The World's Biggest Hole in the Ground

Having been to the Grand Canyon (south rim) several times now, I really have a feeling of "been there, done that." However, it's definitely something that's worth seeing once, and I wanted my daughter to experience it. Sure, it's beautiful, but what really gets me is the challenge to ones sense of scale. It's just so big!

It was cloudy the day we were there, so the light was a bit flat and not the best for photography. We drove around and stopped at quite a few of the viewpoints.

We also stopped at an archeological site and had a quick look in the museum. It just so happened that we were just in time for a ranger-led activity. There were tons of people around, but surprisingly only one other couple participated. The ranger talked about the animal figurines made from willow bark that have been found in nearly inaccessible caves in the canyon. While they look like toys at first glance, their locations suggest that they were ceremonial. The ranger showed us how to make the figurines using giant twist ties. I teased her a little about the "traditional" materials, but they were apparently donated by a sponsor, and who has time to gather and soak willow bark these days anyhow?

The sun finally peaked through as we were getting ready to go, but by this point we were too hungry to take advantage of it. Our visit to the Grand Canyon was short, but worth it as my daughter was duly impressed.

Cameron Trading Post

On Saturday, we said farewell to Page and headed to the Grand Canyon (south rim). We'd previously been planning to go to the North Rim, but it was just so out of the way. A swing by the South Rim would increase our driving time by less than an hour (not counting all the stops, of course) so we decided to do that. We knew it would be crowded and lack the intimate experience, but it would still be worthwhile to show our daughter.

At the Blair Trading Post in Page, they'd mentioned the Cameron Trading post, so we stopped there to look around. Part of it is a gigantic gift shop with all the usual trinkets. The other part was a gallery with museum quality Native American art and artifacts. That was definitely worth the stop. I marveled at the baskets, rugs, flutes, sand paintings, and jewelry. There was even some photography printed on canvas. I was pleasantly surprised that they allowed me to take pictures.

There were traditional baskets as well as more colorful ones with modern patterns like horses and butterflies. They even tiny little baskets made of horse hair.

Lee's Ferry

On Friday we opted to beat the heat by spending much of the day in the car and taking a road trip down to Lee's Ferry. Because of the deep canyons, Lee's Ferry was once the only place to cross the Colorado River in all of Arizona.

Near Lee's Ferry is the modern way to cross the river, the Navajo Bridge. On the bridge, perched three California Condors. Seeing Condors in the wild was one of the highlights of our trip.

There were some interesting geological formations, including balancing rocks.

Upstream of Lee's Ferry, the Colorado River is a beautiful green; downstream it is brown. Where the Paria River joins the Colorado, it is brown on the left and green on the right.

There's also all sorts of historical remains. We did a one mile hike along the river and historical sites. The heat and humidity made this all we could handle.

Twilight in Page

I'd been looking forward to doing a bit of Page's rim trail after our pretty good Mexican dinner, but our daughter was having such a good time playing with kids at the park that we got a late start.

It was already after sunset when we got to the trail head, so we didn't go far. The light over Glen Canyon and Lake Powell was fantastic.


When it got too dark to take more pictures, we went back to the scenic overlook. We'd learned from the Hummer tours owner that the locals referred to it as the white house because of the way the dam was lit at night. He liked to go there at night because it was so quiet that one could hear the river and the turbines in the dam. We got there as twilight was fading, but our eyes adjusted quickly to the dark. There were bats flying around and an entirely different mood to the place--quiet, peaceful, mysterious.

Off the beaten path

For more of the stories behind these pictures, please see my previous entry: Too Hot to Blog, Part 2.

The Hummer tour we'd booked got canceled due to flash flood warnings, so instead of the "Secret" slot canyon, we asked them to just take us off-roading. My husband and daughter love off-roading. We used to do quite a bit in the Anza Borrego Desert in San Diego. I've always had a thing for thunderstorms in the desert, so getting to experience one up close was quite a treat for me. And of course, the scenery wasn't bad either.

It was particularly interesting to watch as the water accumulated in a dry wash and formed a river right before our eyes.

Blair's Trading Post

For more of the stories behind these pictures, please see my previous entry: Too Hot to Blog, Part 2.

The private collection at Blair's Trading post has to be the hidden treasure of Page, Arizona. The trading post itself looks like just another shop in a strip-mall, except it has a pawn-shop section in back. There were no signs advertising the collection, and they didn't charge admission, but the owner was happy to show us her father's treasures when we asked. Over the years, he'd kept the best of the things for which he traded. Not only were there beautiful and valuable pieces, but there was also a historical context.

The majority of the things were Navajo, who are well known for their weaving and jewelry, but there was also Hopi and Zuni.

I'm a fan of Native American baskets. I even took a workshop where I learned the basics, so someday when I have time, I hope to give it a try again. This magnificent basket was Hopi.

Lake Powell

For more of the stories behind these pictures, please see my previous entry: Too Hot to Blog, Part 2.

After Antelope Canyon, we drove down to the marina at Antelope Point. We hoped to rent a kayak and explore the flooded part of Antelope Canyon that way, but it was too windy.

There were no jet skis available there, so we went up to Waheap Marina. No luck their either, so we went to the beach near Waheap.

From the viewpoints near Waheap, we could see great views of the dam, Navajo Mountain, and the Navajo Generating Station. Considering that the dam is a source of hydroelectric power, I wonder how necessary the coal powered Navajo plant is. I imagine it's a good source of income for the Navajos, but it seems so contradictory that a tribe with such close cultural connections to the environment would run such an environmentally unfriendly facility.

Later that afternoon we walked out to a scenic viewpoint overlooking the Glen Canyon Dam.

Antelope Canyon

For more of the stories behind these pictures, please see my previous entry: Too Hot to Blog, Part 2.

These are pictures from lower Antelope Canyon. The entrance to the canyon is an unassuming narrow crack in the ground that would be easy to ignore, but once we squeezed through, there were stairs to help us negotiate the steep parts.

Upper Antelope Canyon is apparently more popular, and this time of year, it's described as a human conveyor belt. Since I had a photographer's pass and didn't have to keep up with the tour, I got to enjoy a bit of solitude as my fellow photographers and I spread out through the quarter-mile long canyon. The experience was absolutely magical. Because of the angles of the canyon walls, beams of light reach the floor of the canyon at certain times of day in the upper canyon, but not the lower canyon. Since it was cloudy the day we visited, this wasn't an issue.

The solitude was broken briefly when a group of Japanese tourists hurried by, giggling and snapping pictures literally on the run. I can imagine that their experience of those few minutes in the canyon was not very similar to mine.

The mood was heightened by the music that our guide played on his flute.

I can't wait to go back and see the upper canyon and it's sun beams, but I'll try to do that in the off season.

For more of my pictures from Antelope Canyon, see my other blog.

Glen Canyon & the Glen Canyon Dam

For more of the stories behind these pictures, please see my previous entry: Too Hot to Blog, Part 2.

A great place to view the Colorado River in Glen Canyon is Horseshoe Bend. Because of shadows, it is best seen around the middle of the day. We went out there a little after 10 AM, and it was already oppressively hot and humid with thunderstorms in the distance. Despite our discomfort with the short (1.5 mile round trip) hike, it was well worth it.

From here we could admire the magnificence of Glen Canyon and wonder what the rest of it was like before it was filled with water. I remember reading things by or about Edward Abbey and David Brower and wondered how it was that even the Sierra Club made only a halfhearted attempt to save Glen Canyon. I guess it was its isolation which was its undoing; because so few people had been there, their voices were easily ignored. I wonder, will we let the same thing happen again with the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge?

Normally I'm very happy with my camera equipment, but this was one occasion where I was frustrated by my insufficiently wide angle lens. 28 mm was just not enough.

My daughter and husband really struggled with the heat (103 F/39 C), so we chose to cool off by visiting the Glen Canyon Dam. They had a very interesting and informative tour of the dam which had the added benefit of being naturally cool.

The tour included a lot about how the dam was built and the engineering marvel that it is, and I was able to appreciate it on that level. In 1956 when they started building the dam, it was the most remote location in the country with no roads and no way to cross the Colorado River anywhere in the vicinity. The town of Page came into existence as a place for the workers to live.

During construction of the dam, a layer of sandstone was unearthed which contained dinosaur tracks. A piece of this was displayed in front of the visitor center.

From Las Vegas to Page

For more of the stories behind these pictures, please see my previous entry: Too Hot to Blog, Part 2.

The view from our hotel room in Las Vegas.


Pipe Spring National Monument, and the main building of the Tithing Ranch, Windsor Castle.


I love the landscape of southern Utah, and the area around Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument was particularly stunning. These pictures are taken through the not particularly clean windows of a moving vehicle, but they give you the idea. I'd love to go back to the area some time when it's cool enough to go hiking.

Despite my numerous trips to this part of the country, I've never been to Lake Powell before. This is probably because I've always felt it shouldn't be there in the first place. Of course the decision to build a dam in Glen Canyon was made long before I was even born, but I guess I've considered it an abomination and held a grudge anyhow. However, when planning a trip to the desert with a child in the middle of the summer, proximity to water based recreation was suddenly more appealing.

When we drove down the hill and caught our first glimpses of the blue waters of Lake Powell against the red Navajo Sandstone, it was breathtaking. However wrong it was to fill a natural wonder with water in the middle of the desert, the result was spectacular.