Located within the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area at Lee’s Ferry, Arizona, the trail leading to the Spencer Trail departs a gravel parking lot a few hundred feet past, and to the east, of the launching ramps where groups stage and rig their rafts for river trips through the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. At the edge of the parking there is a sign that reads, “Lee’s Ferry Historic District, River Trail, and Spencer Trail.” Once past the sign the trail continues beyond two small rock buildings on the left, and then crosses a wooden bridge. The trail then veers to the left and passes by a couple of stone buildings, an old rusty boiler that was part of Charles Spencer’s failed attempt to recover gold from the nearby Chinle clay deposits, and a few hundred feet farther is the junction of the Spencer Trail and River Trail; turn left for a workout…turn right to cool your feet in the Colorado River.  The round trip from Lees Ferry to the top of the trail takes about two hours; has a vertical rise of 1,550 ft. and covers approximately four miles.

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Once at the crest of the trail, views to the east include the Kaiparowits Plateau, the long flat landform to the north, Navajo Mountain far off in the distance, and the Navajo Generating Station, which supplies power for running the massive pumps to get water from the Colorado River to Phoenix and Tucson via the Central Arizona Project. Views to the west include Marble Canyon, cut by the Colorado River, the Kaibab Plateau in the far distance, and the Vermilion Cliffs, which define the southern edge of the Paria Plateau. A venture a few hundred yards to the east will allow viewing of the only remaining section of Glen Canyon, which was drowned by Lake Powell in the early 1960s.

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I have often asked myself, "who was the lucky soul that had to navigate the Spencer Trail for the first time?"  I come to find out that it wasn't a person who navigated the Spencer Trail for the first time… It was a mule! Apparently Charles Spencer and his buddy Clifford Duncan were sitting at the base of the escarpment drinking brewskis one afternoon when Clifford said,"hey Charley, what do you think Rosemary the mule would do if we let her loose pointed at that escarpment in the direction of home? Do you think she's going to try to go home?"  Well Rosemary wanted to go home! While making her way up the escarpment Charley and Clifford mapped her progress so as to be able to find the trail she navigated.  The rest is history!  Maybe they should rename the trail, "Rosemary's Trail!"

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Many have asked who the pony-tailed old man is in many of my photographs.  His name is Steve Carothers...my best friend of over 35 years!  Steve is "Old Man River" when it comes to the Colorado River as he has studied, hiked, trapped, fished, camped, rafted, rappelled, climbed and has done or thought about anything humanly possible to do outdoors or in a tent!

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I have included a photograph at the very beginning of the photo collection to honor a great human being who sat down and died 100 feet from the top of Spencer Trail; his name, Robert " Bob" Flamme.  He sat down with his dog Sandy and died on the trail in October, 2008., at age 74.  He rested in peace for a couple of days until a couple of French tourists discovered his body.  Sandy showed up at Lees Ferry a day or so after he died.  Congestive heart failure complicated by diabetes caused his demise. Bob owned Sunnyside Auto (repair shop) in Flagstaff, Arizona, but since about 2000 he was Steve Carothers' second boatman on all of his Grand Canyon trips.  He loved Budweiser, was king of the malapropism, " I resemble that remark!" Born in Missouri, Bob did well in school until 4th grade when he had to drop out to go to work. He never knew his mother. Raised by his dad's girlfriends. None of them liked him. He was genius smart! R.I.P. Bob!!!