61.09 Arizona: Page: Lees Ferry: Spenser Trail, Numero Uno, as it's close to Mexico, inter alia.

Some people follow the crowd; others follow the money; many follow the news; fewer people follow their tails while still others…wait for it…follow the Colorado. Da! 

A view of the Colorado River passing through Lees Ferry. We are positioned slightly above water level.
Jen boulder-hopping at the top of Spenser Trail, an hour-and-quarter later.
"Listen to me, Jen: I think that's probably the Colorado River. Seemed greener on the last occasion though."
Some perspective of the river and how it manages to flow in a 'straight-line'.
Variation along the route. Not the easiest of paths but probably one of the best. It was worth hiring a chopper to get this view of the top of Jen's head. She forgot to remove her hat, though. Great! We'll have to repeat the hike. (How about tomorrow, Jen?)
One of the ways of enjoying a fulfilled life, or at least an aspect of it, is to follow your dreams and to try to bring them to reality. To do this, one of course has to begin at the beginning. Don’t you just love moments of brilliance? Anyway, we think the beginning is not as obvious as one would expect. For, before one follows a dream, one should understand one’s desires, the goal. Simply, what is the dream or dreams? We might state it’s not as easy as it sounds. Besides many facets involved, one should be able to define it, that it be realistic, achievable but not necessarily easily attainable. Thereafter, it gets more complex. While many of us dream of ideal situations, in many instances, the difficulty or challenge of the task is somewhat too onerous when considered seriously. We tend to put it off by rationalizing it to the backburner to be dealt with in the future or ultimately, abandoned completely...(continues below.)

Jen inches along a narrow edge.

The chopper dropped me off at this point. Still waiting for Jenni as she ambles up the 'hill'.
She continues to make progress although the sun is due to set in about 8 hours...hope she's aware of that.
'Hey, Jen, the river's disappeared. Please move to your right. (Sometimes I think she does that deliberately to annoy me...and the camera. {She's middle-right, look carefully.})
Now you're talking. This is much more like it.
"Okay, follow closely, it's a tricky section. Grab the rope! Oops! Wrong trail. (One of us, top-right)."
"At last. Now you're looking like an adventurer...please lose the hat. (Jen toward bottom left.)"
Walking on the mountaintop as we return from a third peak. 

Let's go vertical, Kiddo. Gentle inclines are so 2023. 

Returning home, looks like he's picked up the pace.
The raw, overwhelming walls of the Colorado. We are facing toward Page from the top of Spenser Trail.
Ground-level does not seem to get any closer, perhaps I should move my feet.
 

Meanwhile, the 'Energizer Bunny' pushes on and up.
What's waiting above...staggering. Note the zig-zag of the water by following the fissures across the land.
One of the high points of the day after a tricky climb.
Occasionally he plays the role of a sentry, looking out for the Madam.
And talking of the Madam, here she is hugging the wall alongside a narrow path.
A full-frontal, mountain and river. 

Another wonderous sight at the top. 

  

  While I’m not Martin Luther King, I too had a dream. In fact, many although some have turned into nightmares. The dream I’ll mention is one I discovered only after an introduction, a rather informal one. The dream amounted to discovering more of it, facing the challenges presented by it, including danger that it exudes, seeking its hiding places and admiring and enjoying it. I am most fortunate not just that I feel I’m living the dream but that we came across the source of this challenge and pleasure unplanned and in ignorance. Furthermore, I feel lucky that this spirit or desire within me released itself when it noticed, perceived and was ‘knocked-out’ by the Colorado River. Besides a number of things in life that make me feel fulfilled, excited, content, etc, the Colorado River fills a need. I tend to become excitable about it as well as many other aspects of natural life, too, including the abundance of natural wonders. 

  Should a person inquire what is special for you in the United States, I would not hesitate to reply: ‘The River and the many places it touches and then beautifies, the opportunities it presents in its surround for climbing and boulder hopping, the lessons it teaches about water management and survival, the lives it sustains and again, the sheer beauty we experience within its influence. I could go on extending the glory and advantages that we perceive but I’m feeling lazy today having had a full couple of weeks re-acquainting ourselves with ‘Madam Color’. 

  The river has been treated both well and poorly, too. Some counties have over-utilized it, albeit for good purposes but nevertheless impact it by draining too much of its content. With this in mind, it should be said that many dams and lakes are formed along it. In places, it’s difficult to differentiate between it (a river) and lakes. Favorites include Lake Mead in Arizona/Nevada plus Hoover Dam, Lake Powell in Arizona/Utah plus Glen Canyon Dam, Lake Havasu in Arizona/California plus Parker Dam, Davis Dam in Bullhead City…the list is extensive. These bodies of water are amazingly attractive, act as a source of power generation, sustenance, leisure activities, water sports and the pleasure of being surrounded by beauty and magnificent coloring, never forgetting the deep canyons and crevasses bored into the earth. One should not forget to mention its long journey commencing in Colorado, ending in Mexico where along the flow it helped create the Grand Canyon, perhaps one of the most amazing places on the planet. (At no stage do I profess to offer expertise, technical or otherwise, about the river, only love of it.) 

   I will conclude that the Colorado, joined and expanded by many attractive tributaries, spends much of its flowing hours passing through deserts. While one would expect regions close to a large body of flowing water to be lush, this is not the case. Alongside its banks, there will of course be vegetation but in many parts, it touches the harsh deserts. As a tease, the river dances along creating canyons, horseshoes, falls, while in many places, hues of yellow, orange, red abound and in places brown, green, grey and black spots add to the rainbow of color. 

  There was a time when I only thought of deserts in a negative context. I was wrong. The beauty of the deserts, particular those visited where the Colorado journeys, touches, strokes, teases and even seems to flirt with boulders and rocks are magnificent to view. More importantly, opportunities presented for hiking, to walk, climb, boulder-hop are endless and limited to one’s degree of imagination and fear-tolerance. In addition, one should contemplate a general appreciation of the endless and original surroundings plus present oneself for sunrises and sunsets to complete at least, a fraction of the cycle. 

  (We do skip summer in the desert though, as I may be a romantic but not yet a complete idiot.) It would not be exaggerating to state that one does not visit places touched by the Colorado but rather, one immerses oneself in such regions, if not the water. 

Cheers, 

Jenni and Jeffrey 

Additional photographs are appended as there were too many to simply abandon in the waters of the Colorado. 

 Jen in an interesting spot.

Heck of a place to find for rock climbing and hopping.
Jen on the way home after a ho-hum day.
END, finally.

61.08 Arizona: First 3 days in Page, a brief introduction to a Rock-Scrambling Heavenly Environment, around Lake Powell.

  Before continuing with scenes from Lake Havasu, we thought of displaying a handful of pictures of Page, arguably one of our favorite spots in the world. After 8 days in Havasu, hence quite a few blogs unposted, we arrived in Page, a visit of fourteen days. That's pretty dumb, I thought. This could be our 8th, perhaps 10th visit thus far. We should have known better. After all these periods, why choose as many as fourteen days? What were we thinking? It should have been thirty-days, at least. 

  Admittedly, on some days Jen cannot feel her extremities as the sun fights a tough battle against the air currents. Fortunately, by mid-morning the temperature is usually in 'the black' while the land, boulders and rocks remain in beautiful hues of yellow, orange and red. Thus we 'struggle' on, keeping the stiff upper-lip as the British used to say in the earlier generations (we miss that age), feasting our senses in a gorgeous environment while the shades of blue from the water provide a brilliant contrast. Some days we feel spoiled rotten in being exposed to such wonder. Fortunately, it's balanced with the challenges and struggles of climbing and long hikes, thus making us feel it's nearly earned. I've always said humans can rationalize anything. 

 I intended to caption this with "Takes our breath away", before realizing that phrase could be used most times. I'll write instead, "Thank you for entertaining and enlightening us while lifting our spirits." The lake/river takes a sharp turn as it enters from Utah.
'I haven't got all day, you know, these rocks might not wait for me." 'Yeah, right. Where do you suppose they're going?' I never said our conversations were intelligent. While Jen may not look ready for rock action, she's pure 'terror' on the boulders and frankly, a delight.
We found a route to the high spot in Page itself which gave us a unique view of Lake Powell. It goes without saying what a special period it was with eyes glued to the scene.
  We would like to repeat an incident that occurred in New Zealand a number of years ago that puts Page in perspective rather than on the map. We were walking on the Kepler Trek and had just returned from a major peak. We noticed a young man looking up toward that peak and we greeted him. Clearly, he was an American and we inquired where he lived. 

 "But your accent does not sound like that of a New Yorker," we countered. He replied he was living in the City then but in fact grew up in Arizona. 

  "Where in Arizona?" we asked further. 

  "You won't know of the place," he countered, "It's a small town, only discovered in the 1950's. Nobody knows of it." Try us we pursued yet again. 

  "I grew up in a place called Page," he mentioned. "I doubt whether you've heard of it." 

  "Yeah right," we replied, in our newly acquired American phrase. We had been in the town two months before.

The river is deep, the river is wide, it is indeed a treasure. My treasure stands to the side.
From the spring in Jen's step one can discern how much she enjoys rock-hopping. I come along for the ride just to keep her company.
Why should Jenni have all the fun?
Shadow dancing on the rocks.
This is a new position we found, what a win.
A good time of day.
Highway 89 brings one in from the other great state, Utah.
It seems impossible to witness such amazing sights/sites

Cheers,

Jenni and Jeffrey

We remember David Diamond—friend, gentleman and decent human—who passed away recently following a short, devastating illness, struck down from 'out of the blue'. While we all continue, something and somebody is definitely missing. Our deepest condolences go out to David's dear wife, Jackie, and of course, his family. Clearly, there is much of which we are wholly ignorant, so much that makes no sense. 😢

61.07 Arizona: Sara Park: Pilot Rock, another guiding beacon in this fabulous park, devised by far-sighted individuals.

From the top of Pilot Rock, reached with a level of satisfaction, one looks out onto the lake which is always a fascinating view.
Water and sand, two elements side-by-side, provide pleasure to the senses.
Couldn't intimidate Jenni on the day.
I wouldn't be surprised to ascertain that the lake is a 'classified show-off', from-time-to-time.
At the close of the outward journey, Jenni approaches Pilot Rock.
Jen stands below (extreme right and middle), viewed from Pilot Rock, a truly outstanding few minutes of adrenaline flow to reach it, I think.
On the way up the wall. Ignored use of the rope but for a section of the way down. (It's fascinating how we trust various safety measures like ropes which may not be 'tested' or worn. We experienced some suspect places recently overseas. As Gavin, our son, is wont to remark, "What you gonna do?"
Surrounded by so many attributes of nature at its best.

An exciting few minutes on the top; a little concerned about the return journey.
On the way down.
More lake, more pleasure.
A view in any direction; it matters not.
We're not Christians but we respect Christianity. Seeing the symbol in that position was upsetting.

A contrast of the very dry land and supposedly, 'wet' water.
Cheers, 

Jenni and Jeffrey