Evening at Vermilion Cliffs: Photograph by Will Tenney

Evening at Vermilion Cliffs

After a day exploring slot canyons on the Navajo lands near Page, Arizona, and hiking down Cathedral Wash, the daylight was fading fast as we approached Jacob Lake and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The Vermilion Cliffs, glowing in the orange light of the setting sun, are part of an extensive area of incredible natural beauty spanning northern Arizona and Southern Utah. The Paria River, cutting deep into the Vermilion Cliffs to form the Paria Canyon, a steep-sided slot canyon so narrow in spots that one can touch both walls at the same time, has its headwaters far to the north at Bryce Canyon and empties into the Colorado River a few miles above the start of the Grand Canyon.