2002 UIPA Nominee Local/Regional
Coverage
EDITOR's NOTE: In the late 1950s, a man named Charlie
Kreischer and his wifemade several trips through Glen Canyon with river guide
Harry Aleson. Decades later, I met the Kreischers at Arches National Park and
they told me of their great adventures in Glen Canyon, now flooded by the
Powell Reservoir. Charlie later gave me scores of color photographs of his
journeys and they became one of my most treasured possessions. These photos are
from that collection of photographs...JS
NEAR NATURAL BRIDGES JUNCTION: Charlie Kreischer took this photo heading west
near the old junction to Natural Bridges National Monument. In the '50s a short dirt road
led visitors to "park headquarters," an old CCC shed just west of Owachamo Bridge. From
there, vistors hiked up White Canyon to see Kachina and Sipapu Bridges. Today the paved
loop road, completed in the late '60s, provides windshield tourists an 'effortless view.'
DESCENDING INTO WHITE CANYON: Still heading west, Kreischer's Rambler begins
its descent into White Canyon, dead ahead, and eventually the Hite ferry.
WARNING: This sign warned the timid
and the foolish alike to take it easy and
to come prepared.
THREE HONKS BRINGS THE FERRY: This was the only crossing of
the Colorado River from Moab to Lee's Ferry in Arizona.
LOMBARDY REDUX: A ground's-eye view of Hite and the Lombardy poplars.
AERIAL VIEW: Charlie Kreischer flew over Hite Crossing in 1957. Note the row of
Lombardy Poplars growing near the ferry.
