckloads.  The first bucket of concrete was poured on June 17, 1960.  The pouring of concrete went on around the clock uninterrupted until 400,000 loads later in September of 1963 the last bucket was poured.  Our tour guide informed us that Glen Canyon Dam has “concrete quantity bragging rights” over Hoover Dam which is just down the river.  Hoover Dam may be about 16 feet higher but Glen Canyon has more concrete.

There are 8 turbines that generate power from the water flowing through the dam.  This original turbine installed on October 13, 1965 was retired on July 7, 2008.  The current turbines are made of stainless steel.

These reinforcing rods were installed in the sides of the canyon to stabilize the Indian sandstone walls which are basically petrified sand dunes.

You can see the faces of the reinforcing rods all along the walls.  There is one guy who rappels down the face of the mountain to install them.  I understand he is the highest paid employee.

You get a great view of Lake Powell from here.  Right now the lake is down to less than 50% of its capacity.  See the white strip above the lake?  They call it the Lake Powell “bathtub ring”.  That shows where the water level has been in past years.

The visitor’s center is pretty amazing from here too.

See that green at the bottom?  I’ve been thinking that it was algae and that they should probably do something to clean it up.  I found out differently later.

I was trying to get my wildlife picture of the day.  This little lizard would only stand still for a few seconds.  Every time it stood still this little lady gave it a little shove to start moving again.

So, for $4 I thought we were good with walking around on top of the dam and listening to the very informative tour guide.  Then she tells us we will be going into this building up ahead to view the works of the dam which are 500+ feet down through the solid concrete walls of the dam.  Actually, I could have turned around at any time.  But, at this point we were being escorted by two armed security guards, so how much can go wrong?  I am glad I finished the tour.

The hallway down below was originally installed in the 60’s with tour groups in mind and it hasn’t been changed since then.

That green that I that was algae is really grass.  The water comes through the dam to the generator through eight tubes called penstocks which are 15 feet in diameter.  This much water rushing through causes a lot of vibration.  The solution to the vibration was to pack tons of dirt around the penstocks and then cover the dirt with grass.  

The generators which produce the electricity.  Great tour and our tour guide, Page, was really informative..

On to Wahweap.  The last time we were in the area we stayed at the RV Park at Wahweap.  They were full this year.

Scenery on the way.

The number of boats on the water is surprising, in all the days we have spent here previously we have never seen this many.  No wonder we couldn’t get an RV site.  As we watched, Greg said it looks like they are doing some kind of race.  Lots of really fast speed boats.

More scenery in the area.

The marina hotel is where we are going for lunch.

We are making one last stop today at the dam overlook heading back toward town.

Scenery in the area.

There is a trail down but we thought we were safer staying on top.

One last picture on the way home.  It’s getting warm out here, time for some air conditioning.