Overview

Hype:

Known for its white sand and turquoise water, Paria Beach is a great place to watch rafters navigate their first set of rapids down the Grand Canyon.

Time:

Fees: Park Entrance

Recommended Ages:

	0-3
	4-11
	12-19
	20-49
	50-69
	70+

Recommended Months to Visit:

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Getting There

Navigate to 36.856863, -111.603964.

From the parking area, take the trail southwest down to the river.

Location

Closest City or Region: Grand Canyon National Park

Coordinates: 36.855607, -111.604247

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June 14, 2020 Trip Report

By Jeremy Dye

Trip Members

Jeremy Dye, Tara Dye, Ondylyn Wagner, Shawn Parker, Marci Parker, Becca Bevan,

Story

It was dinner time, and we drove all over Lees Ferry looking for any piece of shade that we could sit under while we fixed and ate dinner. The campground was closed because of COVID, but we stumbled on a little parking area that had some shade. Upon further inspection, we found a short trail that led down to the Colorado River and a sandy beach. The cool wind blowing across the river and a little bit of shade was just what we were looking for. We took our camping chairs down and crammed everyone into a little circle of shade while we fixed dinner. Ironically, even though we all packed our meals separately, somehow we all ended up packing soup. We warmed up the soup on our little backpacking stoves and swapped stories while we were waiting. In the middle of one of the stories, I glanced up and noticed that a man was walking straight towards our group. He was about 30 feet away but walking straight towards us. As he was walking, he was giving me a stare that was really weird. I was really confused what he wanted with us. I brushed it off, and we kept talking but he kept walking straight towards us, with his eyes locked on me. He walked up right next to me and just stood there. He didn't say anything for several moments. It was really awkward. It was so awkward that we kind of all assumed he must have a mental illness or something because he was not acting normal. He held out his hand to me to shake hands. With COVID and the social distancing measured that are in place, I didn't want to shake his had, but I gave him a fist-bump instead. He then turned really agitated and got very aggressive towards me. I was so confused because I didn't understand what his problem was. He started chastising me for looking at him. He said that he didn't like it when people look at him and that I should be more respectful. I didn't know what to do. I was so confused because for one, it's not illegal to look at someone, and for two, I wasn't even looking at him until after he was alreay walking straight at our group. I ended up just ignoring him and looking away until he blew off steam and walked away. It was so weird. Afterwards, Shawn shared with us all the things that were going through his mind of what he would have done if the guy had started attacking me. It was all just so random and unprovoked and confusing why he was so weird and angry. The rest of the lunch, everyone kept teasing me about knowing where the guy was so I would make sure to be looking the other direction.

Pictures