Day 24: Lee's Ferry to Wahweap (Lake Powell)

May 22, 2010

Today I pedaled 58 hilly miles, but my destination is only 15 miles upstream from where I started.

It was 75F at 5 AM, and I was covered in fine red dust. I was on the road before 8 AM. Tim is staying here to rest today. I wouldn't want to stay here in the heat all day, but he's more accustomed to it.

The scenery was awesome on the 5 mile ride back up to Marble Canyon. The Vermilion Cliffs look great in early morning sunshine.

The biggest of several balanced rocks near Lee's Ferry.

Impressive colors in the early morning light.

I stopped for breakfast #2 at the Marble Canyon store because there will be no place for lunch today. Then I took a long stop at the bridges. The sun angle was great looking north and west.

Old (1929) and new (1995) Navajo bridges. The old bridge is now a pedestrian walkway. Vermilion cliffs in the distance.

East of the bridge US 89A turns south for 14 miles to connect with US 89. Uphill into a 30 mph wind. Slow and very loud but the wind kept me cool. It took nearly 3 hours.

After merging with US 89 I turned north to Page, now with a 30 mph tailwind. The first 2 miles is a steep climb to Antelope Pass. There was a lot of blowing sand and in one place a strong updraft blew the visor off my helmet. It took me a long time to find the visor down an embankment.

Looking into the sun at the Vermilion Cliffs. The Colorado river is somewhere down in that hole.

Deep rock cut at Antelope Pass. Sand blowing across the road.

After Antelope Pass the road stays on a relatively flat plateau most of the way to Page.

Looking back at the last of the red rocks for a while.

Now it's much flatter and less rocky. And the nice shoulder is ruined by a rumble strip that does not comply with highway design standards.

I took a several mile detour on Lake Powell Boulevard all the way through Page in order to stock up at a supermarket. Page is a planned town established in the 1960's when Glen Canyon dam was under construction. It's both a resort town and a Navajo town. The temperature was 85F. From Page it's mostly downhill to the US 89 bridge across the Colorado River. The bridge is so close to Glen Canyon dam that I can't get a picture of the entire dam. Glen Canyon dam forms Lake Powell, the second largest man-made reservoir in the United States (the largest is Lake Mead farther downstream).

A little past the dam I took the turnoff to the Wahweap section of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. My Interagency Annual Pass got me out of paying the entry fee. Lake Powell is nice, I suppose, but like all reservoirs it will be mostly filled with silt in a few hundred years.

I got a campsite at the huge and nearly full Wahweap campground (3795 feet elevation). So huge that the shower is a 2 mile ride from my campsite. $23, plus $2 for the shower. At least my campsite has a partial lake view. Most everybody else at the campground has a motor home and power boat. The evening was warm and windy, but not windy enough for blowing sand.

Most of today's ride was in the Navajo Indian Reservation but it was uninhabited except in Page. Lots of climbing today, but I only gained 500 feet of elevation. From here it will be mostly uphill for 3 days to Bryce Canyon National Park.

Distance: 57.6 mi. (92.2 km)

Climbing: 4444 ft. (1347 m)

Average Speed: 9.0 mph (14.4 km/h)

Maximum Speed: 37 mph (59 km/h)

Today's ride: 58 miles (93 km)
Total: 1,151 miles (1,852 km)

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