May 16 - Lee's Ferry on the Colorado River

Sometimes you luck out and find the unexpected spot in a very unlikely place. We were driving from Grand Canyon via 89A to make as many miles east as possible (to get toColorado Springs by Memorial Day), when we decided to have lunch at the ruins of an early Mormon ferry that helped the Church settle the local area. Lee was an infamous scoundrel of the Mountain Meadows Massacre who was sent to this out of way place to hide out while creating a crossing over the impassable and treacherous Colorado River.

So we decided to have lunch at the ruins -- down a barren and foreboding road. While looking for a sign pointing to the ruins, we ran into a little local hangout, the Paria River Park, and met an extended Navajo family enjoying what had been a multi generational tradition.




If you click on this closeup of the last picture, you will find that this is called a "riffle", not a rapids. A riffle occurs when a side stream deposits debris into a main channel (in this case the Colorado River), narrowing it and causing a mild rapid effect. But to the locals, this created a great swimming beach. It also attracted local fishermen who were after the great trout fishing. Sadie, who was burning her feet on the hot ground around the parking lot, was soon running in circles on the beach. It was obvious that she never expected to find this in the middle of the desert.

When we eventually got to Lee's Ferry, we found that this was a place where river rafting tours launched. It was the beginning of the season so there was bustling preparation with great pontoons being inflated. Alexa wondered if this was the place where her Dad, Aleck, set out on his infamous Colorado rapids trip that lasted long enough for his party to get dumped and almost drowned.