September 29, 2012

WE LEFT  CANYON VILLAGE THIS MORNING to go to Lake Powell. We may have left Canyon Village, but we didn't leave the canyon: it was in sight for nearly fifty miles. The Colorado River starts at Lake Powell, and flows southward before bending westward to flow through the canyon. It was a clear day, and we could see Navajo Mountain over 90 miles in the distance.

After stopping several times to see the canyon from different angles, we finally reached the end of the canyon.

Not far from the east entrance is a watch tower which affords a commanding view of the canyon. I resisted the urge to climb the tower.

Once out of the park, we skirted the edge of a large Navajo reservation where the late Tony Hillerman set most of his mysteries. At one point, we drove within a few miles of Tuba City, a headquarters for the Navajo police frequented by Jimmy Chee and Joe Leaphorn, Hillerman's leading two detectives.  Throughout our drive, we could see the abject poverty of the Indians just as Hillerman had described in his novels. Many of The Navajos live in old trailers and have erected wooden stands by the highway to sell blankets.  When we reached the motel, we were happy to see that most of the employees are Navajo.

Page, the town at Lake Powell, is much more up-scale than most of the towns we have seen in the last several weeks.  The canyon rafting trips start here, and the lake is a very popular spot for house boating.