Below Glen Canyon‘s Horseshoe Bend, there’s a low point at Lee’s Ferry where rafters put in to run the rapids down into the Grand Canyon. First they go under Navajo Bridge and through Marble Canyon. The Colorado River and cliffs here are still part of Glen Canyon, but there’s a large, ecologically important shelf or rim under the Vermilion Cliffs (distant above right) that was weakly protected. A few clever folks figured you could camp out right on the rim above and watch the rafts and stars go by.

I found this place above on the map, but it’s not well known. It’s called Rapids or Beaver Creek Overlook, and there’s a 2 mile dirt road from 89A not far from Cliff Dwellers & their destination charger and tasty restaurant. I asked a local Navajo woman about the road, and she described it as ‘nice and flat’. Which is true, because the views are lovely and the wide rim is basically flat. But it would have been easier in a high clearance vehicle. I guess she has a different standard for ‘nice and flat’. Still, my car is visible on the rim above to the right, so I can’t complain. If you go, please stay on the road or in one of the very primitive camping areas as the small cacti and desert soils are fragile.

Navajo and other tribes petitioned for better federal protection of such lands all around the Grand Canyon to prevent uranium mining and other damage. President Biden agreed. The park name means ‘where tribes roam’ and ‘our ancestral footprints’ in Havasupai & Hopi respectively. Even larger areas are now better protected in the west and south, including a large chunk of the Kaibab National Forest below the south rim. The new park is managed by the US Forest Service, so like Avi Kwa Ame it won’t count as one of the 425 official NPS units. Still, it’s new, important and on my way.