Leaping into Antelope Canyon. :)

Well, more like crawling down stairs into Antelope Canyon. :)

Today we cooked a big breakfast in the brand new kitchen of our rental house, then headed out of Page to see Antelope Canyon. Antelope Canyon has two sections to tour, Upper Antelope and Lower Antelope. The owner of the house we stayed in strongly recommended we visit Lower Antelope as it is just as nice as Upper, but less crowded and less rushed. He also recommended we visit around 10-10:30am for the best light inside. We arrived right at 10:30am and got to tour the canyon in less than 15 minutes.

Dinosaur track outside Lower Antelope Canyon.

Our guide Mouse (guides are required) grew up only a couple miles from the canyon, and it was his playground as a boy, before it was as huge a tourist attraction as it is now. He took us through and gave us lots of advice on how to get the most out of our photos of the place, and he also played a wooden flute a few times as we walked through. Our group was about 30 people, and most of the canyon we had to walk in a single file line through the beautiful golden, pink and orange sandstone. Between us, Gavin and I probably took at least 100 pictures. :)

A TON of tourists in close quarters... but we still got some magical pictures - see below! :)

 

The exit to the canyon - you wouldn't even know it was there without seeing someone coming out!

After Antelope Canyon, we continued on to the Antelope Canyon Marina to see if we could rent a boat to go on Lake Powell. The last boat was rented right before we arrived, but we got to rent the last jet ski! For two hours we drove through just ONE canyon (Navajo Canyon) on the huge lake, and we didn't even get all the way to the end of it! Pink and white sandstone cliffs rose up on either side of us around 200 feet tall! After Navajo Canyon we got lost in a huge bay while trying to find another canyon to tour, but there were still many beautiful rock formations to see.

Navajo Canyon in Lake Powell.

Sandstone in Navajo Canyon.

A sandstone island in Navajo Canyon.

My turn to drive. :)

Lake Powell.

Rock formations on Lake Powel.

After spending two hours ON the lake in the hot sun, I was desperate to get IN the lake! Near to Antelope Canyon Marina were rocky ledges (labeled as beaches, but the sand was lacking...), so we took a brief dip to cool off.

Our last stop in Page was Horseshoe Bend, a portion of the Colorado River that bends in a horseshoe shape around a large mesa. It was about a 3/4 mile hike down through sand and sandstone rocks (the hike back up was significantly more difficult in the loose sand). We were rewarded with a view of the mesa and such clear water in the river below that we could see all the way to the bottom! There were two vulture-like birds perched on a little rock outcropping on the rim, and they were not afraid of humans at all - they stayed for the whole half hour or so we were there, with people getting with 10 feet of them taking pictures!

The hike down to Horseshoe Bend.

Beautiful Horseshoe Bend!

Horseshoe Bend's mascots. :)

Me at Horseshoe Bend.

Thunderstorms all around us made a rainbow!

Horseshoe Bend was a popular place. :)

 

After Horseshoe Bend, we continued our road trip, heading toward Zion National Park. As we drove, I tried to find a hotel near to the park, and everything within almost an hour radius of the park was completely booked! We even tried to stop at pretty much every place of lodging in a town on the way there, and absolutely everything was booked! We had to book a hotel in Saint George, another hour and 45 minutes away, and an hour PAST Zion!

We stopped in Hurricane for dinner at Sonny Boy's Barbeque and had a quick and tasty dinner. Then we continued to Saint George, checked into the Ambassador Inn, then crashed our dehydrated and sunburned selves into bed. :)

 

 

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