Southwest USA Trip - September 2015: Day 9 - Kanab, UT to Glen Canyon and Page, AZ

Day 9 and I cannot believe it's almost over. But I've still got a few more days so let's not rush things.

This morning started out nicely again. I had a really good breakfast at the local restaurant that comes highly recommended from the guy who owns and runs the little motel I stayed at in beautiful "downtown" Kanab, UT. As usual at most restaurants that serve a really great breakfast, they always give you way more than you can eat but I ate my fair share of scrambled eggs with a huge pile of shredded hash browns, fried ham steak, and rye toast. And I also drank about 4 or 5 cups of coffee out of the carafe they left on my table.

So with breakfast checked off and my stomach fueled-up, I then fueled-up the 4-Runner, iced-up the cooler, and hit the road Jack! Next destination, Glen Canyon / Lake Powell Recreation Area.

As I left Kanab and headed south towards Northern Arizona, Hwy 89 first takes you East through Southern Utah and an area of natural monuments known as the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. This area has many opportunities to stop and get great photos of all the natural monuments in this area before eventually turning South into Northern Arizona.

After only a couple hours of driving time and just after crossing into Northern Arizona, you begin to approach the area around Page, AZ, which includes the Glen Canyon Recreation area, Lake Powell, and the Glen Canyon Dam.

Lake Powell is formed by the water held by the Glen Canyon Dam. Glen Canyon Dam is second is size in the US only to Hoover Dam and both Dams are vital to this area. They provide the water to areas such as Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Southern California. Lake Powell is also very well known for house boat rentals as well as all sorts of water sports. Renting a house boat and just cruising around on Lake Powell for a family vacation over a week or so is a very popular thing to do here.

I captured some great pictures from an overlook that you can drive to as your approaching the Dam. From here, you can see the marina down below. Then, just a few miles past the overlook is the Glen Canyon Dam Visitor Center. This is a great location to read about the history of the Dam, schedule actual tours into the Dam itself, and also walk across the Dam or bridge located here. I got some great close-up pictures of the Dam while I was here.

Not far from the Dam as I continued down Hwy 89 towards Page, there was another turnoff to a scenic overlook that you could then hike down to and get some great shots of the Dam from further away. This was a perfect location to actually see the full size of the Dam looking towards it from the front.

One of the most popular attractions at Glen Canyon is the Horseshoe Bend. This is where a section of the Colorado River actually meanders around the canyon 180 degrees. I had to get pictures in different shots but you can still see for the most part. Also, keep in mind, I am absolutely terrified of heights and this requires getting right up to the edge of the cliffs (no rails or anything) and looking over with your camera. They would have been allot better if I had a wide angle lens but I got enough to satisfy me and my photo album.

After the hike to Horseshoe Bend, I decided to drive down to an area known as Marble Canyon. It would take about another 40 miles to get to it but then that's the whole point of this trip anyway so I headed that way. Once again, I'm glad I made that trip. It was beautiful.

Marble Canyon and Lee's Ferry is the section of the Colorado River Canyon that is the beginning of the Grand Canyon. The Navajo Bridge also crosses the Colorado River at this location so I decided to park and walk halfway across the bridge to get some great views of the river running through the canyon. By the way, there isn't any marble in marble canyon. It was named by John Wesley Powell (hence Lake Powell) because he thought the polished limestone resembled marble. Powell made a three month long river trip in 1869 down the Green and Colorado rivers. His boat, The Marble, is on display at the Glen Canyon Dam Visitor Center and I have pictures of it below.

After spending most of the afternoon in Marble Canyon, I headed back up to Page where I would be staying for the night. It's nice to still have some time left in the day to relax and unwind and not have to do too much driving.

Tomorrow morning I will head out to the Grand Canyon. This trip will be my 5th visit to the Canyon and like I've said previously, it never gets old. I struggled a little over the decision of whether or not to try and visit the North Rim this time since I've never gone that route. And since I'll be approaching it from the North this time, I can go either direction. The problem is that I would then have to head back around to go to the South Rim and down to Flagstaff where I'll be staying tomorrow night. And there is so much to see when you approach the Canyon from the East on Hwy 64 and up to the South Rim at Grand Canyon Village. I typically exit out that direction and then head North. Going this route you almost see the Canyon getting smaller and smaller as you exit out that way. So it will be interesting to see it grower larger and larger as I approach from the East before heading down Hwy 180 to Flagstaff.

So with that, I've decided to stick to what I know and love which is the South Rim and all the other sites, overlooks, hikes, and stops along the way that make this place so special. Can't wait to see it all again and should arrive early enough in the morning for some beautiful lighting. Although one of the best visits I ever experienced was evening sunsets at the Grand Canyon. But that'll have to wait until another time.

Until tomorrow's adventures, please enjoy the many shots from today of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Glen Canyon Dam, Lake Powell, Horseshoe Bend, Marble Canyon, and the Colorado River. As always, plenty more to come tomorrow.

Thanks for reading and following along with me on my great adventure.