Lee’s Ferry Is A Blast!
We loved our time staying at the campground in Lee’s Ferry. We were there 11 days. We hiked a lot of trails, floated down the Colorado, and just enjoyed the beauty of the wilderness.
The area is called Marble Canyon for two reasons. First, many of the rocks have been in flash floods, so are almost round and smooth. Second, the rocks are multiple colors, making any hike a spectacular visual display. Hike any wash and you will see unusual formations, colored rocks stuck in the sandstone, and visual examples of the force of past flash floods.
One of the easy trails went along the Colorado. We saw the remains of Lee’s Ferry, some of the buildings repurposed into the 1930’s. It must have been a pretty primitive existence!
A wreck of a stern wheeler is still in the river. You can see the outline of the craft, with the decomposing boiler still visible. It was a failed venture because the boiler consumed all the coal being transported. the owners had no knowledge of western river navigation.
The Cathedral Wash goes goes east (up) and west (down) from the main road. Our favorite was the east trail. About 1/4 mile up it splits, and we went to the right. We saw all kinds of rock formations, a horny road, a lizard, and a desert big horn sheep up on a high point watching us. It was about a 3 hour leisurely hike round trip.
Right Along side the road was a field of really weird rocks that had tumbled down from a cliff. As you can see in the photos above, they are very exotic, and fascinating.
The absolute highlight of our stay was kayaking the river! We we hauled all the way up to the Glen Canyon Dam, then let off two couples a mile downriver, then we were let off at the 7 mile mark. we had a fascinating 4 hour trip back to the landing.
On the float we saw a family of desert big horn sheep and wild horses. It was a quiet journey between high cliffs on green to turquoise colored water that was maybe 45 degrees - very cold! The rock formations were just amazing! And fish! We saw a lot of fish! I got a couple under water shots.
Overall, we were so impressed with Lee’s Ferry and the surrounding area that we are going to go back as we travel back south this Fall. We plan to walk those trails some more, and DEFINITELY float the river with our own kayak. If you are planning a trip anywhere near Page, Arizona, be sure to include Lee’s Ferry on your itinerary.