10 issues to do close to the Grand Canyon, from Marble Canyon to Vermillion Cliffs National Monument

In northern Arizona, close to the Utah border, the neighborhood of Marble Canyon is surrounded by a definite and beautiful a part of the Colorado Plateau. There are sheer, crimson-colored cliffs rising greater than 3,000 toes, swirling sandstone slot canyons, and dramatic rock formations. A fraction of those that go to Grand Canyon National Park make it to this distant and rugged area, primarily minimize off from the remainder of the state by the huge canyon that slices by Arizona for 277 miles.

Visitors can find out about geology, wildlife conservation, and indigenous historical past. The Navajo Nation, the biggest Native American reservation within the United States covers a lot of the state’s northeast nook and vacationers can go to sacred Navajo websites and see views of the Grand Canyon from vantage factors few see on guided excursions.

Updated lodgings are giving journey seekers a snug place to relaxation and recharge. Unlike Grand Canyon National Park‘s excessive elevation North Rim, which closes each winter due to excessive winter climate, guests can discover this area year-round. Highlights embody Vermillion Cliffs National Monument, the place air currents can propel California condors into the sky with no single flap, and Horseshoe Bend, a horseshoe-shaped river meander carved out by the Colorado River over centuries. Here are 10 issues to do in northern Arizona close to Grand Canyon National Park.

1. Hike in Vermillion Cliffs National Monument

While practically 5 million individuals go to Grand Canyon National Park yearly, solely about 240,000 go to Vermillion Cliffs about an hour drive from Page, Arizona. Spanning 280,000 dramatic acres of cross-bedded sandstone “waves,” buttes, and pure crimson rock amphitheaters, it’s straightforward to search out solitude and house within the monument, designated a protected space by President Bill Clinton in 2000. Visitors can park their automotive on the aspect of a dust highway and begin exploring. Hikers may see petrified logs, wildflowers rising in ravines and deer antler sheds. To management environmental impacts, some hikes require permits, just like the 6.4-mile round-trip Wave hike, also called Coyote Buttes North. 

2. See the place the Grand Canyon begins

The Grand Canyon was fashioned over hundreds of thousands of years by erosion, plateau uplift, and downcutting from the Colorado River. While probably the most well-known part is within the nationwide park, the canyon technically begins 85 miles away in Lees Ferry, a historic ferry crossing established by Mormon settlers. Rafters normally start their Grand Canyon rafting journey right here. It’s the one place the place the terrain is flat sufficient to securely entry the river. The first stretch of canyon from Lees Ferry to the confluence with the Little Colorado River is known as Marble Canyon and shares the identical title because the unincorporated neighborhood beside it. The title comes from the canyon’s marble-like limestone partitions in shades of dusty pink and pale inexperienced. The pedestrian-only Navajo Bridge was the world’s highest metal arch bridge when it was accomplished in 1929 and provides panoramic views of the canyon.

3. Spot California condors within the wild

California condors soared and scavenged in northern Arizona throughout the Pleistocene, however the species was delivered to the brink of extinction within the 1900s resulting from human causes. Thanks to restoration efforts, a flock of over 90 birds soars in and round Vermillion Cliffs National Monument—a condor launch website for the reason that mid-90s, as soon as extra.

The cliffs present spots for the scavengers to roost and to lfy and feed in distant areas. The non-profit group Peregrine Fund, devoted to defending endangered birds of prey, releases the birds into the wild. According to California Condor Program Director Tim Hauck, the Navajo Bridge is the perfect place to see a condor within the wild. There’s a brand new bridge subsequent to the outdated one to accommodate bigger autos, and the endangered birds with vibrant orange heads like to take a seat on its metal girders—an ideal perch 470 toes above the river beneath. Field biologists are sometimes on the historic bridge within the morning and night to look at the birds and reply questions.

“Vultures tend to get a bad rap, and it’s a great opportunity to show people the value that vultures have and the role they play in our ecosystems,” says Hauck. The final cleanup crew, condors assist forestall the unfold of illness by consuming lifeless animals. Lead poisoning from ammunition fragments accounts for about half of recognized wild condor deaths.

4. Kayak round Horseshoe Bend

While any northern Arizona go to ought to embody viewing Horseshoe Bend from above, there’s a extra immersive technique to expertise it. Companies, like Kayak the Colorado, have snug inflatable kayaks and boat captains who’re space consultants and supply kayak excursions across the geological marvel. Kayakers are picked up on the Lees Ferry boat ramp and taxied alongside the river to view Glen Canyon Dam—the concrete arch dam, constructed within the Nineteen Fifties, that created Lake Powell—earlier than being dropped off at Petroglyph Beach. Look on the historical sheep carvings on a canyon wall close to the river earlier than gliding alongside the river’s calm waters for 10 miles, winding by crimson sandstone canyon partitions with trout swimming beneath. Be looking out for bighorn sheep and wild horses grazing on the riverbank. 

5. Visit a secret slot canyon

Many slot canyons in northeast Arizona are on Navajo land, together with widespread Antelope Canyon. Lesser-known Secret Antelope Canyon is one other sacred canyon that guests can expertise on a guided tour with the female-run Deer Spring Tours—Navajo society is matriarchal. Guides take company on a wild journey in a 4×4 to see Horseshoe Bend from a 1,000-foot-high overlook, earlier than venturing to the canyon with swirling orange and crimson partitions. Discovered by an ancestor who was in search of sheep within the ’50s, you’ll be able to search for animal shapes within the canyon’s cool partitions.

6. See the Grand Canyon’s East Rim with a information

A information is a should for exploring the huge, undeveloped swath of Navajo land, generally known as the East Rim, the place there’s no water or providers however spectacular views. Tours embody stops alongside the canyon’s edge to see Anasazi Bend, flat-topped mesas, and fiery buttes. “The canyon is like a temple to us,” says Franklin Martin, a member of the Navajo Nation’s Zuni Edgewater clan, who owns a tour company that leads excursions within the distant space. 

7. A hike for geology fans

various to the favored Wave path, the three-mile round-trip Cathedral Wash Trail in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, subsequent to Vermillion Cliffs, contains scrambling by a small canyon earlier than ending on the Colorado River. Canyon particles created Cathedral Wash Rapid. The canyon’s distinctive geology contains 270-million-year-old Kaibab Limestone and Toroweap Formations composed of gypsum, shale, and sandstone. Keep your eyes peeled for marine fossils of brachiopods, corals, and mollusks. Follow the Lees Ferry entry highway 1.3 miles to get to the trailhead. 

8. Rock formations price a photograph

Also within the recreation space, the massive rock atop a pedestal known as Balanced Rock is an intriguing instance of gravity and erosion. Thousands of years in the past, a mammoth boulder broke off the cliff above and tumbled to a cease. It compressed the softer grime beneath, which was carried away over time, leaving a pedestal with a rock seemingly teetering on prime. Look round and also you’ll see the identical course of taking place with different rocks within the space. At some level the rock could fall once more, however for now it’s a memorable photograph backdrop close to Lees Ferry—bear in mind climbing is prohibited. 

9. Try native specialties

Thirty minutes from the nationwide park’s South Rim, Cameron Trading Post is thought for its superb artwork gallery showcasing Navajo rugs and a restaurant serving Navajo tacos. Springy bread is fried till golden and topped with floor beef, beans, inexperienced chiles and cheddar cheese. At the Lonely JackRabbit in Marble Canyon, vacationers can order fried cactus burritos, prickly pear margaritas, and blue corn cookies along with smash burgers and roast hen plates. In Page, Navajo-owned Red Heritage is a dinner theater showcasing Navajo dance and serving dishes like conventional fry bread topped with tri-tip beef.

10. Drive by the Wild West

Maintained by Navajo Nation Parks & Recreation on the Arizona-Utah border, Monument Valley is a well-known Hollywood filming location and a picturesque 17-mile-long drive by towering sandstone buttes. An entry charge is required for the scenic drive and for mountain climbing the Wildcat Trail, a simple four-mile loop round Mitten Butte. Jeep excursions with native guides can take guests to extra remoted sights to see historical cliff dwellings and pure arches.

Where to remain

Marble Canyon Lodge
Just a brief stroll from the Navajo Bridge, a humble motor inn and buying and selling submit has welcomed vacationers and locals since 1926. Under the possession of the brand new hospitality firm Terra Vi, current renovations have given Marble Canyon Lodge vibrant, fashionable visitor rooms, new ranch cottages with full kitchens and fireplace pits, and a filling station turned lounge with out of doors seating, spirits listing and a vinyl file participant. A courtyard with indigenous mesquite bushes is a inexperienced oasis within the excessive desert. “We want people to be comfortable in nature, so they fall in love with it and want to protect it,” mentioned Terra Vi accomplice Kenn Fine. 

Marble Canyon Lodge is partnering with the Peregrine Fund to coach guests by storytelling and signage about California condor restoration efforts and the significance of decreasing lead air pollution.