Page AZ Day 1: Enjoying the Canyon & Lake Powell Area

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Monday, Bob Hawkins' alarm went off uncharacteristically early and he woke the others. But because Ruth and Janice and Donna and Bill Hughes had made a Sunday night grocery run -- including kiddie pack cereals, juice, yogurt and a splendid repast, the group was able to set out around 8:30 am local on some actual sightseeing for an hour and a half of flying over and around Lake Powell, Glen Canyon, Horseshoe Bend and Marble Canyon in mostly clear but mildly hazy weather.

After the flying tour, Donna and Larry peeled off in the RV-4 to drop off Donna in Flagstaff, where she had to depart the group (as per another entry) before beginning his eastbound return. He got as far as Texas, landing in 50 knot winds and waited it out til the winds dropped and he got into Arkansas late that night.

The remaining gang landed and went to a highly recommended breakfast spot that was decorated with lovely Kachina dolls and served up for some serious brunch that included a coronary-quality burger (Janice's blog includes a copy of the menu). Some us felt adventuresome after that. Geoff got 6 tickets for the Antelope Canyon - a slot canyon -- tour.

Antelope Canyon, part of Navajo land, is well worth the $32 apiece for the tour that the Navajo nation provides. The shuttle leaves from around the corner of the Dam Bar and travels about 20 minutes to the Canyon and lets you off right at the mouth of the canyon. The canyon itself is a quarter mile long, 6-12 feet wide, and about 70 or so feet deep. Most of the time, you can't see the sky from the bottom, even if you're looking straight up, as its edges are very curved. It's cool at the bottom nearly all the time, and the best time to go was exactly when we did, just after noon. Most of the time, the sun doesn't light very much, even at the top of the day. If we had had time, we might have enjoyed returning for a longer tour of a broader, lower part of the canyon that offered more room and scope to set up more serious photography...but we enjoyed what we saw here tremendously. Practically every nationally-renowned landscape photographer has recorded this site...and now a few more are added to the rolls.

Upon return from Antelope Canyon, the group reconvened as a whole and drove about an hour south to Marble Canyon, which we had seen earlier that morning from the air, within the Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness area run by the Bureau of Land Management, and Lees Ferry. The latter is not named for a civil war general, but is significant as the northernmost crossing of the Grand Canyon area. It allowed us to get down and put our toes in the Colorado River, thus making us officially adventurers by land, air, and, kinda, Sea. The spur road to Lees Ferry is also notable for its many wind-eroded mushroom rocks (that is, mushroom-shaped, not mushroom-infested), which are about 12 feet high, and "...easily the best specimens I have seen anywhere," declares the well-traveled Geoff Hornseth.

After sunset, we retired to a recommended restaurant in Marble Canyon, a little place in the middle of nowhere, with "good drinks, good food, and we overdosed on desserts -- key lime pie, and a raspberry pie a la mode, it was sensational..." recall the Hornseths.

After a long and MOST satisfying day, we drove back through a heavy rain that ought to have given us a premonition of the days ahead, and headed for bed.

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