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Sunday 8 May 2011

Rafting the Colorado River

Page, Arizona

I'm not much in a writing mood, which is anathema for a blogger. I put it down to nicotine withdrawal and my umpteenth attempt to kick the habit. I find myself with shortness of breath walking uphill at 7,000 feet. It's time to quit.


The drift down the Colorado starts in Page, at the Glen Canyon Dam,  and ends about 30 miles downriver at Lee's ferry. After Lee's Ferry it's another 220 miles downriver, though the Grand Canyon to Lake Mead.


This part of the country is mostly Navajo Sandstone. It's old Jurassic sand dunes, solidified with minerals. It's full of fossils, dinosaurs and other strange creatures.


The walls of the river here average between 1,000 and 1,500 feet of elevation, mostly straight up.



View from the Navajo bridge near Lee's Ferry.



More Lake Powell pictures.


Sunday morning! Time to get the show on the road and depart for parts unknown.


Maybe it would be a good day for the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument? The Vermillion Cliffs National Monument?  Zion National Park? It's hard to find wine up in Utah, but they have pretty geology. I remember a tennis court outside Zion.

From a few miles away, the Colorado looks like a little crack in the desert.




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