We’re getting closer to our Las Vegas road trip adventure, and I cannot wait! The fourth day of our journey will be to Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Rainbow Bridge National Monument! We will also pay a brief visit to Horseshoe Bend.
This is the fourth post in a series that we are writing about what we plan to do during our Las Vegas road trip. We invite you to check out the previous posts in the series.
Our Plan to Visit Rainbow Bridge National Monument
If all goes according to plan, the fourth day of our journey will start bright and early. While I’m not a morning person, I will be ready to check in by 7:30am at Wahweap Marina for our tour of Rainbow Bridge National Monument. This is one of the excursions that I am most looking forward to on the trip!
Our tour will include a ~7.5 hour boat tour that will take us through the winding waterways of Glen Canyon to the site of the Rainbow Bridge. Rainbow Bridge is a natural bridge that was formed over time through water erosion.
The boat tour will take us within 1-2 miles of the bridge (depending upon water levels in Lake Powell). From the docking point, we will hike back to the bridge! While this is not a cheap excursion (the cost is ~$135 per person), the boat tour is an experience that I am sure we will cherish. When we visit, we will be treading the ground carefully as we experience sacred Navajo lands. The Monument is on Navajo reservation which will be a first for me!
Our Plan to Visit Glen Canyon Dam
Our boat tour will conclude in the middle of the afternoon (~2:30pm) back at Wahweap Marina. Once we are back on land, we will check out the nearby Carl Hayden Visitor Center at Glen Canyon Dam. Here we will get our National Park Passports stamped (stamp cramp) and potentially look into touring the Glen Canyon Dam.
My research shows that Glen Canyon Dam is an engineering marvel (much like the Hoover Dam – a popular site to visit near Las Vegas). The Glen Canyon Dam is wider, but shorter than the Hoover Dam. Furthermore, I have read that if you tour one dam, there is no need to tour the other.
I tend to geek out on things like this (engineering feats, manufacturing assembly lines, energy generation facilities, wind turbines, etc.), so I absolutely want to see them both. That being said, we will likely only officially tour one or the other. I’m thinking that Glen Canyon will be the one that we get to tour.
Our Plan to Visit Horseshoe Bend
Finally, we will wrap up the day with a visit to Horseshoe Bend which is not far from the Glen Canyon NRA. This will be a short (a little over a half mile each way, steep and sandy) hike back to this beautiful view.
What We are Missing Out On
Glen Canyon NRA is an area that I know that I will want to visit again. We really would like to carve out a day to go fishing, but it wont be possible on this (already packed!) road trip. Please believe, I don’t want to fall asleep at inappropriate times again while exploring! Glen Canyon seems like the kind of place that I could stay for an extended period of time to enjoy chillaxin’ on the water.
One thing that I know that we are missing out on that I would love to one day be able to explore is the beautiful Antelope Canyon. I have been salivating over the photos of this sacred slot canyon. There are tours that we looked into that have already sold out for the days that we will be in the area.
That’s it for Day 4! Luckily, we’ve booked a hotel that has a laundry facility so we can get some mid-trip freshness! I’m thinking that at this point in the trip, we’ll also want to try to turn in early for the evening. I’m sure we’ll be exhausted by the end of the day!
Let us know what you think. We have really appreciated getting some great tips and feedback thus far!
