Thursday, March 2, 2017

It sounds like Page is blessed with nice and sunny weather (it seldom snows here), but can also be plagued by strong winds and flash floods. This Navajo landscape surely bears all the signs of it. And it is beautiful!

We did a lovely walk in the morning: The Hanging Garden Trail, near Glen Canyon Dam. It is a short and easy trail through rocks and dunes. Hidden by Jurassic Navajo sandstone, a luxurious green fence against the wet rock rewards you for your effort. The desert is full of surprises! I am fascinated by the rock formations, the softness and wetness of the sand, and the light shows the sun is putting on.

The afternoon was dedicated to Antelope Canyon. There are two scenic slot canyons, and we visited the Upper one, or “The Crack”. In the Navajo language, its name means “The place where water runs through rocks”. It is because rainwater, especially during the monsoon season, rushes through the canyon and constantly shapes its walls.

We had booked our tour with Antelope Slot Canyon Tours, and they were just a block away from our hotel ($48.00  per person for a 1.5 hour tour). It is a company owned and operated by Navajos, and they do an excellent job. To protect their land, the Navajos do not allow public access to some areas, the Antelope Canyon being one of them. They have made it a Navajo Tribal Park.

Our outing started with a traditional Native American Hoop dance performed by a solo dancer, at the rhythmic sound of a chant punctuated by a drum. He used a dozen hoops to create a variety of shapes, some of them quite intricate.

We then embarked on a Jeep (we were a small group of 8) and drove through a long sandy desert road before arriving at the canyon. From above, all you see is an ordinary crack in the ground, but from below, you discover an extraordinary rock sculpture! A flat and sandy corridor makes it easy to navigate through the twists and turns of the smooth rock. You know it has been photographed a trillion times, you have seen the pictures everywhere, you have heard the Oohs and Ahhs, but when YOU see it and touch it, all of that is forgotten and the experience is surreal. Because of the moisture, the temperature in the canyon is cool and so is the rock. Our guide took the time to show us all the angles we should use to take our pictures, encouraging us along the way (we will see what comes out of it…).  After you come out of the canyon, you have to walk back through it again to get to your Jeep. And it is AWSOME… again!!!

We had dinner at the Dam Bar and Grill A good experience. Tomorrow is our last day in Page and we will heading south, catching up with higher temperatures :))))