Today was our day to leave Arizona and see what Utah has to offer. We drove north from Flagstaff to Marble Canyon, which we had visited a couple of days ago.

California condors and rafters were on the river. We got photos of the rafters, but only saw the condors from a great distance. A woman who works for the Peregrine Fund was there to monitor the condors. She pointed them out and let us use her binoculars.

Next we drove along the Vermillion Cliffs for many miles, gradually moving away from the Colorado River.

Turning westward, we ascended steep slopes onto the Kaibab Plateau. The weather changed abruptly to cool and cloudy with distant thunder and lightning. We only got a few drops of rain. Smokey joined us for lunch.

We stopped briefly at Pipe Spring National Monument, an historic site where a natural spring was the focus for years of conflict among the Paiute tribe, the Morman Church, the State of Utah, and the federal government. The monument is now administered jointly by the Paiutes and the Dept. of Interior.

Vistas in this area are amazing.

We arrived at St. George about 5:00 and set about to settle into our timeshare. Tomorrow we visit Zion National Park!

Paul