We were very tired after our first week of work, adjusting to the new environment and routine. It was hard to scrape up the energy to go very far on our first weekend off.
But with so many beautiful places practically in our back yard, fortunately it doesn’t require epic travel to see something amazing. We decided to investigate Lake Powell, which we had traversed on our journey here a week before.
Taking off on Route 95, we passed through the ghost town of Fry Canyon, a uranium boom town during the 1950s. But when mining caused some of the groundwater to become radioactively contaminated, Fry Canyon dried up and blew away in less than a decade.
Continuing on, we came to another “town”, a place called Hite. The actual town is underwater, becoming submerged after the Colorado River was dammed to make the reservoir of Lake Powell. There is still a ranger station, gas station, and boat ramp there, but that’s about it. Exhausted, we lay on the rocks watching waves lapping red rocks, wondering if this is what Mars once looked like.
We saw a lovely black and white water fowl, and an unidentified fish jumping. Soaking up the sun, it was a tranquil experience.
Summoning our last reserves of energy, we made it to the car and drove further in to Glen Canyon, the great gorge carved by the river. A tributary joins the Colorado there, the eerily named Dirty Devil River. Parking the car on a dusty turnoff, we walked out on to a towering bridge, taking photos of the 2,000 foot deep canyon below. This canyon is isolated and apparently seldom visited, which inspires us to go back at some point.
The other thing we want to do in that area is to take a ferry across Lake Powell, at one of its few crossing points. To us eastern folk, it was a strange and mysterious lake, looking more like a Norwegian fiord or perhaps Loch Ness, then an American lake. We had never heard of it before coming here, which is strange, because it is astoundingly lovely and will surely serve as the backdrop of future adventures for us. What will you do this weekend to get outdoors?
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