Marble Canyon

Nomad

Finally got to Lee's Ferry campground in Marble Canyon. Fought 35-50mph headwinds getting down here. Crosswinds all the way across from Coral Dunes State Park. Once I finally made the turn north to the Canyon I got a tailwind. So, I was sitting back relaxed and low and behold I met someone pulling a T@B leaving Marble Canyon. Until I saw hands waving I wasn't really paying attention, just enjoying the tailwind. So, was it anyone here in the forums - black TV, silver roofed T@B? Sorry I did't wavy, you caught me by surprise.

I'm convinced that the last part of March and beginnings of April are not the time to visit this area. My second time - The last time I fled from extreme sand storms. Haven't seen a single person outside their camper. Everyone seems hunkered down hoping tomorrow will be better.

Michigan_Mike

Post up some pics when you get a chance.  I've been through the area but didn't stop at Lee's Ferry.   

Nomad

Will do - the light angles aren't the best this time of the year I'm discovering but was up at 5:00 and out for sunrise so we'll see what I got - yesterday was somewhat of a wash as clouds were blocking the sun for sunset. Cold also - the north rim was only 11 degrees this morning. Here it was 34.

leenscottfl

A few years ago we were tent camping at Guadalupe Mt. Went to an old ranch operated by the park service and talked to the lady there. I don't recall what time of year it was but the wind howled incessantly. Asked the lady how long the wind would blow and she said until June! Told her that in Florida we called it a hurricane. Said she had heard that before.

Nomad

The radio said it's typical for spring - evidently the winds creast the mountains to the west and pick up speed as they descend into these high altitude plateau areas. Don't get them in the lower altitudes.
So, spring is probably not the best time to visit here.

Verna

I didn't get over to that area this past summer on my way .  The closest I got was Four Corners.  I'll have to try this area, but I now know NOT to go there in the spring. 

Rad

Verna said:

I didn't get over to that area this past summer on my way .  The closest I got was Four Corners.  I'll have to try this area, but I now know NOT to go there in the spring. 

Summer you get monsoon season, epic afternoon thunderstorms and rain.  I like the southwest best in the late spring before the monsoon season or in the fall.

Normfun

Fall is best. IMHO 

Nomad

Now you two speak up :-)

Rad

PXLated said:

Now you two speak up :-)

Ya just haveta ask....I has got an opinion on everything

Verna

Come to think of it, when I left the Four Corners Region, I had to be careful which roads I took because a "monsoon" had hit between there and Moab.  Luckily, I arrived dry and no floating. 

Rad

Verna said:

Come to think of it, when I left the Four Corners Region, I had to be careful which roads I took because a "monsoon" had hit between there and Moab.  Luckily, I arrived dry and no floating. 

Once when we were at Lake Powel 10 hikers died when a 50' high wall of water rushed down the slot canyon they were hiking in and engulfed them.  The crazy thing about that horrible incident was the fact that it was hot and dry where they were.  The intense rain was many miles up stream of them, they had no way of knowing a deadly wall of water was building and coming their way.

We spent many hours on that trip watching the water cascade over the crest of the canyon walls and crash a hundred + feet into the lake where we were on the houseboat.  

In that part art of the world Mother Nature can unleash her wrath at any time of the year.

Normfun

Living in Utah or anywhere in the west you just learn to expect the unexpected. Example. 73 sunny nice day Monday. By Wednesday morning we had 7.5 inches of snow. Now snows melting and it should be 60 on Friday. Typical along with the 70 mph winds. I have been snowed on every month of the year here. Of course I was at 12000 feet a few of those times. The harsh weather is one of the main reasons we sold the 5wide and got a Tab. With the 5wide we needed a tent too. Tents and storms don't usually get along with each other. So far the Tab has been great. We do camp year round. Enjoy the current weather because it could get worse later 

Michigan_Mike

Rad said:

Once when we were at Lake Powel 10 hikers died when a 50' high wall of water rushed down the slot canyon they were hiking in and engulfed them.  The crazy thing about that horrible incident was the fact that it was hot and dry where they were.  The intense rain was many miles up stream of them, they had no way of knowing a deadly wall of water was building and coming their way.

We spent many hours on that trip watching the water cascade over the crest of the canyon walls and crash a hundred + feet into the lake where we were on the houseboat.  

In that part art of the world Mother Nature can unleash her wrath at any time of the year.

Absolutely!  Antelope Canyon at Lake Powell has claimed tourists over years past and the flash floods have etched out some interesting designs beneath ground.  I spent a half day down there and was thinking about it all the while...  

Nomad

Marble Canyon tourist pics...









Overcast and bland so it's a photo editing day.

Nomad

Not a good tourist or photography day...

mickietucs

Definitely have to go there (but per suggestions will not go in Mar/Apr) - awesome!

Michigan_Mike

As I recall there was a huge and unusual bolder field along that stretch of road and it was pretty cool to see it.  I didn't stop at Lee's ferry but do have a buddy named Lee and he chuckled when I told I'd passed by that spot...  He said, "I can only imagine!"  So we did get a good laugh out of it.  

Nomad

Mike - Ya, boulders everywhere along the one section of road - the last two pics are from right there.

Nomad

Mike - There are two other boulder fields close by - West of Vermillion Cliffs and the more interesting ones are on the outskirts of Cliff Dwellers (12 miles - or so - west from the Marble Canyon entrance). The latter has huts built into/under the boulders - huts from the 1920/30s.

jkjenn

normfun said:

Fall is best. IMHO 

I hit a major sandstorm in the fall at Monument Valley. As it cleared made for some awesome photos. One of my bestsellers is from that trip.

Nomad

I skipped Monument Valley this weekend because of the wind forecast - stopped for gas at the turn and continued on. I've flown over it many time (small plane) on the way to telluride but want to make it via ground.

mickietucs

PXLated and others - when do you think would be a good time of year to visit that area (because of the winds) - May and beyond? When I leave Tucson and after visiting friends in Henderson, NV, I thought about going that way (Lee's Ferry, Monument Valley, etc.) as I make my way to Moab (and then to Telluride). Wondering if I should leave later than I originally thought.

Nomad

I'd never been in that area (on the ground anyway) so had no idea. There must be an average weekly wind report somewhere - There are for temps.

BBchBum

go to http://www.wunderground.com/wundermap/  make sure the weather stations are enabled in the legend and you will see all the current weather stations for the area you are looking at.  click on a station in the area you are interested in and you will be directed to that page.  scroll down and you will see an almanac history section. just at the bottom of this section is a link to a calendar view which you can then select the month you are interested in. the data is compiled from 1999 to present and should give a representative view of the weather for the area. I would recommend looking at several stations since many are privately owned and their location may influence the data presented.  

hope this proves helpful in your travels :-)

BBchBum

forgot to add - when you are in the monthly calendar look at the detailed history to see the wind speed

mickietucs

Great - thank you!!

Nomad

BBchBum - Have the app (great app) but had never knew the history was there - Thanks

Nomad

BBchBum - Actually, in the app not all of it is there and in the online version I can see wind forecasts but sure don't see historical averages anywhere.

BBchBum

PXLated - I was referring to the full online version - and you are right - it provides data for the past week. I guess their idea of historical and mine are a tad different. I did find this other site - windhistory.com that seems to provide averaged past data. It seems to have been developed for pilots and references data from airports.  I am referring to the full site - I don't believe they have an app. I've pasted their data and browser info below. This may prove to be more helpful.

"The source data for these graphs is the NOAA archive. METARs from 2006 to 2010 were parsed and crunched to calculate average winds for each weather station. Reporting variance and data processing errors mean these diagrams are not true statistical samples.

This site makes extensive use of SVG for graphics. It should work fine in modern versions of Firefox, Safari, Mobile Safari, Chrome, and Microsoft Internet Explorer 9. It will not work in IE 6, 7, or 8 and never will."

Nomad

Interesting site. But as you state, don't really give high/lows for months. Since it's for pilots, direction is the focus.