Lee's Ferry is quite well known and has an interesting history. The Colorado River runs for miles here both in Arizona and Utah. While exploring this area, I found a sign that told me I was entering the Grand Canyon , I was just wandering around by the Colorado River.
Back in the 1870s there was a man named John Lee who ran the ferry so that the settlers could cross the river with supplies. They chose this area since it's about the only place that didn't have high canyon walls. The crossings were not always safe, since the river ran quite briskly at times. The ferry ran for 55 years but by the time the railroads and autos were available, the final trip was in 1928. Unfortunately, that fateful trip was the end of the ferry, since it capsized and men were killed.
These photos show how gorgeous it is here, I love the photos with rocks that look bluish.
The area also has some strangely balanced rocks, as you can see below. These two rocks have been standing for a long time. They fell from the cliff in the background and then the sloped ground they landed on eroded away, leaving these strange toadstool-like formations. To show how large these are, I went to the one in the second photo and stood under it (very carefully). When I raised my hand, I still could not touch the large rock on top, which means it was well over 7 feet tall.
This is an area that has raft trips going down the rivers, through the rapids and dodging rocks. This is one of the larger ones, some of the trips are 7 days, with them providing gear and good - for only $3,000! The short half-day trips are "only" $100. The water is about 50 degrees during August.
Nearby is Navajo Bridge, which spans the Colorado River at this point. It is 834 feet all and is 467 feet above the river. It was finished in 1928, but it certainly does not look that old.
In this photo, you can see the actual bridge on the left and the pedestrial walkway on the right. There was no information on when that was built, but I imagine it's newer. It sure was a long way down!
The view from the bridge......
I had some little friends at my campsite, and they sat still a few times so I could get photos. The second one shows this little guy laying flat on his belly, since he was in the shade and the rocks were cooler there.
They were so cute, one of them decided to climb up my chair. And then another one jumped up on my shoe. Obviously, they are used to humans and have most likely been fed (but not by me!). They are so skittish that they scrambled away as soon as I moved.
There was a small ranch that has been refurbished, which shows life as it would have been when the ferry was running.
This is called a dugout and was most likely used for food storage, since it would have been cool.
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