Wednesday, Oct. 22. Another interesting landscape we discovered were the Vermillion Cliffs just across the border into AZ. Like the Grand Staircase in UT, there aren’t any scenic drives that take you up to the cliffs. They are seen from scenic route 89. The cliffs were on our list of things to see. We knew we would be driving in that direction when we left Kanab, UT, so we waited until then rather than take a separate day trip. Silly us, we have been in that area several years ago but don’t remember paying attention to the name of the cliffs. I could have marked it off my list a long time ago!
First we had to cross over the Kaibab Plateau, which was a pretty drive through the forest at the higher elevation. What goes up must come down, so the route descended out onto the open plains and immediate views of the Vermillion Cliffs. Very pretty in the early morning sun.
What a pleasant drive with such awesome colorful scenery. With such views, hardly any other vehicle on the road, wide open spaces, and the open road in front of us, life is great!
The Vermillion Cliffs are the second "step" up in the five-step Grand Staircase of the Colorado Plateau. They extend west from near Page, AZ, for a considerable distance, in both Arizona and Utah. 112,500 acres of the region were designated as the Paria Canyon-Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness in 1984. An even greater area was protected within Vermillion Cliffs national Monument in 2002. The Vermilion Cliffs are made up of deposited silt and desert dunes, intensely colored by red iron oxide & other minerals, particularly bluish manganese. The Vermillion Cliffs were on an important route from Utah to Arizona used by settlers during the 19th Century. Present day Hwy 89 basically follows the old wagon route past the cliffs through House Rock Valley and up the Kaibab Plateau. Famous locations in the cliff area include Lee’s Ferry, and Glen Canyon, and others.
The 1st picture is the very beginning of the Grand Canyon. A bit hard to see when driving into the sun. Lee’s Ferry can be reached from HWY 89 and is basically the beginning of the Colorado River that cuts through the Grand Canyon. We had been to Lee’s Ferry many years ago and I remember it well because Doug almost stepped on a baby rattle snake. Funny how we remember little stuff like that! The line of rock in the middle of the 2nd picture is one of the walls to the Grant Canyon below where it is so very narrow at this point. Hard to fathom this tiny canyon and small river becoming the Grand Canyon!
We stopped in Camp Verde, AZ, for just a one night stay at a Passport America Park. This, too, is a pretty area. We were here twice before. Once was just passing through a long time ago, and we we stopped in 2012 for a few days to ride the Verde Canyon Railroad. That was fun!
No comments:
Post a Comment