Red rocks and the beginning of the desert

Phoenix greeted us with rain when we arrived here early yesterday afternoon, which is supposed to be a rarity, just like the temperatures which are hovering around 15 degrees Celsius. For us, it feels pleasant: we still haven't got the winter quite out of our system, and here it feels like spring. We've found a beautiful small hostel not very far from downtown, the CamelBackpackers Hostel, privately run and with room for a maximum of sixteen people. It's only been in operation since the summer of 2012.  
See: www.camelbackpackers.com/

We'll leave later today to finally settle down for a few days in one spot, hopefully finding a place to pitch a tent somewhere in the Superstition Mountains east of here. 
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We’ve covered a lot of ground since we left Kanab two days ago. Since we wanted to be in Phoenix Friday evening to listen to a speaker there we didn’t have too much leeway, but the drive led us through some amazing country. Descending through miles and miles of the Kaibab National Forest the road dropped from 2400 m at its highest point to about 1000 m in the Vermilion Cliffs area. The sparsely traveled road led right along these cliffs so deserving of their name. 

We were hoping to go for at least a short hike, but somehow missed the turn-off and soon found ourselves at Lees Ferry, which consisted of a lodge, a gas station and a few houses along the road. 

Here, too, there was no official information  building to be found, but when we stopped to check out a  map in a parking lot a guy in an old pick-up stopped and asked if we were looking for something. He looked as if he had spent a lot of his life in the sun, and, fortunately for us, at least some of it seemed to have taken place in this area. He not only told us where to turn to get to the Colorado River, only four miles into the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, but also pointed out a hike we could take, up Cathedral washout. "You'll know why it's called that when you go there", he said. 

We paid the $15 fee at the self-registration station shortly after the turn-off - this would have been good for a week's stay, and was charged per vehicle - and decided to have lunch at Paria Beach, close to the launching station for raft trips through the Grand Canyon. At 24 degrees, this was the warmest place we'd been to so far, and sitting on a big rock on the edge of the river it felt like summer. The muddy contents of the Paria River had emptied into the Colorado a short distance upriver, clearly set off from the fast moving current sparkling in various shades of jade. We listened to the sound of the water, watched the ducks and little diving birds riding its waves, and enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere.

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It is time to check out, so I will continue when I can.