ZION BRYCE GRAND CANYON DAY 6 – ANTELOPES AND HORSESHOES AND ELK

 

Mountains mean you can sleep in and still catch the sunrise.  Not necessarily the first one, but the one over your friendly easterly peaks. 

We’re on towards the Grand Canyon but we have a fun travel day ahead of us.  Road breakfast includes great java from the coffee shop at our hotel plus the leftover steak and pork chop leftovers from last night’s dinner.   Just as good the next day.  The huge landscape in front of us looks like it should have movie credits from a spaghetti western scrolling in front of it.  Even though we’ve seen them from every conceivable angle, the orange and white striped mountains still fill us awe as we pass them in the distance for the last time. 

Time math escapes us.  Apparently, it escapes AT&T too as our phones are constantly toggling forward and back and hour or two as we skirt along the UT/AZ border.  Turns out Utah doesn’t celebrate daylight savings time so we change time zones going due south.  We make Arizona proper and hit Lake Powell, a classic American vacation lake.  From the overlook, we can see the all the fun of the lake: rows of docked houseboats, bowriders, cruisers and jetskis drawing v-shaped wakes, and others grounded to start today’s redneck yacht club.    

A bit further down the road, we trip over Glen Canyon Dam, an impressive power plant that we knew absolutely nothing about.  Geek that I am, I am not going to pass up a chance to explore such an impressive feat of engineering. 

Next stop, Antelope Canyon, a pair of crazily shaped slot canyons on Navajo Nation lands and a sacred site of the Navajo people.  Between the deep orange colors, the sweeping, swirling formation of the rock and the angular rays of desert sunlight, this place instantly turns every visitor into the world’s greatest photography artist.  Our guide Corwin is well practiced and helps us with camera settings and points out particularly interesting shapes as we go (the Eagle and the Woman in the Wind were our favs).  Corwin explains that the canyons are formed by the waters of the flash floods, and constantly reshaped with each subsequent deluge.  Just when we thought we had taken all the pictures of rocks we would ever need…

We leave the most photographed show under earth, zip 20 minutes across Page, AZ, and pull into the town’s other Insta darling, Horseshoe Bend.  As the name implies, the bend is a horseshoe shaped turn in the Colorado river, easily viewable from the 1000-foot-high sandstone cliff above.  From our vantage point, the tour boats look like water bugs and the kayaks like colorful confetti carried by the current.   

The next hour sees your heroes driving through the barren desert of tribal lands on Route 89.  Although this is a well-traveled road from Bryce to the Grand Canyon, there is virtually no signs of commerce.  Virtually.  After about 20 miles, we see the first “Authentic Indian Jewelry” shack, a ramshackle plywood structure about the size of a typical suburban shed.  A few miles later, we see what we can only call a mall, a connected line of about 10 of these shacks, all selling minor variations of the same theme to the passing touristas.  There is some version of these shacks every few miles for the next 60.  Thank god I didn’t need a gallon of gas or a Diet Coke.  Right before the turnoff to Route 64, is Cameron’s Trading Post.  At first glance, my assumption was South of the Border, that cheesy souvenir shop in South Carolina famously advertised by “Pedro Says” billboards from Maine to Florida.  As there was absolutely nothing else in the area, we decided to give it a try for lunch, Mandy threatening my life the entire walk from the car to the front door.  To our judgmental surprise, it was very nice.  A well-stocked, well-run store leading to a very handsome, classic, tin-ceiling Midwest dining room.  The menu was much better than we hoped, a very nice selection of local Native American dishes interspersed with Mexican and American fare.  My Green Chili Stew was delish and served with Fry Bread, drizzled with honey, hardy and yummy.

The familiar brown-with-tan Kaibab National Forest sign lets us know we’re getting close to our final destination.  We hit the Grand Canyon East Entrance and our road weariness is replaced with enthusiasm.  Just past the entrance is the Desert View Watchtower, where we get our first glimpse of the Big Hole itself.  It is every bit the wow moment we had hoped for, and we’re not even at the best parts.  A few miles down the road, we stop at an unnamed overlook on the side of the road.  The view is even better here and we’re greeted by a big female elk, just hanging, taking in the view.  We take her welcome as a good omen for the next few days. 

And now, without apology, shamefully many more pictures of pretty, swirly rocks.