North Grand Canyon Flyover

My original theory with the website during the Covid-19 era was to shut it down until things open up again. It seemed cold to show "vacation" things while so many are in such dire situations. But some people at our RV Resort suggested this is exactly the time to show things that will distract from our global situation. It made sense, so here goes.

We were based out of Page, AZ for a couple of weeks and got in some flights that were quite amazing. From Page it is easy to see the North part of the Grand Canyon and an area called "The Wave". The Wave is in NCentral Arizona on the Utah line and essentially in the middle of nowhere. There were no roads to it. Only off-roaders and aircraft scan see it. It looks like soup or melted ice cream as various layers of rock are folded over each other.

Next area was the Northern part of the Grand Canyon. This area has very specific flight rules due to past accidents in the area. The images were taken at 8000ft. elevation. To fly over the main portion of the Canyon requires going up to 9000 or higher. And that is a long way to fly over an area where there is no chance of landing safely. So we decided to view only the north part for now.

Grand Canyon looking South

Not sure how you could see this horseshoe other than by air.

At the extreme north part of the Grand Canyon area is Marble Canyon. This is a Navajo Indian area that includes Lee's Ferry. That ferry crossing was the only way for wagons to get across the Colorado and head west. It was a very dangerous way to travel. The monks that established the crossing stayed for months and almost died attempting it. It was the only way to go until 1927 when the Navajo Bridge was built to cross the Colorado. The Lonely Dell Ranch is located at the ferry crossing. It looked like a very hard life as the next civilization was very far away. They have an orchard where they allow anyone to pick produce. But it was still waiting for spring. There is a small area in Marble Canyon with a lodge and trading post. And it had an airport so we decided to land and check it out. We were disappointed to learn the restaurant was closed for lunch, but the gift shop was interesting. I can imagine this area gets a bit warm during the summer months.

On the way back to Page we crossed over the Horshoe Bend area.

We are back in Cottonwood, AZ just south of Sedona for the start of April. We just signed up to stay here until the middle of May. We had a great plan to head up the West Coast and loop over the north to Yellowstone and then on to Oshkosh for the airshow. Those reservations are all now cancelled. We might try to re-build it, but as things stand we are on hold. From our current site the left side of the coach has a fantastic view of the Verde Valley. Many of the off road areas we explore are right outside our window. So we are OK.

From Karen and I, we wish everyone a safe, healthy and a short time for this terrible situation.