Tour Diary - Day Thirteen
Dec. 21st, 2016 02:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
waitingmanLucky for some
Sunday 16th of October 2016 - Monument Valley to St George, Utah
A colourful post-sunrise sky greeted us as we packed Travis & locked up the cabin that has been home for the last few days. And now, on the road again in convoy, with Gary leading in his pickup. Just a short initial hike to the nearby town of Kayenta for fuel & a quart of oil for Travis, which should keep him happy 'til we reach Las Vegas in a couple of days. It should at least give us a bit more than the "zero oil life" the dashboard threatened us with last night
Over the border yet again from Utah to Arizona, as we headed for Antelope Canyon, near the town of Page. Still seeing some wonderful, striking landscapes, including a solitary mountain, sacred to the Navajo & off limits to anyone who claims European ancestry... Gary told me its name via the 2-way radio as we passed, but I can't remember it now
Shortly after, we passed a coal mine that sends its loads to a power plant near Page by electric train - a rarity in heavy rail haulage. Apparently, that power plant is one of the major polluters in the area - right near Lake Powell too, which is a dammed area of the Colorado River, essential for irrigation & drinking water. Not a great place to be ruining sky, land & water table then...
We pulled into the Adventurous Antelope Canyon Tours yard within sight of the aforementioned power station at around midday local time. Just a big open yard, with a hot wind blowing desert sand around & a small office under a makeshift shady area that looked like it had been temporarily erected about 15 years ago. With all the tour fees paid in cash (no EFTPOS, not now, not ever), Gary & I had a few minutes to check our gear, while others who would be going with us were told to leave backpacks & sundry extras behind, as Rattlesnake Canyon is very narrow in places. Sounds like Julia made the right decision to not join us on this one...
Into the same kind of 4WD that the guys back at Monument Valley used, maybe a little smaller, but in much the same rattly & haphazard shape as John & Ryan's - dodgy 4WD selection, stuck doors etc. Our Navajo Guide was Gibb, a youngish guy in backwards baseball cap & sunglasses, who made all the tour announcements in over-enunciated & very... slow... English... which I'm sure is required for the many foreign guests they get with little or no English, but we were 3 Americans & an Australian trying not to feel too offended that Gibb may think we're... a bit... slow. Barrelling down the highway towards Page a little further, then a left turn through a parking lot & onto the Antelope Wash - a dry riverbed that only sees water during flash-flooding (unlikely on this day, fortunately), Gibb was at his happiest fishtailing all over the sandy tracks even though we were in high-range 4WD... supposedly
Only a short distance along the Wash to Rattlesnake Canyon. A few... slow... careful... words about safety, then up a short ladder & into the canyon. Almost immediately you had to watch your head, your tripod & your camera, as the small canyon twisted dramatically & the rocks closed in overhead, reducing the available light, but making a feature of the red/yellow sandstone walls, which had undulating lines & layers that made the rock look like it was flowing through the canyon, just like the waters that had formed it. Looking up, as the light filtered down & around the walls, the colours of the rock varied from pinks, yellows to deep crimsons & purple. Gibb asked if there was anything like the Canyon back in Australia & I'm not sure there is... It was like nothing I've ever seen & the many photos I've seen before don't do justice to the feeling of being in there yourself. It's not what I'd call claustrophobic, though you are hampered in movement by the narrow trail & protruding stone, but there's enough light to see without torches - you don't feel like you're underground, more like you're in some secret passageway
A guide who was leading a group a little further in & ahead of us, came back to tell us there was a rattlesnake up ahead (so that's how the Canyon gets its name) Instantly we're all watching the ground, looking at every little crack & crevasse in the stone & invoking the ancient Egyptian spell for protection against danger inside the pyramids - "After you... no, I insist". What we eventually found was only a baby snake, about 6 inches long, but as Gibb explained, that made it all the more dangerous, as when the babies bite you, they use all their venom, unlike the adults who know how to portion their poison... so you get a huge dose which could carry you off quite quickly if not treated immediately. Fortunately, it was curled up in an alcove & didn't move at all as the 5 of us tiptoed past, sticking closely to the opposite wall which, as mentioned, wasn't quite far enough away. Not even a warning rattle... In a way I was a little disappointed. Not enough to poke it with a stick though
Every now & then, as we set up tripods & took long exposure shots, Gibb would crouch in a corner & play on a wooden flute, the notes echoing down & around the canyon walls - a slightly eerie, but appropriate soundtrack for the place, given its location on Navajo land. All too soon we came out the other side of the twisting tunnel, up a short ladder & into vivid daylight, where there was a scramble for sunglasses stowed in pockets, camera bags etc before we walked into something... or someone. A brief hike back over the sand & rock above the Canyon showed how short it is in a straight line, even though it had taken about 20 minutes to go along its labyrinthine path
Back into the dodgy 4WD for the drive along the Antelope Wash to Upper Antelope Canyon. Gibb explained in an apologetic tone that, unlike Rattlesnake Canyon, where it had just been the 5 of us, Upper Antelope Canyon would be a very crowded place, with 5 tour groups operating, each with a load of up to 70 people... Oh boy
And yes, when we arrived at the Canyon, the first thing you saw was about 20 vehicles disgorging people all heading for the Canyon entrance. The Guides would do their best to keep people out of our photos - after all, that's what we'd paid for, but it was inevitable that there would be some occasions where we'd get 'ghosts' of people walking across our time exposure shots. After all - they'd paid their money too, just not as much as we had
Upper Antelope Canyon is a larger, higher & wider place than Rattlesnake, though it's more enclosed. It feels more like entering a cave than Rattlesnake Canyon did. On the plus side though, it's less cramped & you only have to bend over if you're operating a camera on a tripod close to the walls... so we had to do that quite a lot. Every time we stopped, there would be other groups of people going both ways along the dim pathway, but Gibb showed us how we could interlock our tripods to create a barrier that could stop people barging through while we waited for our exposures to finish. This did cause a little disgruntlement from the great unwashed, as they waited with their iPhones & point'n'shoots, but also a little camera-envy. I had at least one person comment on my "serious camera!!" as they squeezed past. Well, thanks, but you should see some of the other guys...
We ended up going through the Canyon twice - from front to back & I think there were still some areas I didn't get a proper look at, or photograph, as the chaos of the crowd made it difficult. But I can say it was an amazing place to be inside & there are images in my mind that will stay with me for a long time... as long as any photograph can. The same yellows, reds, purples & blacks as Rattlesnake Canyon, but on a larger scale, with less light coming through the top. Some beams of light meant it wasn't completely dark, but again, there were trodden & tripped feet, clashes of tripods & the occasional headbutt of sandstone wall. I'd love to go back there on a weekday... maybe it would be a little less crowded. Maybe
Back into the 4WD & Gibb threw it around on the Wash even more, now that he didn't have to stop at Rattlesnake... one of our passengers wasn't quite ready for that & I don't think anyone really believed Gibb when he said "Oh... sorry... I'll slow down... a little". He didn't
Back to the Adventurous Tour yard where we collected Julia, who had happily wandered around the sunny compound, done some reading, had a nap & generally enjoyed not being in crowded, confined spaces. Then the 3 of us headed into Page for supplies & cash withdrawals. Afterwards, it was time to say goodbye to Gary, as he had to be back in Boulder on Tuesday for an appointment, so was headed back to Grand Junction today - about 8-9 hours away. That's a long time in the saddle & we hope he made it safely & comfortably. He has showed us some amazing & beautiful places over the last week... even if we did have to get up horribly early most days to see all of them. I don't think I'll photograph another sunrise for quite some time. But thank you Gary for your time & help & company. Our love to Kathy, grand-daughter Courtney & to Ellie & Raven as well...
A quick, fast-food lunch & then it was just Julia & I for the first time in a while... since our arrival in Colorado a lifetime ago, it seemed. We decided against detouring to Horseshoe Bend a little way out of town - & the wrong way for us, as we had Zion National Park to get to & get through on our way to St George, Utah - for the 2nd time this trip... & all the time differences between state lines weren't working in our favour. So, off over the Glen Canyon Dam, past Lake Powell & into Utah again. A return visit to Judd Auto for some gifts for folks back home who will appreciate the irony of the 'Lotto, Guns, Ammo, Beer' logo of the place, then off into Zion Park
Colorado River, from Glen Canyon Dam
Lake Powell
Zion turned out to be another large canyon with incredibly high walls, green forest & a long tunnel through the heart of it, before you take a winding road down to the bottom, where the walls look even higher than before...The sun was on its way towards setting as we came through, meaning some walls were blazes of colour, while others were in shadow. We didn't stop for as many photos as we'd anticipated doing. This was due to the way that, in order to access a lot of the views & scenery, you have to take a network of buses that go to different parts of the park & we simply didn't have the time to devote to it. Bad research on our part? Maybe... Could it be we're also suffering from a bit of scenery fatigue after the wonders of the last few days? Possibly a good thing we will be in Las Vegas tomorrow to desensitise ourselves before a change of scenery in California
Zion National Park
Back into St George as the sun set & into a cheap motel which, strangely, is the largest room we've seen to date - it's larger than some apartments we've visited both here & at home... Dinner at KFC, where we tried the 'Southern Chilli' flavour & I can tell you it beats the hell out of what the Australian franchises call 'Hot & Spicy'... Now, do I have Johnny Cash on the iPod...?
Sunday 16th of October 2016 - Monument Valley to St George, Utah
A colourful post-sunrise sky greeted us as we packed Travis & locked up the cabin that has been home for the last few days. And now, on the road again in convoy, with Gary leading in his pickup. Just a short initial hike to the nearby town of Kayenta for fuel & a quart of oil for Travis, which should keep him happy 'til we reach Las Vegas in a couple of days. It should at least give us a bit more than the "zero oil life" the dashboard threatened us with last night
Over the border yet again from Utah to Arizona, as we headed for Antelope Canyon, near the town of Page. Still seeing some wonderful, striking landscapes, including a solitary mountain, sacred to the Navajo & off limits to anyone who claims European ancestry... Gary told me its name via the 2-way radio as we passed, but I can't remember it now
Shortly after, we passed a coal mine that sends its loads to a power plant near Page by electric train - a rarity in heavy rail haulage. Apparently, that power plant is one of the major polluters in the area - right near Lake Powell too, which is a dammed area of the Colorado River, essential for irrigation & drinking water. Not a great place to be ruining sky, land & water table then...
We pulled into the Adventurous Antelope Canyon Tours yard within sight of the aforementioned power station at around midday local time. Just a big open yard, with a hot wind blowing desert sand around & a small office under a makeshift shady area that looked like it had been temporarily erected about 15 years ago. With all the tour fees paid in cash (no EFTPOS, not now, not ever), Gary & I had a few minutes to check our gear, while others who would be going with us were told to leave backpacks & sundry extras behind, as Rattlesnake Canyon is very narrow in places. Sounds like Julia made the right decision to not join us on this one...
Into the same kind of 4WD that the guys back at Monument Valley used, maybe a little smaller, but in much the same rattly & haphazard shape as John & Ryan's - dodgy 4WD selection, stuck doors etc. Our Navajo Guide was Gibb, a youngish guy in backwards baseball cap & sunglasses, who made all the tour announcements in over-enunciated & very... slow... English... which I'm sure is required for the many foreign guests they get with little or no English, but we were 3 Americans & an Australian trying not to feel too offended that Gibb may think we're... a bit... slow. Barrelling down the highway towards Page a little further, then a left turn through a parking lot & onto the Antelope Wash - a dry riverbed that only sees water during flash-flooding (unlikely on this day, fortunately), Gibb was at his happiest fishtailing all over the sandy tracks even though we were in high-range 4WD... supposedly
Only a short distance along the Wash to Rattlesnake Canyon. A few... slow... careful... words about safety, then up a short ladder & into the canyon. Almost immediately you had to watch your head, your tripod & your camera, as the small canyon twisted dramatically & the rocks closed in overhead, reducing the available light, but making a feature of the red/yellow sandstone walls, which had undulating lines & layers that made the rock look like it was flowing through the canyon, just like the waters that had formed it. Looking up, as the light filtered down & around the walls, the colours of the rock varied from pinks, yellows to deep crimsons & purple. Gibb asked if there was anything like the Canyon back in Australia & I'm not sure there is... It was like nothing I've ever seen & the many photos I've seen before don't do justice to the feeling of being in there yourself. It's not what I'd call claustrophobic, though you are hampered in movement by the narrow trail & protruding stone, but there's enough light to see without torches - you don't feel like you're underground, more like you're in some secret passageway
A guide who was leading a group a little further in & ahead of us, came back to tell us there was a rattlesnake up ahead (so that's how the Canyon gets its name) Instantly we're all watching the ground, looking at every little crack & crevasse in the stone & invoking the ancient Egyptian spell for protection against danger inside the pyramids - "After you... no, I insist". What we eventually found was only a baby snake, about 6 inches long, but as Gibb explained, that made it all the more dangerous, as when the babies bite you, they use all their venom, unlike the adults who know how to portion their poison... so you get a huge dose which could carry you off quite quickly if not treated immediately. Fortunately, it was curled up in an alcove & didn't move at all as the 5 of us tiptoed past, sticking closely to the opposite wall which, as mentioned, wasn't quite far enough away. Not even a warning rattle... In a way I was a little disappointed. Not enough to poke it with a stick though
Every now & then, as we set up tripods & took long exposure shots, Gibb would crouch in a corner & play on a wooden flute, the notes echoing down & around the canyon walls - a slightly eerie, but appropriate soundtrack for the place, given its location on Navajo land. All too soon we came out the other side of the twisting tunnel, up a short ladder & into vivid daylight, where there was a scramble for sunglasses stowed in pockets, camera bags etc before we walked into something... or someone. A brief hike back over the sand & rock above the Canyon showed how short it is in a straight line, even though it had taken about 20 minutes to go along its labyrinthine path
Back into the dodgy 4WD for the drive along the Antelope Wash to Upper Antelope Canyon. Gibb explained in an apologetic tone that, unlike Rattlesnake Canyon, where it had just been the 5 of us, Upper Antelope Canyon would be a very crowded place, with 5 tour groups operating, each with a load of up to 70 people... Oh boy
And yes, when we arrived at the Canyon, the first thing you saw was about 20 vehicles disgorging people all heading for the Canyon entrance. The Guides would do their best to keep people out of our photos - after all, that's what we'd paid for, but it was inevitable that there would be some occasions where we'd get 'ghosts' of people walking across our time exposure shots. After all - they'd paid their money too, just not as much as we had
Upper Antelope Canyon is a larger, higher & wider place than Rattlesnake, though it's more enclosed. It feels more like entering a cave than Rattlesnake Canyon did. On the plus side though, it's less cramped & you only have to bend over if you're operating a camera on a tripod close to the walls... so we had to do that quite a lot. Every time we stopped, there would be other groups of people going both ways along the dim pathway, but Gibb showed us how we could interlock our tripods to create a barrier that could stop people barging through while we waited for our exposures to finish. This did cause a little disgruntlement from the great unwashed, as they waited with their iPhones & point'n'shoots, but also a little camera-envy. I had at least one person comment on my "serious camera!!" as they squeezed past. Well, thanks, but you should see some of the other guys...
We ended up going through the Canyon twice - from front to back & I think there were still some areas I didn't get a proper look at, or photograph, as the chaos of the crowd made it difficult. But I can say it was an amazing place to be inside & there are images in my mind that will stay with me for a long time... as long as any photograph can. The same yellows, reds, purples & blacks as Rattlesnake Canyon, but on a larger scale, with less light coming through the top. Some beams of light meant it wasn't completely dark, but again, there were trodden & tripped feet, clashes of tripods & the occasional headbutt of sandstone wall. I'd love to go back there on a weekday... maybe it would be a little less crowded. Maybe
Back into the 4WD & Gibb threw it around on the Wash even more, now that he didn't have to stop at Rattlesnake... one of our passengers wasn't quite ready for that & I don't think anyone really believed Gibb when he said "Oh... sorry... I'll slow down... a little". He didn't
Back to the Adventurous Tour yard where we collected Julia, who had happily wandered around the sunny compound, done some reading, had a nap & generally enjoyed not being in crowded, confined spaces. Then the 3 of us headed into Page for supplies & cash withdrawals. Afterwards, it was time to say goodbye to Gary, as he had to be back in Boulder on Tuesday for an appointment, so was headed back to Grand Junction today - about 8-9 hours away. That's a long time in the saddle & we hope he made it safely & comfortably. He has showed us some amazing & beautiful places over the last week... even if we did have to get up horribly early most days to see all of them. I don't think I'll photograph another sunrise for quite some time. But thank you Gary for your time & help & company. Our love to Kathy, grand-daughter Courtney & to Ellie & Raven as well...
A quick, fast-food lunch & then it was just Julia & I for the first time in a while... since our arrival in Colorado a lifetime ago, it seemed. We decided against detouring to Horseshoe Bend a little way out of town - & the wrong way for us, as we had Zion National Park to get to & get through on our way to St George, Utah - for the 2nd time this trip... & all the time differences between state lines weren't working in our favour. So, off over the Glen Canyon Dam, past Lake Powell & into Utah again. A return visit to Judd Auto for some gifts for folks back home who will appreciate the irony of the 'Lotto, Guns, Ammo, Beer' logo of the place, then off into Zion Park
Colorado River, from Glen Canyon Dam
Lake Powell
Zion turned out to be another large canyon with incredibly high walls, green forest & a long tunnel through the heart of it, before you take a winding road down to the bottom, where the walls look even higher than before...The sun was on its way towards setting as we came through, meaning some walls were blazes of colour, while others were in shadow. We didn't stop for as many photos as we'd anticipated doing. This was due to the way that, in order to access a lot of the views & scenery, you have to take a network of buses that go to different parts of the park & we simply didn't have the time to devote to it. Bad research on our part? Maybe... Could it be we're also suffering from a bit of scenery fatigue after the wonders of the last few days? Possibly a good thing we will be in Las Vegas tomorrow to desensitise ourselves before a change of scenery in California
Zion National Park
Back into St George as the sun set & into a cheap motel which, strangely, is the largest room we've seen to date - it's larger than some apartments we've visited both here & at home... Dinner at KFC, where we tried the 'Southern Chilli' flavour & I can tell you it beats the hell out of what the Australian franchises call 'Hot & Spicy'... Now, do I have Johnny Cash on the iPod...?
(no subject)
Date: 2016-12-21 06:00 am (UTC)Antelope Canyon was indeed overcrowded & felt a little too 'touristy' due to the numbers... but still a wonderful sight when you're in there
If the place is indeed sacred to the Navajo, then I must ask why they run something like 7-10 different touring companies to the site? I'd certainly hate to think of Monument Valley & Mystery Valley becoming like that one day...
As mentioned in the diary - I'd love to go back to Rattlesnake & Antelope on a less crowded day, if such a day exists. Photography aside, I would have liked to spend more time in them, instead of being ushered/herded through. Rattlensake, being smaller & therefore not as much of an 'attraction' had a wonderful peace about it... even with its namesake curled up inside
I have a photo of the power station's stacks seemingly sticking up from the desert sands - you can see them for miles... long before you come to either the canyons, or Page. I must say that the presence of a large marina & countless power boats on Lake Powell makes it look more like a Vegas-style playground than a beneficial utility