Lake Powell, Rainbow Bridge, and the Navajo Monument

After having spent many days in the remote reaches of southern Utah, I landed in the outpost of civilization called Page, Arizona. Page came into existence as the home for workers constructing the Glen Canyon Dam, and is largely a tourist hub now. I went there so that I could go on a boat ride to the Rainbow Bridge National Monument.

The Rainbow Bridge is a spectacular sandstone arch that is culturally important to the Navajo. (It is said that Navajos will not walk under the bridge.) One of the compromises in the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam was that this bridge would not be drowned (although other places important to the Navajo, such as the confluence of the Colorado and San Juan Rivers, were drowned.

While it is possible to hike to the Rainbow Bridge, most people take a boat to see the bridge. Due to the fairly low lake levels, this is currently an all-day (7 hour) outing. (At higher water levels it can be done in 4-5 hours.) The captain on my tour was an old hand with many stories, and the usual geology lessons that occur on guided tours and ranger presentations in this part of the country. After visiting the bridge, he took the boat (capacity 150 or so) up an extremely narrow side canyon, in which the boat scraped the sides of the canyon...

Upon return, I immediately drove off to the Navajo Reservation, which is home (among many other things) to the Navajo National Monument. While it is in the Navajo Nation, the purpose of this monument is to preserve to important AnasaziAncestral Puebloan ruins, Betatakin and Keet Seel.

Unfortunately, the monument's services, including access to Keet Seel, don't really start until around Memorial Day, so I was limited to camping (in the free campground), and enjoying the sunset.