The Wonders of Northern Arizona

Left the Grand Canyon area today for the sights surrounding Page, AZ. My route took me back up through the GC Park and along the East Rim Road where I got a final peek at the Grand Canyon freshly dusted.



The snow, ice and clouds broke not too long after and the remainder of the drive was sunny. Great drive, most of it edged by plateaus, remnants of millions of years of water flow. The drive wasn't too long a little under 4 hours. A few miles shy of Page is the famous Horse Shoe Bend, a giant 180 of the Colorado. The curve itself was majestic but what really amazed me was the solid stone cliffs that, one person later told me, rose up 800 feet. It's one of those vertigo inducing experiences. That plus a sudden gust of wind really scared the shit out of me right at the last minute.



The main reason for visiting Page is the sandstone canyons. The most famous of these being Antelope Canyon. A quick Google search of Antelope Canyon will return thousands of photos with the famous pillar of light shining through. The sun, unfortunately, is only in the right position in early summer, so I didn't get the famous light shaft. This didn't take away from the beauty of these twisted canyons. From the photos below you can see they're absolutely amazing.




The canyons reside in Navajo country and Navajo law mandates all canyon visits be with a guide. The plus side of visiting in November is that I was the only one on the tour and had the guide's full attention. As a life-long tour guide, he was able to point out the best spots for photos, share some old lore and answer any questions I had. I visited two canyons, Upper Antelope and Rattlesnake. Photos below.

I ended the day with a visit to Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon Dam.




Tomorrow off to Zion!