Vermillion Cliffs and more, Road-trip Day 2

Vermillion Cliffs, Marble Canyon and Lee’s Ferry

Vermillion, vermilion red – yes it’s actually a colour. One of us on the trip resembled the cliffs to bacon but a guess is they won’t be re-named. Both red and bacon describe them well though.

To our right going down from Page, red dirt and graybluish greenery…

Vermillion Cliffs – second stop

But let me back up… After Grand Canyon yesterday we went to Page for dinner and a good nights sleep. We woke up to a crisp morning and a sunny sky. We were headed for more cliffs, Vermillion Cliffs and the famous Navajo Bridge. Going down from Page in the early morning we saw the cliffs above from a far distance looking rather small and meekish. As usual that was just a far-away-deception. They are big and awesome.  We went down a road that had recently been opened after restoration from when a giant landslide had taken parts away. I was fascinated with the red dirt and the grey-bluish greenery contrasting… It’s fantastic going down on to the planes, driving on straight roads over vast stretches with those rock formations growing from out of the earth around you. Of course we stopped as we approached and took some photos. The rule were – shout ’stop’ when we fancied something.

Done at Vermillion Cliffs and on to… our 3rd stop

After that our next stop was Marble Canyon  and Lee’s Ferry where you get right down to the Colorado River. We parked just by the launch ramp. Upstream from there is the old ferry crossing with some buildings left. Upstream you also have Glen Canyon and Glen Canyon Dam. From where we were and downstream you are going into Grand Canyon and this is where boats are launched to go on a river tour of the Grand Canyon. We spent quite a lot of time walking around on our own. When we gathered back it had become midday and it was just as well to unpack our cold storage boxes with lunch. A pic-nic just by the river is so much better than any alternative. This was when I made myself popular shooting eating people…

4th stop on the drive up from Lee’s Ferry

This became a combination of stop and walk for me. It’s a little untrue to say it was one stop. Anyways… along the way to Lee’s Ferry there are these amasing rock formations. They are literally standing up – guess what? They’re called standing rocks. At one point there were also these old living spaces built using the rocks for one or several walls, saving on building material. It reminded me of our backstugor at home. Apart from that it was an awe-inspiring walk finding figurines in the rock formations: T-rex, mini dinosour, map and more..

For the benefit of my trip companions these posts will be in English. I trust that you, my regular readers understand. Google translate does a crappy job at translating anything but the simplest sentences. If you want an overview of the trip – it’s here…

 …Enjoy!