Balanced Rock (and Understudy), Lee's Ferry, Arizona
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Lee's Ferry is an historic spot in the Colorado River canyon. These days it's where all the river running expeditions through Grand Canyon put into the river, because it's the only place above Grand Canyon (and below the massive Glen Canyon Dam) that is easily accessible.
Lee's Ferry is at the lower end of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. It's just upriver from the uppermost reach of the Marble Canyon section of Grand Canyon National Park. As far as white man history goes, Lee's Ferry was named after a man named Lee (you're not surprised) who saw the opportunity to operate a ferry across the river in this rare spot where one could get across the river with relative ease.
But on to the balanced rocks. I realize that in this photo there is no Colorado River in sight. It's off to the right. What is interesting is the rocks. There would be no Grand Canyon for us to gawk at if it weren't for the rocks, because, like the canyon itself they are tracks left behind by the ongoing erosion of canyon carving.
The red boulders in the foreground came from the Vermilion Cliffs in the background. Long ago, erosion caused these huge boulders, and many more like them, to be worked loose from the cliff and fall, roll, then land with a tremendous boom onto the valley floor below. At least that's how I imagine it.
No sooner than they had landed, the boulders were slowly being undermined again. That erosion thing never sleeps. A boulder can't get much rest. Over hundreds or thousands of years this one found itself somehow standing on some kind of neck of compacted soil. Probably its own immense weight weighted the soil beneath it so that it was harder to wash away. So up on its pedestal it stood, waiting for somebody to build a road nearby so we could have our pictures taken in front of it.
Meanwhile, the smaller, rounder boulder to the left has been watching all of this. Someday after its big brother has tumbled to the ground, Little Red Boulder will be sitting pretty on its own pedestal. Provided that it's suitably balanced.
Stay tuned for centuries and centuries on this one.
Photo location: Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Arizona.
