The Magical Antelope (Canyon)

During our year on the road we did several slot canyon hikes and I totally fell in love with them. There is something magical about squeezing through narrow, twisting sandstone channels sculpted by wind and water into fantastical shapes. Expansive vistas are grand, but there is something more intimate about a slot canyon. You don't just view the scenery, you experience it. And Antelope Canyon is a bucket list slot canyon. 

The canyon is situated on Navajo land and the only  way you can see it is with a guided tour. Normally that would be a turn off, but Antelope Canyon is so popular that without some regulation it would be mobbed. As it is, the most desirable time slots and tours can sell out months in advance!

There are two separate tours: Upper Antelope Canyon is where many of the iconic photographs are taken. If you time it right, stunning shafts of sunlight illuminate the sculpted walls. The tours are a little more expensive, but there’s an option for a longer photography tour. On the downside the traffic flow is two way and it is crowded.  Lower Antelope Canyon is a one-way hike through a twisted portion of the canyon that involves stairs and ladders. Reviews say it’s a little more casual and many folks who have done both liked it better.  Most important for us, we were able to get tickets to the Lower Antelope Canyon tour!

Fun Fact: The most expensive photograph ever sold was taken in Antelope Canyon by photographer Peter Lik. It reportedly sold to an anonymous bidder for $6.5 million. You’re getting all these gorgeous shots for free! What a deal. Lol.  

We arrived early on Sunday, 4/21, and checked in at Dixie Ellis Lower Antelope Canyon Tours. There are two tour operators for Lower Antelope and a different set of vendors for Upper Antelope.  The ticket times were staged about 15 minutes apart and there were probably 50-60 people lined up for our 9:15 time slot. My expectations were getting lower by the minute. However, only 10 people were assigned to each tour guide. Once we entered the canyon, the guides did a great job of keeping each group separate so everyone could get photos without hordes of tourists in every shot.

Checked in and waiting for our time slot.

The conga line descends.

Notice the toeholds to the left of the ladder?
That's what folks originally used to climb into the canyon. I'll take the stairs, please. 

Without the guides, all my pictures would look like this.  ☹

The canyon is Navajo sandstone, which is comprised of sand dunes formed in the Jurassic age. The canyon was carved by water and flash floods are still changing the landscape. While we were in awe of the beauty of the water carved canyon, those same forces can also be deadly. In 1997 a 40-foot wall of water swept through Lower Antelope Canyon killing 11 hikers. It was interesting to learn how much work goes into keeping the canyon safe and operational. Summer is monsoon season and heavy rains can close the canyon from a few hours to several days. A few years ago, the canyon flooded 22 times and had to be repeatedly pumped out and sand added to restore the stable walking surface.

Our guide, Andrea, was Navajo and Hopi and she talked about some of the traditions and cultural aspects of the Navajo people. She offered photo tips, pointed out formations, and offered to take pictures of us together. While she kept us moving, I didn’t feel rushed and the tour lasted about 1½ hours.

Inside the canyon the light changes constantly, even a few minutes can make a difference. You could do the same tour at a different time of day and have a totally different experience. Every step, even the tilt of your head, changes the perspective.  I cannot begin to describe how beautiful it is – colors, textures, shapes. I took about 450 photos and it took supreme effort to ruthlessly cull that to around 150. So, if you don’t like these pictures, I have a hundred more! Lol. Some of the shots are close ups to you show you the textures, some focus on the light and colors. Words fail me, so most won't be captioned. I'll just shut up now and show you what I'm talking about.  Enjoy!!

Oh yes, I'm smiling!

A few folks in the lower right give you an idea of the scale.

These erosion patterns are called "Shooting Stars".
I think they look like tadpoles, but that doesn't sound as good. Lol.

You can see the sand floor in this picture.
The guides have to replace the sand when the floods wash it away. 

This formation is called "Twin Peaks."

This formation was named "Bruce" after the shark in Finding Nemo. Lol.

Woman in the Wind.

Indian Chief formation above. 

This looks like ocean waves frozen in stone. 

A tumbleweed caught in a shaft of sunlight.

Still smiling!

Hopefully you enjoyed your tour of Lower Antelope Canyon! Next up will be our Glen Canyon float trip and a boat tour to Rainbow Bridge. Yes, we were busy!

My Life is Gritty

We are beach camping again! Lone Rock Beach Campground is located on beautiful Lake Powell in the Glen Canyon National Recreational Area. It’s an interesting campground. There are no designated campsites, you just pick a spot on the beach or in the dunes and call it home. Right now the lake is low so there are acres of beachfront property and we have staked our claim to a front row seat. For $14 a night, the National Park Service provides a dump station, potable water, garbage dumpsters, and vault toilets. Oh, and water access and scenery to die for. I consider that a bargain!

 

The lone rock at Lone Rock Beach.  :)

We pulled in on Wednesday, 4/17 (thanks to all my peeps who caught me time traveling in the last blog post) and snagged a spot on the beach above the lake. The area where you can camp is HUGE. I’m always a little nervous about running the rig off road, especially on a surface as treacherous as sand. We scouted first in the Acadia since there were several well-traveled paths from the paved parking area to the beach, but some were definitely more big-rig friendly than others. We've been here several days now and watching people get stuck in the sand has become daily entertainment - everything from motorhomes to jeeps! Folks are friendly and the guys with the monster 4WD pickup trucks usually lend a hand. Rog even helped one van rental get unstuck. 

Off road and onto the beach!

Home is where you park it. 

The temps have been in the 70's and 80's - perfect! As Rog sat relaxing on the patio he sighed and said, "This is what we left Seattle for." In addition to lots of water play with Riley, our first priority of course, this is another area with a million things to see and do. You’re probably going to get multiple blog posts since there is no way I can cram all the pictures I want to share into one post. 

Speaking of water play, the beach has some shallow areas but directly in front of our site it drops off sharply. Riley loves to chase his ball into the water, but he isn’t much for swimming after it if it gets too far out. The lake is a frigid 54°, and Rog swam nearly to the buoys on a ball retrieval mission while Riley waited patiently on shore. So it seems Riley does understand “fetch”, he’s just confused about who should be doing it. Lol.

Riley was here. 

Rog and Riley play fetch. Not sure this is how it's supposed to work. Lol.

Riley waiting patiently for his ball. 

We’ve enjoyed watching the light change on the bluffs and mesas around the lake. We’ve had some spectacular golden hours, moonrises, sunsets and sunrises. Disconnect from the ever-present screens and mother nature steps in to awe and entertain you.

Golden hour with a full moon rising.

A huge flock of pelicans comes in at dusk.

Moonlight reflected on the lake.

Beautiful night for a campfire!

On Thursday, we explored the nearby town of Page and stopped in at the Carl Hayden Visitor Center adjacent to the Glen Canyon Dam. The dam is 710 feet tall, 1,560 feet across, and 25 feet wide at the top. Preparation for construction began in 1956, 4,901 cubic yards of concrete was poured over three years, and the dam was completed in 1966. Rog likes to learn about the history of local figures and the places we visit – there is so much that we never learned in school and a lot that we did that is either extremely biased or completely misleading. Right now Rog is reading about the the history of the water wars in the west, fascinating stuff.

Dam. That's big!

The Carl Hayden Visitor Center is perched above the dam.

Views above and below the dam.

Horseshoe Bend is another favorite tourist stop just a few miles from our campsite. The Colorado river forms a 270° curve in an entrenched meander in Glen Canyon. Looking down from the view point, the water was a gorgeous clear aquamarine. Those tiny boats pulled up on the beach are part of the Glen Canyon float trip. Spoiler alert, guess what we’ll be doing. 😊

Horseshoe Bend.

The sinuous Colorado. 

Intricate cairns dot the viewing area.

Saturday, 4/20, was an interesting day. The weather has been fickle, but what could go wrong on a day that started off with a stunning sunrise like this?

Sunrise over Lake Powell.

We loaded Riley up and set out to explore. Our first stop was the Toadstool hike. Toadstools form when softer rock erodes leaving a spire with a boulder perched on top. The hike was only a mile or so long, but it was mostly in the sun. Riley showed his lack of enthusiasm by laying down wherever he found some shade and only moving reluctantly when we made him.

Toadstools!

Not just toadstools, there were lots of cool erosion patterns in the stone.

Riley's hike for the day - he said one was enough.

We had planned to do another 2-mile hike to the Nautilus formation and stopped by the visitor’s center to get some additional information. We mentioned Riley’s preference for water hikes and they suggested White House Canyon where he could play in the Paria River. We went there first and, given the hangdog looks we were getting, gave up on the Nautilus hike. Compromises must be made to keep everyone happy.

The Paria River - looks more like a muddy creek to me!

Interesting colors and swirls.

Different sandstone formations in White House Canyon- white rock instead of red.

Instead we opted for a drive down Cottonwood Road – a gravel road that winds through a portion of Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. Riley got to ride in the air-conditioned car and we got to see some new country. We found a few boondocking spots, but nothing that would tempt us to leave the lake.

Mesa with badlands formations.

Grand Staircase Escalate has amazingly diverse geology.

It was getting past lunchtime, so we stopped under a huge old cottonwood to have a snack and stretch our legs. We’d noticed range cows in the area but didn’t give it a second thought. Apparently, lunch at the cottonwood was by invitation only and we were clearly not on the guest list. At first the white-faced cow just gave us the stink eye. Then he and his buddy started moving in our direction. No worries, I said, they don’t have horns. Ahem. No sooner had I said that than they were joined by their longhorn buddy. Really?  The three of them just kept getting closer. Then they’d stop and stare. Then walk a little closer. Riley was concentrating so hard on our lunch, he was totally oblivious. By then they were only about 30 feet away and still moving closer. Maybe they were just curious, but that was too much for me – all I could imagine was a combined half ton of angry cow charging. It probably didn’t help that we were having beef jerky for lunch. Lol. We tried honking the car horn to scare them off, but that only caught the attention of several more cows. Rog finally got them to back off by waving a blanket and shouting. That lunch spot won’t be getting a positive Yelp review. 😊

The gang is moving in. 

After lunch we headed back to the RV, only to find that we’d missed a pretty spectacular wind storm.  Ah, the winds…. let’s talk about those. This is a beach. There is sand. The wind blows the sand. The sand gets into EVERYTHING. Seriously. EVERY THING. Twice the wind has whipped so hard the sand infiltrated our closed windows. This time it tore our Magnashade sun screen off the windshield which is held in place by extremely strong rare earth magnets, it’s never even budged before! We had little drifts of sand inside the coach and it buried our patio mat. I spent a solid hour vacuuming, which had its own set of challenges. The air is so dry and full of static that I kept getting shocked when I ran the sweeper over the carpet. It was so bad I was convinced I had a short in the vacuum cleaner! Wow, who knew vacuuming should qualify for hazardous duty pay.

What a difference an hour can make when the wind kicks up!

Check out the tiny rocks suspended in midair after the winds scoured the beach.

Despite being accosted by cows and the crazy winds, we are loving the Lake Powell area. We decided to add a few more days to our stay and signed up for three tours – Lower Antelope Canyon, the half-day Glen Canyon Float, and a boat trip to Rainbow Bridge National Monument. More on those to come!