Summer tales II – Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend

I am recapping the wonderful times that I had with my family here in the States this summer. See all related posts under the category:  summer tales.
This post is going to be photo-heavy and still won’t do all the beauty justice that we saw that day!

We arrived in Page at 5 p.m (on 7/6) and had time for a quick dip in the pool, before we headed out to “Bonkers” for dinner. This was an approved restaurant from our last visit in Page and we definitely were looking forward to go back there. We weren’t disappointed.

The next morning (7/7) after a more-or-less acceptable breakfast at our hotel, Nina, Dirk and I drove to “Antelope Canyon Tours”, where we were booked for a tour at 10:30 a.m. to Upper Antelope Canyon. My parents agreed to hang out with the kids for the day (they have been to the canyon before!).

We were loaded up in trucks and driven to the canyon, because the slot canyon is on Navajo land and can only be accessed on a guided tour). Nina, Dirk and I ended up being placed in a bigger SUV, not one of the open tour trucks I had told them about previously. First we were a bit bummed, because riding in those open trucks is kinda fun, but that turned out to be a good thing because it meant that we were in a smaller group of only 7 people and not with 15 others.
On our way to the canyon, our tour guide Marla told us about the flash flood incident a couple of years ago that killed some tourists in the canyon. Although I had heard of that before I wasn’t really thrilled to be reminded just before we were going to enter the canyon.

The short hike through the ‘slot canyon’ was surreal and breath-taking. Nina and Dirk were definitely impressed (although I understand that Dirk was not a fan of the “touristy” setup, being forced through a canyon with a gazillion other people. Sigh. I can relate, but that’s how it is. They only allow guided tours.)

We spent about an hour in the canyon and I was once again in awe of Mother Nature.

We stopped for a quick lunch break in town (and got caught in a hail storm that came and went in about 15 minutes. Weather in Arizona in the summer is all over the place!).
Then the three of us headed out to Horseshoe Bend, an impressive horseshoe-shaped, 270-degree meander (hence the name) of the Colorado River located 5 miles (8.0 km) downstream from the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell.

The overlook is accessible via a ¾ mile hike from U.S. Route 89 and it’s part of a state park. The overlook is 4,200 feet (1,300 m) above sea level, and the Colorado River is at 3,200 feet (980 m) above sea level, making it a 1,000-foot (300 m) drop.
Mind you, there are no guard rails or anything at the cliff’s edge and Dirk was surprised that they didn’t charge anything to access this breath-taking natural phenomenon. I could tell, this was so far the most impressive site that we visited yet! And I have to agree, Horseshoe Bend is one of my favorite geological sites (and I was lucky enough to be part of a project at work that studied that stretch of the Colorado meanders).

We spent two hours on the hunt for the perfect picture (although it is very hard to capture the enormity of this overlook in a photograph, but we still tried!). Nina was definitely a bit more anxious (like my Mom last time) to get close to the edge.

Around 4:30 p.m. we met up with my parents and the kids at the hotel and decided to visit the Glen Canyon Dam Visitor Center and take a closer look at the Dam (especially since we had missed the opportunity to stop at Hoover Dam on our way from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon a few days prior).

For dinner, we went to the “Dam Bar & Grille” and because we were pretty late – once again – both kids were falling asleep halfway through their meals. We really should have planned this better.

You can read the last post here.