Southwest trip - early to mid April 2019 (Canyon de Chelly, Monument Valley, Page, AZ)

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Antelope Canyon

This is our first camping trip since our mid-January Texas trip.  It’s not that we have been relaxing at home.  Various illnesses have occurred involving travel for each of us.  We are continuously planning our next trips for 2019 including this trip to AZ, and UT as our main destinations.  I will be posting them as I finish furiously working on the stories and images. We are continuing to work off our National Parks list with a few National Monuments included.  One of our retired friends mentioned that as they get near then end of their trips they are happy to get back home but within a few days they start planning their next trip; a never ending cycle.  We have fallen into that routine ourselves.

Lake Powell

We are visiting a number of locations in northern Arizona the southern third of Utah.  Even contacting many of the national parks and monuments in January I find that most are 100% booked.  This is frustrating wanting to see those special places and finding them with no available campsites.  I have found out that perseverance does help in some instances.  By consistently returning to the reservation sites, more than once, I have found a campsite or two open up so I pounce on it.  The internet is a two edged sword; reservations are possible but; it also exposes these places to more people.

Canyon de Chelly petroglyphs

We cooked even more than usual since our trip will be about three weeks long.  We add a small cooler to our contingent of cooking utensils allowing us to make almost two weeks of food, we just have to keep adding ice.  With the cooler weather we enjoyed we didn’t have to add ice very often.   We will have Chicken-ala-king, grilled chicken breasts, salmon, cod, lasagna, and oatmeal; all cooked and frozen at the start of the trip.  We also have numerous breakfasts prepared.   We wing lunches; usually hard boiled eggs, fruit, guacamole or hummus with appropriate chips or crackers.   

Canyon de Chelly

The drive to Canyon de Chelly goes without a hitch.  The Navajo run campground is first come first served; there are less than 10 campers out of the 30+ campsites when we arrive.  The campground is a carpet of blooming purple flowers.  We always look forward to getting out of the city.  We study maps while enjoying lunch.  The Whitehouse ruins is our main objective.  It is the only trail where we can hike to the bottom of the canyon.  We come across a few dozen tourists enjoying the hike, same as us.  It is about a 600’ elevation change between the canyon top and riverbed.  All along the trail there are places to view the river; it is a milk chocolate brown river moving swiftly due to the spring runoff from the heavy snows enjoyed this past winter.  It took us an hour to get to the bottom; we did the usual walk, stop, photograph routine.  There’s two separate structures in the Whitehouse ruin.  One is at ground level, the second 20+ feet up on the canyon wall with an overhang keeping the structures dry.  After looking them over we started our hike back up and out of the canyon.  There was a bit of huffing and puffing from both of us as we reached the camper.

Whitehouse ruin

From there we went to Spider Rock towards the eastern end of the monument.  The walls here are 1000’ above the riverbed; Spider Rock is about 800’ tall.  Two track trails are seen at the base of Spider Rock where Navajo led tours bring tourists to witness the awe inspiring sites.

Spider Rock

From the Chinle side, the west end of the canyon, walls are only 30’ tall.  We did not expect canyon walls ending up over a 1000’ tall several miles east.  The canyon has been inhabited for almost 5,000 years.  The first people were nomadic, camping then moving as the weather and food supply dictated.  In all, it is estimated that there are over 700 sites within the canyon area.

Our routine for the next several days involves getting up early for a tour wherever we stop.  The first morning Irene from Canyon De Chelly Tours takes us on a three hour driving tour along the bottom of the canyon.  She has been doing this for quite a number of years; she answers all our questions, filled us in on the ruins, petroglyphs and other information.  Our three hour tour ends too soon.

Monument Valley

John Ford Point

The trip from Canyon de Chelly to Monument Valley is a scenic 95 mile, less than two hour drive.  It seems like every turn we take and vista we drive over gives us a new sight to marvel over.  The formations grow larger as we pass Kayenta, AZ.  After registering for our campsite at Goulding RV Park we take off for Monument Valley.  The views are breathtaking.  I was never a big fan of western movies so I never really saw these landscapes and monuments prior to today.  After stopping at the visitor center we take the 17 mile Valley Drive getting us in and around the monuments.  This road can be driven by standard two wheel drive cars, we see many.  Every place we stop we see the monuments from a different perspective, some disappear other come out of hiding from closer monuments.

Valley Drive is quite bumpy; after finishing the drive we decide to see one of the movies offered by the campground.  Opening the camper we are greeted by several packages and mounds of food laying on the floor.  The chain used to hold the pin which holds the refrigerator door closed broke; subsequently the pin broke free allowing the food to do as it pleased.  It wasn’t much to clean up, fortunately, but we missed the movie.  Maybe tomorrow.

Submarine Rock

No tours of Monument Valley are conducted on Sundays.  We are on our own.  We start with the Wildcat hike around the West Mitten Monument.  After three plus hours and several dozen photos later we arrive back at the truck.  The hike is one to take in, it provides a whole different perspective on the monuments; you are up close and personal.  After some snacks for lunch we head down Valley Drive catching the couple views we missed the day before.  Be sure to stop at every overlook; the views are astounding.

The next day we wake at 415 for the Monument Valley Sunrise tour with Navajo Spirit Tours.  We were blessed with light clouds hanging low in the sky providing a vivid backdrop to the totem pole monuments in silhouette.  Our guide takes us from place to place showing us arches and other unique formations in the restricted area, only for guided tours.  We quickly forget how tired we are from the early morning start.

Page, AZ

Our next stop is Page, AZ, on the Colorado River.  The Glen Canyon Dam sets at the northwest corner of Page controlling the water flow into the Grand Canyon.  In addition to generating electricity, it holds water forming Lake Powell, a huge lake over 100 miles in length along the route of the Colorado River.  Our original reason to visit Page is to tour Antelope Canyon; there are two of them – upper and lower.  A little more Googling shows that Horseshoe Bend is nearby.  We have seen many photos of it so we will add our photos to the multitude of Horseshoe Bend images.

Lake Powell

Page is at 4,000’ elevation, the day we arrive it tops out at 78, the next day 82.  Instant summer.  Stopping in the Page Visitor Center/Powell Museum we look for things to see and do.  We are warned to get our sightseeing in today; tomorrow will be windy; 30 – 40 mile an hour winds.  We continue on to the Glen Canyon Dam Visitor Center, we add local stickers and cancellation stamps to our National Parks Passport Book.  Lunching in the parking area we decide to see the Wahweep marina.  Stopping at several picnic spots along the road to the marina we see only the last bit of lake before it meets the dam, and the white bluffs surrounding it to the north.  There are several boat tours; anywhere from a 2 hour ride to see the dam and one canyon to an all day tour going to Rainbow Bridge National Monument, 50 miles upstream from the Wahweep marina.

We end the afternoon at Horseshoe Bend.  Work is ongoing to add a parking lot near the actual bend in the river.  Today we ride a shuttle bus to the work in progress parking lot then walk a half mile to the overlook.  Lots of people are coming and going between the two.  There are many spots along the rim where one can view the bend.  Of course there is an optimum spot to see the bend but it is kind of hard to determine where that spot is.  We can see boating/kayaking activity at river level; little specks on the water.  There is a railing to protect us from hanging over the edge along parts of the rim, but it is a very small portion. We become the photography professionals because we brought our tripods and know how to use them.  We plan, shoot, adjust and shoot again.  After several minutes people are congregating around us viewing the same scenes we see; wanting us to finish so they can shoot the same images as the ‘professionals’ just shot.  As we move around spotting other images we notice people jumping, standing and sitting on the edges of the rim.  We just shake our heads and roll our eyes; I also have to look away, I don’t want to be a witness to someone that goes over the edge for being stupid.

The next morning we wake early to tour upper Antelope Canyon.  Antelope Canyon Slot Tours is very organized; we get assigned buses, about 15 per tour guide.  Nate explains what we are going to see and optimal camera settings for ‘real’ cameras, IPhones and all other phones.  Since he conducted photo tours of Antelope Canyon for many years all the settings were followed.  20 minutes later we arrive at the canyon; another tour company is waiting for their clients to finish their tour so they can be whisked back to the office to start the next tour.  We feel a bit rushed - stay up with your tour guide.  ‘Here’s a spot for a family portrait, sit down and look this way’  ‘Click’.  We enjoyed our time, saw many unique unfathomable formations due to water flowing through a small opening.  By the way, the colors you see on the photos are real.

From there we return to Page to hike the Hanging Gardens Trail.  Along the way we stop and shoot many native flowers and plants in spring bloom.  Returning from our hiking diversion to Lake Powell the wind starts; gently at first then – full on.  It’s one of those that it becomes hard to breathe going into such a strong wind.  Arriving at the camper we decide to take up the volunteer’s suggestion going back to the Powell Museum.

Lake Powell

John Wesley Powell was a phenomenal person; He served in the union Army during the Civil war, losing his right arm.   In 1869 his party was the first group to successfully navigate and document the Colorado River.  1881 he was appointed director of the geological survey.  He has many more accomplishments credited to him.

The wind kept blowing through the afternoon.  I put down the camper jacks to stabilize the camper from the buffeting winds.  It helped immensely.

The next morning we wake early to catch the Rainbow Bridge boat tour.  Waking up to an alarm is what we are trying to get away from in retirement.  The tours won’t wait for us so – we do it.  The wind is still blowing, the 80 degree temperatures we experienced a few days ago are long gone, replaced by 50’s.  The Wahweep marina is filled with all sizes of houseboats.  We are informed that new ones go for several million dollars each.   Another marina several river miles away is filled with equally expensive houseboats.  The first part of the tour has us motoring between two canyon walls reaching far above our heads.  We can see the ‘bathtub ring’ of white rock showing the water high point of Lake Powell.  As we progress upriver the canyon walls disappear, changing into open land with mesas and buttes surrounding us.  One thing I learned; mesas are like tables – wider than they are tall.  Buttes are like barstools; taller than they are wide.  Your geology lesson for the day.

After several cycles of climbing the ladder to the top level of the boat for better photos we arrive at the small canyon with  the floating sign ‘Rainbow Bridge National Monument (NM)’  The canyon is small, large enough for one tour/house boat to pass through at a time.  Blowing a horn announces we are coming through.

Rainbow Bridge National Monument

Rainbow Bridge is not very accessible; a half day boat ride or a two to three day backpacking trip.  We have 90 minutes to see the monument and get back.  It takes about 30 minutes to hike there, so we have some time to spend there.  It is sacred to the Navajo people; no one is allowed to walk under the monument.  It is amazing to see such a large natural structure.  The Statue of Liberty will fit under the monument.

The ride back is quiet.  Most of the other people on board are sleeping or doing a lot of dozing. The wind is still blowing hard and cold when we arrive back at the dock.

I put the camper jacks down again for the blustery winds.

Entrance to Lower
Antelope Canyon

Today is the last day we have to wake early for a tour.  We are doing the Lower Antelope Canyon Tour before leaving for our next stop.  The lower canyon does not seem to be as popular; there are only two companies conducting tours.  Our guide tells us about the lower canyon as walk to the ‘downstream end’ of the canyon.  From there we descend a series of steep steps to the bottom then work our way back upstream returning to the office.  The scale/width of the slot canyon is much smaller, the path through the canyon most of the way is wide enough for one to pass.  

We weave our way through the slot formed by the water/mud mixture from countless flash floods flowing through the canyon.  Kevin, our guide from Dixie’s Lower Antelope Canyon Tour tells stories as we walked through the canyon.  One flash flood completely filled the canyon ripping out the steps and washing the sand from the bottom of the canyon downstream.  After that event they had to shovel sand back into the canyon, to a depth of approximately 6’ providing tourists a firm base to walk on.

Exit from canyon

more to come...

Thank you for stopping by,

Mark