| Lake Powell |
| After the boat ride we hiked out to Horseshoe Bend Overlook just south of Page. There you are overlooking a bend in the Colorado River which is 700+ feet down and colored a brilliant turquoise green. That night we camped at Wahweap Campground and ate macaroni and cheese with Polish sausage and corn. On Friday we drove into Page and boarded a truck for a tour of Upper Antelope Canyon. This is probably the most beautiful slot canyon in the world, it is so narrow you can reach out and touch both walls which are so smooth and brilliantly colored. I'd been there once before and knew Mindi would love it there. We had a Navajo tour guide who pointed out all the various faces and profiles you can find in the canyon if you use your imagination. Mindi was puzzled at one point because the photos she had been taking with her boyfriend's digital camera weren't showing up. She figured she had accidentally deleted them all! And the bad luck continued! Well, here's an update, turns out she just bumped the memory card out of place and the photos are all still there after all! Click here to see photos from my previous trip to Antelope Canyon. After Antelope Canyon the skies were turning dark so we decided to go back to our campsite and put up the rainfly on the tent. Then we drove out to the Paria area where we stopped at the ranger station and inquired about Coyote Buttes. Turns out all the permits were taken for that day but we found a similar area of red-and-white-striped sandstone near the river that we hiked around on. It was quite blustery and by the time we finished scrambling around the slickrock we were quite scoured by the blowing sand! Then we drove one mile east towards Page and to an unmarked trailhead where we hiked a mile or so up to some fantastic toadstool formations in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument |
| On Thursday we got up early and drove over to Wahweap Marina near Page, AZ. On the way we stopped when we saw a humongous bird flying. I suspected right away that it was a condor! It landed on a nearby pine and after watching it a little while I am convinced it was! I had called the night before to confirm our boat tour out of Wahweap to Rainbow Bridge National Monument and so we arrived right on time for our 11:00 tour, so we thought. Turns out they screwed up our reservation and the boat left at 10:00! The lady behind the counter was very apologetic and she rescheduled us for the Saturday trip to Rainbow Bridge and gave us a free tour to Navajo and Antelope Canyons that afternoon. More bad luck! |
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| But the tour to Navajo and Antelope Canyons turned out to be great, it was 3 hours long and the 55' boat named Lady Grace was indeed graceful as the driver eased it into some very tight spaces in the canyons. The sandstone walls decorated with patterns of minerals called Navajo tapestry were amazing, especially when contrasted against the deep blue southwest sky. |
| Then it was back to the campground at Wahweap. When we drove up to our campsite I said, "Oh no!" upon realizing there was no tent in our campsite! Turns out it got a bit windy and my big carcamping dome tent (nearly new, only used 3 other times) pulled up its stakes and blew into the bushes! And the bad luck continued! One of the poles also snapped and tore a small hole in the rainfly. Thank goodness I had brought my small 2-person backpacking tent along as well, so we set that up. Then we headed into town and treated ourselves to a nice greasy meal and oreo milkshakes at Denny's. On Saturday we took our much anticipated boat tour out to Rainbow Bridge. Man, Lake Powell is such a gorgeous place! I can't help but think about the amazing canyon that lies beneath that manmade lake, though. Because the water of the lake was so low (113 feet down), we had to hike a mile or so to the Bridge. But it was more than worth it. Rainbow Bridge is the largest natural bridge in the world and it sits in a narrow canyon below Navajo Mountain. We couldn't have asked for better weather, small puffy white clouds drifted over the bridge sailing across the expansive deep blue sky. I hope my pictures turn out! |
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