Day 57 - Monday, March 29

Ellen's pictures are now on the Sunday (Day 56) post.

Today was the warmest so far - about 77.  Real nice!  We drove to Jacob Lake to see if there was any way to get to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  Jacob Lake was 50 miles away and we had no problem getting there - about a 5,000 foot elevation gain.  Lot's of snow up there and often the road is closed after a snowfall because it takes awhile to get it plowed.  We were told not to go to Flagstaff via that route from Zion due to the likehood of bad road conditions.  We heeded the advice and took the longer and lower route through Page.  We are glad we did as Page turned out to be a great area to spend five days.  I'm off track here!  From Jacob Lake there is a 45 mile road to the North Rim.  It is still closed due to snow!  They do not plow it in winter and rely on the snow simply melting before opening it back up in Spring. So we had a nice drive but did not get to our hoped for destination.

We got back to camp in time to enjoy the late day sunshine and warm sunset - reading, taking the dogs for a swim, drinking, eating, and fire.  Of course, Ellen walked around the campground "chatting-up" all the other campers.

A few more Lee's Ferry Pictures -

about 1/4 mile upriver from the current rafting "launch site" is the historic "Lee's Ferry", or at least what is left of it

It was the low spot across the river that provided the early settlers the access to the river crossing

Here you can see the old road goes right to the river bank

Barely visible is the old road (just a ribbon of white) as it winds it's way to the crossing

Our campsite

Moon rise from our "backyard"