Gypsies In A Caravan: Page AZ, Antelope Canyon

On the 24th of May we pulled out of Wickenburg AZ headed to the Elks Lodge in Page AZ. Red rocks along the drive after Flagstaff and you won't know you were in AZ.

$20 a night for electric and water, there is a free dump within a mile. We stayed over Memorial weekend and were surprised it didn't fill up, friendly lodge and close to everything.

We hiked part of the Page Rimview trail that is a 9.8 loop and has great views of the River, it was a nice find so close to the city.

Next up was the Glen Canyon Dam.

It is a concrete arch-gravity dam on the Colorado River standing 710 feet high and was built by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation from 1956 to 1966 and forms Lake Powell, one of the largest man-made reservoirs in the U.S. The dam is named for Glen Canyon, a series of deep sandstone gorges now flooded by the reservoir, Lake Powell is named for John Wesley Powell, who in 1869 led the first expedition to traverse the Colorado's Grand Canyon by boat.

This is the view of the bridge from the east side.

Looking north from the bridge.

Looking down from the bridge.

Looking south from the bridge, such a beautiful color!

This was taken from a view point further south of the bridge.

Lake Powell taken along Lakeshore Drive in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.

Beneath the lake lie hundreds of ancestral Puebloan dwellings.

Did you know the Colorado River and its tributaries feed much of the water needs for seven states

Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, California, Arizona, and New Mexico. The river should flow to the Gulf of California but is often used up before reaching the gulf.

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Before Glen Canyon Dam blocked the river above Lees Ferry, all Grand Canyon river trips either began here or stopped here on their downstream run. For those starting upstream, Lees Ferry was a rest and repair stop, supply point, or in some cases a place of decision as to continue on or stay put. The settlement was named after John D. Lee, a Mormon settler with 17 wives who established a ferry there in 1871. The ferry provided the only crossing of the river for nearly 60 years until the Navajo bridge was built a few miles downstream.

Many of the rafting trips to the Grand Canyon start here and are booked 1.5 years in advance.

On the way to Lees Ferry we past this Balanced Rock.

The Navajo Bridge is a pair of steel spandrel arch bridges that cross the Colorado River at a height of 466'. It was built in 1928 but was never intended to carry the heavy vehicles of today so another one was constructed to duplicate the first one. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981. The original bridge is now for site seers.

I can't take credit for this picture.

But I did take the next two from both directions, the water is such a beautiful color.

This next picture is of the Vermilion Cliffs taken from the bridge.

Past the Navajo bridge on 89A is a settlement of Cliff Dwellers from the past with remains of a few adobe buildings nestled among crumbling rocks and oddly shaped boulders. They used what nature provided by building around boulders.

Horsebend is best photographed in the morning or the evening. It was a bit cloudy when we went but after a .75 mile hike the clouds broke. The overlook is 1,000 feet above the river.

There are no guardrails to keep you from falling so pay attention!

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The highlight of Page was Antelope Slot Canyon.

A slot canyon is a narrow canyon, formed by the wear of water rushing through rock. The slot canyons are on Navajo land so you have to schedule a tour, I didn't know that but should have, dah! So I couldn't get us into the upper or lower canyon, but was told at the information center in town that Canyon X is still part of Antelope Canyon just not as famous. No problem getting tickets and they were cheaper as well. Our tour guide use to work at upper canyon and told us that due to the volume of people and their schedule you are rushed through. That's not the case at Canyon X, we were allowed to take our time and the tour guide even took pictures of us. Another interesting fact was our time to visit. Later in the rainy season the canyons will fill up with water bringing unwanted guests such as snakes. Also, during the heat of the summer 4 legged creatures will seek the cool temps the canyons provide, so before the tours begin in the mornings the canyons are checked out before they allow anyone to tour.