Spectacular Arizona: Visiting Lee's Ferry, Navajo Bridge, and the Vermilion Cliffs

The northern portion of Arizona, known as the Arizona Strip, is an amazing area, with stunning vistas and a fascinating history. Modern roads and automobiles have made this area relatively easy to visit, but historically it is one of the most inacessible areas in the country. In this video I take you to three amazing areas in the Arizona Strip-Lee's Ferry, Navajo Bridge, and the Vermilion Cliffs.
Over the past decade, I've traveled quite a bit (just about monthly) along US Route 89, from my Wyoming home to the Phoenix area, where my parents lived. This video covers what I consider to be the most beautiful and impressive geography along that route.

[@dsheppard8492]

John D Lee is my wifes great great grandfather. Her family has some interesting artifacts including a Photo taken by general Powel on his expedition down the river. They used mules to pull a barge across the river and their corral is seen in the photo along with their very rough shelter and several wives!!!

[@darrelnesseth1501]

Totally agree with your views about Lee’s Ferry area. My wife’s grandparents owned and lived in “Lonely Dell” years ago and we visited the area when we could get there. Beautiful and intriguing place!

[@junerobertson4389]

The Southwest is awesome.......breathtaking.

[@ig4168]

Where do I start with my accolades for this video? The quality is excellent, your voice is so easy to listen to and, of course, the information makes me want to jump in my campervan right now and experience this stunning area of your country. Next year (hopefully) I am ditching Canada's winter, skipping Florida, and heading to Arizona. Thank you, Allen.

[@travelingwithallen8637]

Thanks! If you decide to visit Arizona, you won't regret the sights. They really are stunning.

[@quixote5844]

9:07 no one wants to look at you. We want to see the bridge.

[@outbackwack368]

I love that area. So much history up there. Thanks!

[@tomthatcher7757]

We just drove 89A recently and saw the Vermillion Cliffs. Pictures don't do them justice. They are beautiful 😍. Thanks for sharing them. Nice seeing them again.

[@travelingwithallen8637]

I agree -- pictures don't do justice, and they are awe-inspiring to see in person. (But back in the 1800s, they would have been "awful" instead of "awe-inspiring." ;-)

[@henryarthur3818]

Stunning - pure and simple!

[@travelingwithallen8637]

Glad you like it!

[@dorothynorthrip1632]

Wonderful video and dialogue! Definitely on my bucket list now. Thank you!

[@travelingwithallen8637]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@dakat1726]

Wonderful narrative- magical area. A mating condor pair, who make their home near the bridge, are known as George and Gracie. Original bridge builders insisted on the unusual request of netting under the construction- not because they were afraid of death or heights; but they did not want their bodies to fall into the "terrible" Colorado river

[@silkepohl4641]

This ist great to watch , thank you very much. I Love the south West of the USA. Greetings from Germany

[@travelingwithallen8637]

Thank you very much!

[@deborahlh7747]

Great video. Superb quality. It’s like watching National Geographic.

[@davidberlanny3308]

Very interesting, very well narrated and edited, thank you. Lovely to see the Condors on the other bridge. Those cliffs remind me of the original book The Lost World by Arthur Connan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes fame), no dinosaurs up on that plateau I guess!! Good luck from Spain!!

[@ken2tou]

We launched from Lee’s Ferry in 2012. We took 9 days to pass through the Grand Canyon. Grand Canyon Expeditions gives great service.

[@Stevessphoto]

I visited there last week. Truly amazing!

[@travelingwithallen8637]

It really is!

[@danheck1]

From a spreadsheet expert to a travel videographer - very impressive, Allen. It hit my inbox today, March 26, forty years after my middle son was born in Phoenix. Three months later, I left my (ex) wife and our two young kids in Phoenix and traveled with her father and brother and 25 from my church to Lee's Ferry for a spectacular, 8 day river trip (with Hatch - don't know if they are still in business). Your travelog was a beautiful present on such an eventful day about an area more people should appreciate. Thanks, Allen!!

[@travelingwithallen8637]

Glad you enjoyed it, Dan!

[@user-pl3lp2hy7j]

Amazing area we just drove from San Diego to the south rim of the Grand Canyon to St. George Utah. Passing through this area was amazing. Worth the trip, gonna make this drive again one day. Great video.

[@travelingwithallen8637]

A trip well worth taking, for sure!

[@aaronwilloughby9552]

Thank you for sharing!

[@larrynelson8385]

Growing up in Colorado Springs, CO there were always rivers and lakes nearby for six of us kids to frolic in. Little did I appreciate at the time the extent and value of the precious Colorado river. Thank you Allen for sharing your travel adventures along with some history and great photography. Since I have read the entire book series by Tony Hillerman that is set on the Navaho reservation in AZ, I have come to enjoy the history and geography of these areas you have documented in your presentation. Keep up your nice work and may your travels be always safe.

[@steviejd5803]

Oh my! What a fabulous presentation, I could listen to you for ages and not get bored. Ok the area is utterly spectacular but topped off by your natural exuberance and abundant joy of life. Guess what….we are driving up from the South Rim and heading to the North Rim is a few weeks. We will certainly stop here and take as much as our feeble minds will allow in the presence of awe inspiring natural beauty. I get the strong impression that we will head back here from Kanab to soak up some more life affirming, spirit healing, wonder that is Arizona. Truly my happiest moments of my life have all been spent here. Thank you so much and best wishes from England. 🇺🇸🌵🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@travelingwithallen8637]

Thanks for the kind words, Stevie. Be sure to stop; it is worth as much time as you can spare. (Beautiful, beautiful area.)

[@steviejd5803]

@@travelingwithallen8637 HI Allen, well, where do I begin, we made it on our way up to The North Rim. We followed all your great advice and took our time to soak up the Arizona atmophere and spirit cleansing skies. Being there, we could alomst feel our life batteries recharging, and certainly at the end of our long day our little green meters were full, 100% charged. No sign of fatigue just a deep sense of wanderlust and the unbridled joy of life, for other reason other than being alive, our eyes open and hearts at ease. If you could but it ina bottle and write, take twice a day forever, we'd all be cured without actually knowing our ills. Like you we walked over the bridges, stopping to marvel at the Colorado river way below us. We were blessed to enjoy a perfect day, mild temps and no wind, May seems the perfect time to travel. Glenn Canyon area was wonderful too, complete with a paddle in the river. We went on to The GC, Kanab, Zion and Bryce, on our return we stopped at Glenn Canyon Recreation area and it was blowing a hoollie...dust and sand flying eveywhere. We headed back to Phoenix and shed a few tears, not because we were sad but because we couldn't contain the beauty, splendor and spiritual excess that overflowed within us. We will be back, 'yet knowing how way leads on to way', all the best 🌵🌵

[@charlesfreiberger2933]

What a great video, and I really enjoyed the narration. Thank you!

[@ataylor1277]

We just returned from a visit to Lees Ferry. Your video helped fill in the history and details of the area. Thanks.

[@travelingwithallen8637]

Glad it was helpful!

[@karenclabaugh5416]

This was a wonderful editorial video. I traveled on 89a from Jacobs Lake and quickly stopped at the Navajo's bridge . I hope next time to take the time and visit Lee's Ferry Like I wanted to.

[@travelingwithallen8637]

I hope you have the opportunity, Karen. There's a lot more I could have shared about Lee's Ferry, and it is worth the visit.

[@traveler5073]

Wonderful, informative Video without annoying music. Will go there again in September in memorandum of my husband

[@travelingwithallen8637]

Thanks for your kind words. Enjoy your trip; great time to go there!

[@kerricorser4562]

Cool! Thank you for the tour!

[@johnedwardjones999]

Very informative. Had no idea this area existed. Thank you.

[@travelingwithallen8637]

Glad it was helpful!

[@BurgundyKRO]

This is my favorite place in the world. Absolutely gorgeous :)

[@travelingwithallen8637]

It really is!

[@garrymontgomery2033]

A great video. thanks for sharing

[@petraackermann708]

Thank you for sharing this beautiful Video

[@travelingwithallen8637]

You are welcome, Petra.

[@HealingTimeTV]

애리조나 스트립(Arizona Strip)의 풍경과 역사에대한 설명에 감사해요 특별한 지형의 아리조나 Thank you for explaining the landscape and history of the Arizona Strip. Arizona's Special Topography

[@verbalwidget7267]

Very well done, thank you for the history of the area. This is great information to have before my ride to this wonderful place.

[@markmartire129]

Truly spectacular. Being in beautiful Australia (which is older geologically than the US) we have very few examples of such dramatic landscapes, although plenty of wide open spaces and our own fabulous terrain. Allen's skills with the iPhone and his narration are a pleasure to enjoy. What a pity professional videographers and TV travel documentaries don't take the time to give long, slow panoramic vistas so the viewer can absorb and marvel at the scenery; to focus on the details which would motivate viewers to go and see; and, particularly in a wilderness context, allow the viewer to at least get a feel for the atmosphere, isolation and timelessness. Excellent job - looking forward to the next ... and the next after that.

[@russlehman2070]

I drove across the old bridge in the 1980's, when going to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. It was quite narrow, and was signed as a one lane bridge. I think it was wide enough to allow two cars to pass each other, but not trucks.

[@toddswinscoe1007]

Great video! Because of your video, we are visiting Lee's Fairey tomorrow!

[@travelingwithallen8637]

I hope you enjoy the visit. (You should come back and report! )

[@johnlaforte700]

Thanks for this Adventure, it is just so beautiful and yet rugged. America the beautiful.❤

[@joesmith4372]

Wow, Allen! Impressive how you one-upped NatGeo and better yet no commercials! I've been to Eastern AZ, Painted Desert, Petrified Forest, etc., on the way to Four Corners. Long way from Ohio, but next trip I will definitely spend some time in the AZ Strip, thanks to you!

[@travelingwithallen8637]

It is worth the visit, Joe!

[@paulkattelman6831]

What an amazing part of our country. You obviously put a great deal of time into the productions of this vide. Well done, and thanxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

[@travelingwithallen8637]

You are welcome!

[@ScottArmas107]

Great video sir

[@rickrenzema8365]

Such a great video Allen, I’ve been traveling around the area for a few months now and absolutely love it. Keep up the good work.

[@travelingwithallen8637]

Glad you are able to visit. It is an amazingly beautiful area.

[@eulahcookiegrugan7480]

Great photos of a beautiful area. We have traveled in the Southwest, but never hit this part. Our loss. Thanks for your efforts.

[@travelingwithallen8637]

There's always NEXT trip! (Right?)

[@gregpresnall5732]

It gives me a great appreciation for the surprise and frustration (perhaps desperation) that the first explorers must have had when they encountered this area. It is apparent that this is challenging country even today. Thank you Allen for this posting!

[@travelingwithallen8637]

Yeah, as I said at the end, I'm glad I live now so that I can appreciate the beauty instead of facing the daunting challenge of the area.

[@bmultack]

Thank you, Allen. Beautiful photography and wonderful descriptions. I felt as if I were there.

[@richardlong8014]

Thrill seekers? Join the 101st Airborne division. Put your life on the line for freedom.

[@jmgathg]

Wow..I read your Excel and Word tips every Saturday, but you may have missed your true calling..your travel video and narration is excellent!! Great work and thank you for sharing. Subscribed for future videos!

[@travelingwithallen8637]

Thanks! Very kind words.

[@e.s.7520]

Thank you so much...I thoroughly enjoyed watching your video; just subscribed because I did!

[@travelingwithallen8637]

Thanks for subbing!

[@coryshook7648]

Wow! You did a great job with this video. Thanks for the work!

[@travelingwithallen8637]

Glad you liked it!

[@thatisartnotpffft6368]

Great vid! I loved visiting the areas you talk about here and always want to return. Vermilion Cliffs Nat Mon is the most beautiful place I've ever been, and I've been to alot of places! I like how you explain the history etc on these sites in this video.

[@travelingwithallen8637]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@agdias123]

Wow! Thank you Allen for bringing us this wonderful video on the beautiful sights of Arizona. I am only familiar with Grand Canyon but never been so close as you did. Your explanation of the Navajo Bridge and the Vermilion cliff

[@agdias123]

Last message not complete yet, pressed the wrong key.... sorry ....your explanation of the history of the Navajo Bridge and the Vermilion cliffs are very well done. I never knew these not even from my old history class. May I know what camera you used for capturing this video or videos and what software was used to stitch or combine the videos and the narration so beautifully? Thank you for everything. Armando Dias

[@travelingwithallen8637]

Armando, thanks for the kind words. Believe it or not, I used my iPhone for this one. And I use Adobe Premiere Pro to put it all together. (I use that for all of my videos.)

[@genehart261]

A very interesting and well done video. The history of John D. Lee is well worth persuing; he was a faithful follower of Brigham Young and sent into exile after the Mountain Meadows massacre. He was then convicted and executed as a scapegoat, his autobiography is fascinating to anyone interested in this area. To this day, inaccessability of the Arizona Strip makes it home to polygamous families.

[@91megatron]

This is a really great video man! History,the shots, definitely top quality.

[@travelingwithallen8637]

Much appreciated!

[@martinforrester8249]

I've travelled this route many times on route to hiking down the North Rim of Grand Canyon, camping by tent at the campground at Lee's Ferry. This was before the pay station at the entrance to Lee's Ferry. Why, oh why, did they have to install a pay station ??? Oldtimer Englishman from Shropshire reliving some of his adventures through the South West.

[@thomasmackowiak]

Beautiful views in this video, Allen! Thank you for bringing this area to our attention! I doubt that I would have ever Known about the Arizona Strip without your video.

[@travelingwithallen8637]

Thanks, Thomas. It really is a stunning area.

[@thomasmuelhein]

Thank you for this fantastic video, Allen! I have enjoyed your EXCEL tips for a long time and admired that you always seem to find just the right level of depth in your explanations. And now you carry this over to a whole new genre - I look forward to seeing more of this!

[@travelingwithallen8637]

Thanks. That's very kind of you to say.

[@richardlong8014]

Be sure to bring plenty of water.

[@lindaj5371]

Loved your video gorgeous country. Also, much appreciate the music, or lack thereof. Either very low and unobtrusive or absent. I have watched too many programs where, supposedly, background music drowns out the narrator. You have a nice balance but you could eliminate the music entirely and I would not mind!

[@4estdweller4ever]

I believe Lees Ferry figures into my family history when my Greatx3 grandfather crossed there while migrating through Utah to Arizona as a Mormon pioneer. I worry my relative was involved in the Mountain Meadow massacre and that he fled to Arizona to escape prosecution. Lee was just a willing scapegoat. In a biography written about my relative it is reported that two ex-Mormon fleshly brothers in Nauvoo tried to enlist his help to kill Joseph Smith because he was one of Smith’s bodyguards. He agreed to help them and went with one of the brothers on a foggy night to take him to Smith, but double crossed him and stopped him using a knife from carrying out the assassination. The other brother was told an alternative story but let everyone know he knew Shumway did it and that he would seek revenge. Shortly after Smith was arrested and killed by a mob and the Exodus began. My grandmother died from malnutrition in Winter Quarters. There is still a community in Arizona named after him between Snowflake and Show Low. He was with a wagon train team that reached Salt Lake 3 days before Brigham Young. Kind of blows my mind to be a descendant of all that.

[@workingmothercatlover6699]

Lees Ferry and Lonely Dell Ranch ARE part of my family history. My great great great grandfather is Warren Marshall Johnson, who (with his two wives and their children) took over the ferry after John Lee. Their four children buried there are my 2nd great aunts and uncle.

[@555atU]

My wife travelled down the Grand Staircase from Bryce, Zion, to Vermillion Cliffs. Eventually made it Grand Canyon and Sedona. Vermillion Cliffs was my favorite. Love Lees Ferry. The place really speaks to you. I made a video too. drive.google.com/file/d/1LMTeweWEM8usQByMcMA7sMfXxRiW2-b2/view?usp=drivesdk