On to Lake Powell

Yesterday we had a longer travel day than usual for us.   The drive from Prescott to Page and a little beyond was about 230 miles with stops for fuel and propane.

The beginning and ending sections of our planned route were new to us, the middle was familiar.   We left Prescott and headed towards I-40 on route 89.   We have never been on this section of 89 before and enjoyed the scenery of wide open vistas and small settlements.    

Flagstaff is a familiar place of pines, big meadows and snow on the surrounding mountains.   This time it was difficult to take any pictures of the alpine beauty because the air was very smoky.  Evidently there was a prescribed burn in progress.

We could only see the source of the smoke after we had passed by.

I will apologize, in advance, for the various dots, smears, dribbles and marks through which you'll see the scenery in tonight's blog.     Spring has sprung and with it comes all manner of flying things flinging themselves into Beluga's windshield as we move down the road.

Past Flagstaff we entered the Navajo Reservation and the landscape went from pines and snow, through flat, golden grasslands to rocks, and ridges and mounds in fantastical shapes and colors with small pockets of hogans, trailers and modest homes and horses corrals scattered around.

stripes of chocolate, slate grey, pink,and green in the hills

a typical small Navajo household
at the foot of the Echo Cliffs

A few years ago, when we were on our way to Lake Powell, we had to detour off of route 89 because a recent landslide had just crashed down and covered the road just before Page.   Then, we had to make a big loop using route 160 through Tuba City connecting with route 98 and then on into Page from the east.

Yesterday, we found route 89 was finally open all the way and we drove up and into the red rocks, through the landslide area.

 

I'm so glad the road was finally open and we were able to experience this section of 89.     We drove through the outskirts of Page, which has grown a lot in the 3 years since our last visit.   We drove over the bridge high above the Glen Canyon Dam (which I did not photograph because I was working hard to keep my eyes straight ahead....) and into the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area's Wahweap Campground and Marina.

It is beautiful here, views of the canyons, cliffs, rock formations and Lake Powell are all around us.   We have a full hook up, double wide paved site next to John and Pam.   What we don't have is any television and the internet is weak at best, both ours and the campgrounds.  

I'll end this now,  I have more to show you but tomorrow is another day and perhaps the internet connection will be stronger then.

view from our site # 24

 

view from Beluga's windshield