Lower Antelope Canyon–WOW!!!

Several years ago a blogger I follow posted a blog about Antelope Canyon, a slot canyon near Page, Arizona on Navajo land. I knew after seeing the photos that this was going on my bucket list as something I had to see for myself.

We spent the night before our tour in the Page Walmart lot!  Yes, this would be our first ever stay at a Walmart but we had little choice as everything in Page was booked! I can say that staying in this Walmart was great as it was level (no need for levelers) and mostly quiet and close to Antelope Canyon.

There are two parts of Antelope Canyon available for tours. They are called Upper Antelope Canyon (Tsé bighánílíní, 'the place where water runs through rocks') and Lower Antelope Canyon (Hasdestwazi,'spiral rock arches' ). Both slot canyons are located in the Navajo Nation and are only accessible by guided tours ever since 1997 when the Navajo Tribe made them part of a larger Navajo Tribal Park

Antelope Canyon was formed by water erosion of the Navajo Sandstone layer. Monsoonal rains causing flash flooding accelerates this erosional process. In fall of 2006 a flooding lasting 36 hours caused the closure of Lower Antelope Canyon for five months!

I read that doing the lower canyon was better in the fall and the upper canyon better in the spring so I kept an eye on the tour sites to see if I could make a reservation for Lower Antelope Canyon.  The lower canyon is supposed to be a more difficult hike and is longer and narrower in spots so I figured this one would be the most enjoyable to us. Happily my patience and persistence paid off, we got a reservation!

These tours aren’t cheap and the web sites state the tour costs $40 per person. Well after adding taxes, park entrance fees etc. we paid about $104.00 for the two of us.  By the way we selected Ken’s Tours and there is only one other tour agency. They both got great reviews.

We left the RV in the morning to drive over to Ken’s Tours, parked and went to the ticket window with our reservation info in hand. The clerk verified our reservation, gave us a tour assignment and told us to be in the main tour room 15 minutes before our tour start time of 12:30. Each tour group had 10 people and a tour guide, Our tour guide was a very friendly native Navajo young man named Preston.

Man there were a lot of people in the tour center speaking every language known to mankind! When our time came our group followed Preston down a mostly sandy trail to the entrance of the slot canyon. I should mention that no backpacks or bags of any kind are allowed in the canyon nor are tripods or selfie sticks. Preston reiterated the rules and went to everyone in the group offering advice for capturing the best pictures.  He adjusted Sharon’s Pixel 2 phone to the proper setting (Cloudy) which she very much appreciated.

We had a bit of a wait to enter due to the steep staircase going down into the canyon. Here there were five flights of stairs we had to take to reach the bottom of the canyon floor. Even as we dropped down the glowing reddish orange canyon walls came into view. Once we reached the bottom the crowd slowly dispersed into the slot canyon and the crowd became much more manageable. Even with the narrowness of the canyon there were plenty of times we felt mostly alone and were able to capture photos making it appear as if we were the only ones there.

What what a fabulous slot canyon as the colors and hues changed constantly as we meandered through the canyon. Faces and animals seemed to be everywhere as the rocks took on the features of people, sharks, bears etc. Preston pointed out many key features and a few times grabbed Sharon’s phone to take some angles of special sights that may have gone unnoticed by us.  He also showed us photos of snow in the canyon, of a mountain lion seen there, showed us evidence of flooding and told us about how a snake fell on a tourist during a tour a few years ago. He really added to the experience with his engaging personality.

The details of the curved and smooth rock make this canyon a very, very special place. About 50 or so minutes into the tour we were told we were nearing the end. While the canyon hike is only a bit more than a mile on sand there are some challenges to those afraid of heights or tight spaces. The uneven ground, narrow passages and steep and uneven stairs could be challenging but Sharon who has a fear of heights had no real problems with this tour.

One by one we emerged from this slit in the bowels of the earth knowing full well we all wished we could do it over again. It was amazing to look back and see that very thin crack in the surface of the earth especially knowing the enchanting beauty it hides below…

WOW! Was it worth it? It certainly was to the both of us. Check another one of the bucket list! Wow, what a really great day on The Road of Retirement…

NOTE: We are currently near St George UT for a while, then on towards Nevada…

Boat Ride, Birthday and Hiking the Mountain Crack…

We traveled just three miles south into Lake Havasu City to yet another Passport America Park, Campbell Cove Resort. It is a nice little park with great views overlooking Lake Havasu. After setting up and cranking up the A/C, the temperatures were in the low 90’s, so we decided to head over to London Bridge to catch the ferry over to the Indian Casino across the lake into California.

We had no intention of gambling but simply wanted to enjoy the best deal in town… the $2.00 per person round trip ferry boat ride across Lake Havasu. Leaving Lake Havasu City we saw RV’s camped all along the banks of the lake on both sides. The boat ride took about 15 minutes and docked near the casino. We walked in to check out the little casino which does have great views from the bar but we weren’t intrigued enough to stay. We re-boarded the ferry and took the return leg back across to Lake Havasu City. We decided to walk along the lakefront and go across the London Bridge and back.  We felt it was a nice way to kill a few hours and we really enjoyed the ferry ride.…

The next day was Sharon’s birthday so I made her breakfast of choice – Whole Grain Huckleberry Pancakes from the frozen Huckleberries we picked in Montana. After breakfast we relaxed at home and then made her a birthday lunch of another favorite, Kale, Sausage and Chick Peas with the last of our Texas Slovacek sausage. Yummy!

After lunch we headed over to near Sara Park on the south side of town as I found the perfect birthday hike for Sharon. This just under 5 mile hike included some mild canyoneering through what is called the Crack in the Mountiain. We parked in Sara Park close to the gate near the Special Activities Recreation Area .  We started on the trail which basically followed the dry wash down the canyon. We occasionally switched over to the red trail which seemed to help us stay out of the harder to walk in sandy and loose gravel in the wash more than the yellow trail did.

After about a mile walking or slogging through the dry wash we started to notice the canyon walls becoming closer together and taller. The rocks in this part of the trail were very interesting and the geology was as well. Next as the canyon walls got closer and closer, we ambled down and over boulders into a series of dry falls through the crack in the mountain. Then we encountered the “seven-foot dry fall” which is more like 10 feet. I slid down it as the surface is much like a slide. The only caution was to make sure my footing landed on a couple of rocks below in such a way as not turn an ankle.

Sharon being more apprehensive required some assistance from me to ensure a much softer landing. Some basic canyoneering skills were taught to her and then she was able to handle everything else the crack had to offer. At the 1.4 mile marker we exited the crack and continued on down the trail to the 2.3 mile marker. Not knowing how far the lake was we opted to turn around at this point only to find out later we were just a tenth of a mile from the shoreline!

Near the 1.6 mile marker we ventured out of the wash to climb to what I was sure to be the blue trail (and it was). The blue trail bypasses going back up the canyon  so we took this trail as I was unsure if we could easily get back up the ten foot slide. This trail climbed in elevation as we scrambled along the hillside.  We were glad we decided to return on this trail since it offered some great views of the lake as well as the canyon from above.  We reconnected to the dry wash some 6/10’s of a mile from the parking lot at the trailhead.

Getting back to the car it was nearly 5:00 pm so we headed off to College Street Brewery for some nice crafted beers to fully celebrate Sharon’s birthday. We went back to the RV where I made her requested birthday dinner of Chicken Fajitas. While cooking we were treated to one of the best sunsets we have seen since full timing… a perfect ending to a perfect day!!!

Hiking in a Cool Slot Canyon near Kanarraville Utah…

Before we left Leeds, Utah I had found another hike that sounded real interesting. We had discussed wanting to hike the Narrows Trail in Zion National Park but the weather was never warm enough for me to want to hike a long time in cold water. Luckily, after researching on the web I found what was described as a mini Narrows Trail near Kanarraville, Utah.

 

We drove north about 30 minutes and pulled into the town of Kanarraville. The city charges $10.00 per car to park at the trailhead but allows free parking near the town hall on Main Street. We elected to park near the town hall and ride our bikes to the trailhead. Not only did we get a little more exercise we saved ten buck as well…

 

The Kanarra Creek Trail is just east of center of town in Kanarraville and the trail began on a old dirt road that was once used to get to the trailhead before the city erected the fee paid parking lot. The dirt road is on an uphill grade that .had us a bit winded. At the end of the dirt road we encountered our first creek crossing. Knowing that we going to have to cross the creek many times we elected to rock hop across the creek for as long as we could as we were in no hurry to get our feet wet in the very cold water of the creek.

 

We crossed many times and as we made our way further up the canyon  the trail began to narrow which meant we had to scramble over some rocks to try and keep our feet dry. We came prepared with water shoes to wear once we got to where we would be unable to avoid crossing the creek without getting wet and eventually we got to a spot where we decided it was time… Man that water was cold! Not much further down the trail we encountered the main feature of this trail… the slot canyon. The vertical walls constricted leaving only the creek as a trail. The walls weren’t further than 10 feet apart in places making for a very, very cool hike.

 

We hiked in the creek bed for a short time enjoying the slot canyon while looking skyward at the thin slit of blue sky above. We eventually came to the Lower Kanarraville Falls which was our goal for this day. Although we knew there was another Upper Waterfall to also hike to, we had no real plans of making it that far. We did however decide to take the ladder and rope element up and over the Lower Falls. Knowing this would be a challenge for Sharon because of her fear of heights I encouraged  her slowly all the way up the ladder. She made it over the top boulder and we continued to hike a bit further even though we were now out of the slot canyon…

  

Deciding we had gone far enough and not wanting to keep our feet cold we elected to turn back. As we came back to the Lower Falls I asked Sharon if she wanted to have me go first and then her follow or just her go it alone. After much consternation she decided to go it alone and when she reached the bottom she had a great sense of accomplishment of overcoming her fear and being able to manage the obstacle on her own.

We then walked in the creek through the magnificent slot canyon once again. We couldn’t feel our feet as they were very, very cold. After we emerged on the other side of the canyon we tried to stay out of the water so our feet would warm. It was a mile or so down the trail before they began to thaw but once the trail merged into the sun again we at least felt much warmer.

We hiked about 4.5 miles overall and met only a few groups of people along the way.  This was, we felt, our best hike of all ones we took while we were in this area. Next up for us after all this remote rural camping is some urban scenery as we are now in Las Vegas at the Main Street Station RV Park…