US-89A: Marble Canyon to Fredonia

The land north of the Colorado River, cut off from the rest of Arizona by the great canyon, is known as the Arizona Strip, and it is among the least populated country in the lower forty-eight states. This has long been the homeland of the Southern Paiute people, who knew the springs and hunting grounds of the plateau intimately, and the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians has a reservation near Fredonia at the route's western end. To the south and east lies the vast Navajo Nation.

The highway follows an old wagon and travel corridor across this frontier. Near its eastern end, at Lees Ferry just below Marble Canyon, was for decades the only place to cross the Colorado for hundreds of miles, a crucial ferry established in the 1870s. When the first Navajo Bridge was built in 1929, the ferry's role ended, and the modern route across the Strip took shape. Even today the drive passes only a scattering of tiny settlements, trading posts, and lodges, and long stretches without any services at all.

The signature sight of the eastern half of the drive is the Vermilion Cliffs, a towering escarpment of red, orange, and buff sandstone that rises hundreds of feet above the road and runs for many miles. The colors shift through the day as the sun moves, blazing in the low light of morning and evening. The cliffs are part of a national monument that also protects the famous slickrock formation known as The Wave, reached only by a hard-to-obtain permit and a long hike.

At the eastern end, the road crosses the Colorado River on the Navajo Bridge at Marble Canyon, where the river runs deep in a narrow gorge at the very head of the Grand Canyon. The original 1929 span now serves as a pedestrian walkway beside the newer highway bridge, and standing on it, looking down into the green river far below, is a highlight of the trip. This is also prime country to spot California condors, the enormous vultures reintroduced to the region, which often roost on the bridge girders and soar along the cliffs.

West of the cliffs the highway begins to climb, leaving the red desert behind and rising thousands of feet onto the Kaibab Plateau, a high, forested tableland that holds the Grand Canyon's North Rim. The change is dramatic: sagebrush and rock give way to open ponderosa pine forest, then to stands of aspen and fir, and the air turns cool and fragrant. This is a different Arizona entirely, high and green, where deer and wild turkey move through the trees.

It is here that the route to the Grand Canyon's North Rim branches off, a long, quiet drive through the forest to one of the least visited rims of the great canyon. The North Rim and its access roads are seasonal, closing under winter snow, so the plateau portion of 89A is a place to check conditions carefully in the cold months. In summer and fall, though, the cool forest is a welcome relief from the desert heat, and the plateau's meadows glow with wildflowers and, later, golden aspen.

The country along 89A is rich with wildlife despite its emptiness. California condors, with wingspans approaching ten feet, are the celebrities, but the plateau also holds mule deer, the tassel-eared Kaibab squirrel found nowhere else, wild turkeys, and, in the high country, the occasional glimpse of a mountain lion's country. Down in the desert, bighorn sheep range the cliffs and pronghorn cross the flats. The skies here are among the darkest in the country, brilliant with stars at night.

Spring and fall are the ideal seasons, mild in the desert and comfortable on the plateau, with the aspen turning gold in autumn. Summer heat bakes the lower desert but the high forest stays cool. Winter brings snow and possible closures to the plateau, though the Vermilion Cliffs stretch stays open and can be strikingly beautiful under a light dusting. Whenever you drive it, 89A rewards an unhurried pace, with room to pull over, look up at the cliffs, and take in the immense, empty quiet of the Arizona Strip.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is a place we chose through independent editorial review, never a paid placement.

US 89A is a scenic highway in northern Arizona that branches from US 89 and travels through some of the most remote and spectacular landscapes in the state. Crossing the Colorado River at the historic Navajo Bridge near Marble Canyon, it runs beneath the dramatic Vermilion Cliffs, climbs onto the forested Kaibab Plateau, and passes through Jacob Lake, the gateway to the Grand Canyon's North Rim. A journey along US 89A is a breathtaking drive through canyon country, desert, and high forest, rich with scenery and history.

Highlights along US 89A include the historic Navajo Bridge and its interpretive site spanning the Colorado River gorge at Marble Canyon, sweeping views of the towering Vermilion Cliffs where endangered California condors are sometimes spotted, the launch area near Lees Ferry, and the cool ponderosa forests of the Kaibab Plateau leading to Jacob Lake. The route also serves as the approach to the Grand Canyon's North Rim. It is a drive that packs dramatic river, cliff, desert, and forest scenery into one memorable stretch.

Yes, US 89A is the primary scenic approach to the Grand Canyon's North Rim, carrying travelers across the Colorado River and up onto the Kaibab Plateau to Jacob Lake, where the road south to the North Rim begins. Because the North Rim is open only seasonally, this route is most relevant roughly from mid-spring through fall. Combining the drive with stops at Navajo Bridge and the Vermilion Cliffs makes reaching the North Rim a scenic adventure in itself rather than just a transit.

Spring through fall is ideal, offering pleasant weather for enjoying the viewpoints and connecting to the seasonally open Grand Canyon North Rim, with fall adding golden aspen color on the Kaibab Plateau. Summer is warm in the lower desert stretches but comfortable at higher elevations. Winter can bring snow and icy conditions on the plateau, so check road conditions then. For the fullest experience, including North Rim access, the warm-weather months are the best time to drive this scenic highway.

US 89A connects a string of remote wonders: Marble Canyon and Navajo Bridge, Lees Ferry, the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Jacob Lake, and the Grand Canyon's North Rim, with the Page area, Horseshoe Bend, and Lake Powell reachable via nearby US 89. The Utah parks lie to the north. That makes US 89A a spectacular scenic link tying together the wild canyon and cliff country of the Arizona Strip on a northern Arizona and Southwest road trip.