September 19, 2022 - Utah Flight
Page - Grand Canyon - Kanab
Taking off from Marble Canyon Airport to the south with the Vermilion Cliffs to starboard.
   
Turning back north and getting a good look at the Colorado River.
   
Marble Canyon to the left and Navajo Bridge to the right.
   
Looking down at the Marble Canyon Airport ramp, Trading Post and Motel.
   

Looking east at the Pariah Canyon, through which we had come earlier.
   

We were going to fly the Grand Canyon, but first we have to see the famous Horseshoe Bend and Glen Canyon Dam.  I mean, we're so close, it would be a crime not to.

So now we're heading north, looking at another huge sand dune slide.
   

Following the Colorado River north.  Page, Arizona is dead ahead in the distance.
   
Approaching Page.
   
And there it is!  The famous Horseshoe Bend.  If you look closely, you can see a green powered-parachute flying just above the rim.
   
Another look.  Now you can really see the powered parachute.
   
For a long time Horseshoe Bend was mostly popular with nearby residents, but the yearly visitor count sharply increased with exposure through social media.  Nowadays the lookout is a major tourist destination with more than 2 million visitors a year.
   
Continuing on, we soon come to the Glen Canyon Dam.
   

The 710-foot high dam was built by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) from 1956 to 1966 and forms Lake Powell, one of the largest man-made reservoirs in the U.S. with a capacity of more than 25 million acre-feet.  The dam is named for Glen Canyon, a series of deep sandstone gorges now flooded by the reservoir; Lake Powell is named for John Wesley Powell, who in 1869 led the first expedition to traverse the Colorado River's Grand Canyon by boat.

The bridge is pretty impressive too.
   
 
   
Following the Colorado River south now.  We climb above 8,000 feet msl per the mandatory, not just recommended, altitude requirements.
   
The Vermilion Cliffs from a different perspective.
   
To get from Marble Canyon to Page by car, you have to cross to the east side of the Colorado, and head south a good ways before you can finally head north and cross the Echo Cliffs at Antelope Pass below.
   
Not too hard to navigate around here.  Follow the big ditch.
   
Starting to see a few Grand Canyon type things.
   
 
   
That 180-degree bend in the river is called Eminence Break.
   
 
   
Still heading south.  Now we have to be above 10,000 feet msl.
   

Looking east at the Little Colorado River.  You can see where it joins the main Colorado River just in front of my wing. 
 
   
 
   
Looking west, flying to the north of the Bright Angel Flight Free Zone.
   
 
   
 
   
Flying west parallel to the Grand Canyon.
   
Flying over the huge tree-covered mesa north of the Grand Canyon.
   
Now we're flying south through the Dragon Corridor at 10,500 feet.
   
We were monitoring the common frequency for the corridor and could hear lots of commerical planes talking below us, and see them on ADS-B, but I never saw a single one.   Plus, it was like they were talking a foreign language.
   
Looking east.
   
and looking west.  This is probably the fourth time I've flown the Grand Canyon, and believe it or not, the photography conditions today were probably the best I've ever experienced.  That said, you just don't get great Grand Canyon photos.  They make you fly too high, and it's too big.
   
 
   
Looking east; you can see the river in a couple of spots.
   
Looking west.
   
There's a decent shot of the river.  From way up here, it looks muddy brown and calm.  Having rafted it four years ago, I can tell you it's dark green and there is more than enough white water; i.e., rapids, to get your attention.
   
How the water looks when you are on it.
   
And then there's the white water.
   
It's striking how the green trees grow right up to the edge of the vast canyon.
   
Now heading west to the next corridor.
   
Turning northeast into the Fossil Canyon Corridor.
   
Looking northwest.
   
There's a good shot of the river.  It looks so small from up here, yet it took us seven days to raft it from Lee's Ferry to near the Bar Ten Airport.
   
Looking west.
   
 
   
Hotata Canyon joins the river from the east.  A little further up is Shinumo Creek and Falls.
   
Rounding the bend of that huge peninsula jutting north.
   
 
   
 
   
We exist Fossil Canyon corridor and turn northwest.
   
We start descending to enter the Kanab Creek canyon which is outside and to the north of the Grand Canyon airspace.
   
Yeah, this is more like it.
   
Looking south with the Grand Canyon proper in the distance.
   
Crazy landscape, man.
   
Kanab Creek Canyon branches out to the north.
   
Now heading north.
   
The green ribbon must be Kanab Creek.
   
A dirt road heads up Snake Gulch.
   
Passing by an un-named overlook.  It's a long way over a dirt road to get to this overlook.
   
Kanab Canyon ends and soon Kanab appeards in front of us.
   
On final for runway 19 at Kanab.
   
We fueled up and spent time talking with an airport local.
   
Kanab Airport has a nice pilot lounge.  No FBO here and no courtesy car.
   
 
   
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