Horseshoe Bend & Navajo Bridge

Previous: Grand Canyon – North Kaibab Trail

August 27

Breakfast at the campsite and a final stroll to the North Rim to say goodbye to the Grand Canyon, and our favorite morning coffee nook.

Upon returning 30 minutes later to the tent to pack things up we realized we made a rookie mistake.  We left food out!  Fortunately it was daytime, and other people were around, so we were only victimized by some pesky birds.

After packing up the tent we headed out toward Page, Arizona to see Horseshoe Bend.  Little did we realize that we’d not only see great scenery, but we’d also be stopping at a couple of very special places. We would be driving about 2.5 hours to Horseshoe Bend, mostly on the Vermillion Cliffs Scenic Road, also known as Route 89A. Ultimately we would be landing back in Gallup, New Mexico at Hotel El Rancho for the night…all tallied, we would spend about 6 hours on the road.

Cliff Dwellers

After about 1.5 hours, on Rt. 89A in Marble Canyon, Arizona we drove past a very interesting and large roadside pull-off. There were rock formations, and what appeared to be a stone abode, as well as a few native jewelry vendors selling their wares.  We made a u-turn to check it out. It was a good call.  This was a spot noted as the Cliff Dwellers Stone House. Crazy boulder formations and actual cliff dweller homes are just scattered about along the highway. The stone buildings were actually constructed in the 1920’s by a former Ziegfeld Follies dancer and her husband whose car broke down there, and they decided to stay! Very cool, indeed.  We pulled in, parked, and just tooled around.

We also bought a Christmas tree ornament from one of the native vendors here.  This was fortuitous because the artist told us that the bridge we’d be coming too shortly up 89A is home to nesting California condors, and we should stop and see them.  We had no idea.  Of course we’ll do that!

Navajo Bridge

The bridge that we came to a little bit further up 89A was the beautiful Navajo Bridge, This spans 800 feet across the Colorado River, and 450 feet above it. It lies within the boundaries of the Grand Canyon National Park. There is a large parking area, and interpretive center, and a pedestrian walkway for fantastic views of the river and the striped rocks of the Vermillion Cliffs and Marble Canyon overseeing both sides.  We walked about halfway across the bridge.  On the bridge, we caught sight of several endangered California condors hanging around the trellis, just like the jewelry artist told us.  Amazing stuff.

 

Horseshoe Bend

From the Navajo Bridge we headed for a very different perspective of the Colorado River.  About 30 miles up the highway we came to the parking area for Horseshoe Bend.  Though part of the Glen Canyon Recreation Area, the parking area is owned by the city of Page, Arizona, so there is a parking fee (park passes are not good here). This is a popular place…the lot was quite crowded at 1:00 pm. It was a very hot day, so we watered up pretty good, and took a pack for the short 3/4-mile walk up the well maintained hardpack pathway to the overlook.

There were lots of people from all over the world visiting this iconic landmark…and for good reason.  It truly is iconic.  The overlook provides breathtaking views.  There is plenty of room to spread out, too, so even though there were lots of people, no issue finding space. However, we were surprised at how easily one can fall off the edge and plunge to a certain death.  Most notably, we couldn’t believe how many kids were allowed by their parents to run around the wide open rim of the overlook…YIKES!

Anyway…such an amazing bucket list item to check off.

After about 30 minutes of dropping our jaws at the overlook we pulled ourselves away and headed back to the car around 2:30 pm to begin our 4-5 hour ride to Gallup, New Mexico.

We took Route 89 out of Page Arizona…

…then connected to Route 264 through sovereign Hopi land.  It was a gorgeous ride.

We got to the elegantly quirky Hotel El Rancho in Gallup, New Mexico at around 8:15 pm. We stayed here a few nights ago as we were driving to the Petrified Forest along Rt. 66. We HAD to stay here again. It is a Rt. 66 icon.

Horseshoe Bend & Navajo Bridge marked the end of our southwestern U.S. desert hiking road trip.  A great trip with several bucket list items checked!