For our last day exploring the Southwest, we stopped by Horseshoe Bend on our way from Page to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
Horseshoe Bend is a spectacular spot along the Colorado River, just outside of Page and just before the official border of Grand Canyon National Park. If you are ever anywhere near Page, Arizona, do yourself a favor and stop. It’s a mile and a half round trip hike from the parking lot, and it’s worth every step! Just be careful when you get the edge – it’s a thousand foot drop and there’s no railing!
About two hours later, we arrived at the Grand Canyon Lodge at the North Rim. The hotel sells out over a year in advance, so we weren’t able to book a room, but we did book reservations for dinner that night. Then we hit the Bright Angel Point Trail.
On our way back to the trailhead, we discovered a hidden spot under the Grand Canyon Lodge, so we stopped to enjoy a quiet moment.
As dusk approached, we drove around searching for a secluded spot to view the sunset. We got to see some fantastic views along the way.
I honestly don’t remember where we ended up stopping, but we had a gorgeous view. Then again, it’s hard to find a bad view at the Grand Canyon…
I mentioned that we had a slight ulterior motive for taking this Southwest trip, and stopping by Page, Arizona was it. Our Christmas present to Justin’s mom and stepdad was a chartered fishing trip on Lake Powell. The fishing trip was focal point of our Southwest trip, and it did not disappoint.
Lake Powell is a man-made lake located on the Utah/Arizona border with a controversial history. It’s a complex case study with a lot of lessons to be learned, and I recommend researching it to anyone interested in environmental issues. Regardless of whether or not the lake should exist, it does, so I figure it might as well be enjoyed by the people in the area.
Growing up and living in the Great Lakes State, I’ve spent plenty of time around freshwater. Lake Powell is nowhere near the size of even the smallest of the Great Lakes, but it makes up for it with 360 degrees of striking landscape views.
We set out before dawn and watched the sun rise over the water.
Once we were far enough away from shore, we dropped the lines and tempted the hungry striped bass.
I’d had no plans to swim, I didn’t even bring my suit. But by mid-morning, the sun was hot and I announced that I was jumping in. Almost everyone on the boat joined me somewhere around this spot.
My fishing abilities are less than stellar, and the only thing I ended up reeling in was the fish the guide got on the hook and then sympathetically handed over to me. But I was fine with that. I was content to sit back and admire the view.
After our fishing trip, I’d arranged for us to visit the astonishingly beautiful Upper Antelope Canyon in the afternoon. I had been looking forward to this moment since we decided to take our Southwest adventure – it was supposed to be the highlight of the trip for me.
Well, things don’t always work out the way you hope. Don’t get me wrong, I got some amazing images, but the experience was not I’d expected.
Let’s begin at the beginning…
Upper Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon located just outside of Page, Arizona on Navajo land. To visit, you must be accompanied by a Navajo guide and there are several businesses in the area which offer tours run by the Navajo people. I reserved the one called “Photographers and Friends”, which was substantially more expensive than the standard sightseeing tour, so that Justin, and his mom and stepdad, could come along. I assumed (in hindsight, I’m not sure why) that paying the steeper price for the photographer’s tour would allow for private access to areas not available on the general tour and no interference from folks in other groups.
Unfortunately, I was wrong on both counts.
Stepping into the canyon, we might as well have been stepping into Disney World. So. Many. People.
I was a bit shocked by the sight, but I tried to remain calm as I followed our guide through the swarm of bodies. He led us deep into the canyon, past groups from other tour companies, and countless people with iPads and smartphones pointed in every direction. I figured he must be guiding us past the standard tour area and leading us to the private section reserved for photographers, so I didn’t complain or ask questions.
Finally, we stopped at a mostly quiet, but certainly not private area, and he instructed me to set up my tripod. He then informed me which settings to use on my camera and which direction to point my lens.
Um, Houston, we have a problem…
I stood there, dumbstruck, while he took my camera and set the shutter speed to a 30 second exposure. He then fired off a few test shots and excitedly showed me the results. I guess they were OK, but they weren’t what I wanted. I wanted to capture detail shots of the way the overhead light illuminated the intricate patterns on the canyon walls. I wanted to look around, explore, and take multiple shots on multiple settings, then figure out on my own which ones I liked best – not be told where to position my tripod, where to point my lens, and what shutter speed to use.
I didn’t realize that the tour would consist of being led to a particular spot and being told how to shoot. I wasn’t happy with this realization, and it was pretty obvious, but I went along with it, completely frustrated and disappointed with the images I was producing.
At some point, the guide and I figured each other out. After a while, I stopped doing what he told me to do and just took the shot I wanted. Once he realized that I wasn’t listening to him anymore, he stopped telling me what to do, and focused on simply keeping people out of my way and out of my shots – even though they weren’t the shots he wanted me to take. Once we started working together, I started to get some stunning images. Take a look!
I know it looks empty, but I assure you, there were hordes of people just outside the frame…
After we finished up at Upper Antelope Canyon, we headed over to the nearby Rattlesnake Canyon. This particular slot canyon is privately owned by the Navajo tour group we booked, so it had nowhere near the dizzying amount of people parading through it. In fact, we had it pretty much all to ourselves, which was just what I needed to cheer me up!
Finally! A smile! At last, I might be having fun here!
So that’s my slot canyon story!
I’d love to try again, maybe at Lower Antelope Canyon next time, during a different time of year at a different time of day, now that I know better.
I truly enjoyed every single place we visited on our Southwest trip, but if I had to pick a favorite spot, Bryce Canyon would win. I was smitten with the weather, the landscape, the cabin where we stayed, the little general store we visited at least a dozen times in two days and the older gentleman behind the counter where we bought our fishing licenses (for our upcoming adventure on Lake Powell) who tried to convince me stay behind by offering me a job – I just loved everything about this part of Utah!
We started our day at Sunset Point, and began by descending the steep switchbacks on the Navajo / Queens Garden loop trail. That’s Justin hiking along the path. It was pretty amazing and intimidating to see the zigzag trail in person – this shot really doesn’t do it justice.
By the time we reached the canyon floor, we were 500 feet lower than we were when we started.
Here’s a fisheye shot of the hoodoos from the canyon floor. Can you see why I liked this place much? It was incredible!
We finished the trail at Sunrise Point, and I had to give Justin a celebratory smooch.
The views from the rim trail were pretty fantastic too.
I used my 24mm lens to get a selfie of us with the hoodoos.
As dusk approached, we went for a drive to try to find a good spot to watch the sun set (not that the view from any spot was bad…) and we checked out Natural Bridge.
We ended up at Rainbow Point (I think) for the sunset. Wherever we were, I dare you to argue with that view…
Before we left, I insisted that we stop to adopt a prairie dog. Justin supported that idea, but was mortified that I named our little guy Buster.
It’s about a four hour drive from Arches to Bryce Canyon, two well known and well visited National Parks in the Southwest, and the path takes you near the lesser known, but stunningly gorgeous, Capitol Reef National Park. We deliberately left some time for serendipity on our road trip days, so we decided to spend a few hours exploring this less traveled spot on the Utah landscape.
While we were driving by, I spotted these desert bighorn sheep hanging out on the mountainside and squealed to Justin that we had to stop. He was reluctant to do so, he insisted that anything with horns that big wouldn’t hesitate to use them if startled. Although they were a good hundred yards away, he instructed me to RUN back to the car if they started to charge.
But these guys were so unimpressed by me…
As I stood there oohing and ahhing over them, you could almost hear them saying, “Sigh. Tourists.”
Our first full day at a National Park was spent exploring Arches in Utah.
It was uncomfortably hot (about 95 degrees on the day we were there), there wasn’t much shade, and I wasn’t quite adjusted to the altitude of the Southwest yet. These things conspired to turn me into a crabby and uncooperative hiker at certain points throughout the day, but Justin managed to keep me going (and forced me to drink water even when I insisted I didn’t need it, even though I did).
It was a mile and a half hike in blistering heat up to Delicate Arch, but it was worth it. Wow! What a view!
While we were resting up at Delicate Arch, I glanced behind us every few minutes and noticed that the ominous clouds in the distance were creeping closer and closer. I mentioned this to Justin, and he assured me that storms usually travel west to east. So I pulled out my iPhone, opened my compass app, and informed him that, yup, that was exactly the direction that the storm in the distance appeared to be moving.
When we saw a few flashes of lightning, Justin decided it was time for us to leave the rock garden 4,800 feet in the sky.
So we quickly made our way back down the mile and a half trail, attempting to out-run the approaching storm.
We managed to out-run the storm and stay dry (I don’t think the people who remained up at Delicate Arch were so lucky).
After the storm, the lingering clouds provided some lovely filtered light and some gorgeous golden hour glow.
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