OMG!

What an incredible day we had on Tuesday! Antelope Canyon outside Page, AZ - my first time in a slot canyon - was a bucket list experience, and we finished the afternoon at Bryce Canyon National Park.

I got a massage a few days before we left Miraval, and Nicole Rosenbaum, a wonderful therapist and adventurous photographer, said we MUST go on one of the Antelope Canyon tours at the Navaho Tribal Park outside of Page (right near the Navaho Power Generating Station).  So we did and it was SPECTACULAR! I have always loved photographs of the sensuous rock formations lit from above. It probably goes back to the Eliot Porter book I mentioned in my last post about Glen Canyon. I hadn't really imagined I would ever get into one of these canyons so I could photograph it myself. But I did, on a red letter day, June 10, 2014!

There are probably 300 - 400 people in the slot canyon at a time. There are four companies offering tours. We went to the one closest to the canyon and rode in the back of a pickup over three miles of sand with a dozen other people. We were the only ones from the US in our truck. There was a family of four from China, and couples from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Sherry, our Navaho guide, knows how to say '"hurry up" in at least 8 languages.

There are many times that you are crammed together in the close confines, but you are looking up much of the time, and all of the guides (probably six from the company we went in with) are considerate of the needs of other groups. Sherry gave us strict instructions about how to set our cameras (flashes create dots). Periodically she would take your camera and take a photo to demonstrate how it should be done while averring that she is not a trained photographer.



I took a lot of photographs and am grateful for digital photography so I wasn't worried about running out of film. My father has said that one of the differences between and amateur and a professional is that professionals take fewer photos.  They only take the potentially great shots.  I took about 230 photos in the canyon. Obviously I am an amateur.  But I'm a happy one!

We were in the canyon from about 12:20 - 1:45 which is the perfect time of day. Summer is apparently the best season because of the angle of the sun. I could see how much the lighting changed between the time we went in and the time we came back through.

We departed Page about 2 PM, and drove northwest along the southern edge of Escalante National Monument (not a National Park). You turn north in Kanab, Utah and then turn back east toward Bryce Canyon at Red Canyon.

Someone described the rocks of this whole region as 'petrified sand dunes.' Apparently the southwest was a massive desert of sand dunes in the Jurassic era, and the amazing sandstone and limestone features of the landscape that we are driving through is the result of what was turned to stone, and then processed by the elements, particularly wind and water.

We entered Bryce Canyon a little before 6 PM. There was very little traffic at that time, and the light was great. The rock formation to the left made me think of sand castles made by dripping wet sand. Sandstone is naturally white, but when there was more iron around as it was being formed, it became red.

I think the hole in the rock at the right is about 30 feet high. Tom read that technically it isn't a natural arch because it wasn't formed by flowing water.  It is still awesome. The hillside is so steep that it looks like it avalanches regularly.

Wouldn't you guess sand drippings?

Many of the formations look like ancient fortifications.



What an amazing day filled with wondrous sights! How lucky we are to be here!