April 16…. Back to the desert

We finished up our visit to the Grand Canyon over the weekend and headed off to our next adventure.

Page Arizona.

Yesterday was a very busy day. In the morning, I was finally able to cross off another bucket list item… Antelope Canyon. We visited Lower Antelope Canyon with Ken’s Tours. (You can’t go in the canyon unless escorted by an approved Navaho tour company representative).

Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon, meaning it’s very long, very narrow, and quite deep in places. Carved through the layers of Arizona red sandstone by periodic flash floods, it’s sculpted by water and very fluid looking in its curves. The colors change, from a muted brown to a deep red, to a bright orange, depending on how much sun makes it down to the lower levels of the canyon. Pictures just can’t do it justice, but here are my favorites (I snapped at least a couple hundred 🫢)

After the canyon tour, we headed over to Horseshoe Bend. It’s a sharp curving bend in the Colorado River, deep in a gorge, and the overlook brings you right up to the edge.

Then we headed off to Lee’s Ferry, to see where all of the Grand Canyon rafters put in. There were several huge rafts being prepped as we arrived, and several smaller ones almost ready to go.

And then I made a grave mistake. I stood idly by and did nothing as Susanne started her rockhounding again. Pockets full. Arms full. Shirt tails full. She made trip after trip, bringing more and more rocks to the truck. Hollering at me to help her carry more. Finally my only recourse was to go grab her hand and pull her back to the truck, listening to her constant cries of “look at that one!” and “there! there! look!”. I think we added another 50lbs of rocks to the truck. 😢

At Lee’s Ferry, we also took time to actually get our feet wet in the Colorado River. We were only about 15 miles below Glen Canyon Dam, so OMG that water was cold. Painful cold. Get me out of here right now cold. To me, anyway. Susy was a bit more adventurous and made it in knee deep. We stood on a small beach for a bit, watched the rapids go by and I just touched my toes in the water from time to time.

On the way back to Page, we took a walk on the Navaho Bridge. Built in the 1920’s, the bridge connected the east and west sides of the Colorado River for the first time, and at that time, was the only way across by road for 600 miles. Prior to that, the ferry at Lee’s Ferry, run by Mormon settlers, was the only way across.

The river as it passes the bridge area is a deep emerald green color. The water is crystal clear, but there‘s a lot of suspended algae running along. Odd to look at from above, easier to tell up close.