Page, AZ - Navajo BridgeJun 14, 2009
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looking at a raft full of people from the old Navajo Bridge
looking upstream at the calm Colorado
Visitor Center blends into landscape nicely
When we were here last time, the bus took us back to Page over the Navajo Bridge after our float trip down the Colorado to Lee's Ferry, where the Grand Canyon starts. He told us a little bit about the original Navajo Bridge. I had to go by the same place to get to the North Rim, so I stopped on the east side of Navajo Bridge. That's where the Indians have wooden shade structures from which to sell their crafts. On the west side is a visitor center run by the National Park Service because this bridge is a National Historic Engineering Landmark!
The first bridge was built in 1929 and was the first time cars could cross the Colorado for six hundred miles without going by ferry, which had been very dangerous. With our big trucks and motorhomes of today, the bridge isn't wide enough for two lanes. So, they built a second bridge in 1994 using the same engineering techniques as the first bridge, and closed the original to vehicles. The width went from 18 feet to 44 feet.
I was lucky to get to the bridge when a couple of Condors were flying by. I watched them glide and soar around this area but could only get a picture of one (#9) when it was sitting on a rock. The sky was blue and it was hard to get the bird in the frame so it could be seen by everyone.
I also saw a few rafters come through. There were some independent rafting pontoons and as I was leaving, a flotilla of them were approaching in bright yellow rafts.
