Arriving in the Glen Canyon Area

On Thursday, October 22, 2015, we moved from Gallup, New Mexico to Page, Arizona.  Our drive took us west along I-40 through the Petrified Forest National Park and Painted Desert to Flagstaff, and then north on US Highway 89, past the eastern end of the Grand Canyon, through Page and up to Wahweap at the border of Arizona and Utah:

We knew we were in for something special when we drove northwestward toward Bitter Springs along the Echo Cliffs, which were bright red in the afternoon sun, mottled by the moving shadows of clouds across the sky:

Just past Bitter Springs, as we turned north to climb over the ridge, the cliffs took on an even more dramatic look:

The grades were steep - both up from Bitter Spring and down into Page - but our sturdy Great White was up to the task.  It pulled our trailer right into the Wahweap RV Park on the north shore of Lake Powell, where we settled into our new home.  We will be here almost two weeks!

Arizona refuses to operate on Daylight Savings Time, so we fell back an hour as we crossed from New Mexico.  Consequently, our first morning dawned an hour later than our bodies were expecting. As a result, David was wide awake by 6:00 am, when it was still dark.  Not long after, though, the sun rose, and he ran outside to see what the sunrise would bring for the lake, cliffs and clouds.

The sunrise wasn't too pink, but the clouds made it more dramatic across Lake Powell:

Many boaters were already up and positioned out in the water near our shore.  Buttes and cliffs across the lake were silhouetted in the early morning sky:

Did I say how dramatic the clouds were?

Further down lake, distant buttes and cliffs were silhouetted:

The sun's low rays caught and accentuated the reddish-browns in the near cliffs:

We were so happy that this first day dawned clear, after we had juggled nearly a week of periodic rain and thunderstorms in northwestern New Mexico.  This bodes well for our stay and the weather is forecast to be sunny, warm and mainly rain-free.  The area has already had heavier than normal rainfall, so we don't think a week or two of dry weather will hurt the locals, but it sure will make our stay more enjoyable as we get out and about in the landscape.