Picture This: Friday, June 1, 2012 – Glen Canyon National Recreation Center and Lake Powell

Lake Powell

We started the day with a nice hot breakfast at one of the best hotels we’ve stayed in yet. It’s always a challenge to book hotels on the internet in places you’ve never been, but we’ve been lucky, so far! As we were leaving we asked for advice at the front desk. It changed our plans a little, but made our day. We had a little time to kill, so we drove to the Glen Canyon Dam.

At the Carl Hayden Visitor Center we got our first glimpse of the canyon and the dam that created Lake Powell. Inside we enjoyed looking at a topographical model of the whole region showing the canyons and rivers that eventually merge into the Colorado. But most surprising was to round a corner and find a NASA display about Heleophysics (study of the sun). I’m not sure why it was there, but the sun is certainly a big player out here.

The dam that created Lake Powell


The entrance to Lower Antelope Canyon

We headed for our recommended tour of Antelope Canyon. It is on a Navajo Reservation, so our tour is guided by a very nice young man named Eric. We walked across some red sand before Eric points to a crevice in the ground and tells us that is the entrance. It is extremely narrow and I am relieved to make it in with my camera backpack attached. We find ourselves in a narrow slotted canyon unlike anything you can imagine.

It has been carved by both wind and water, creating captivating patterns of ridges in the sculpted canyon walls. They are made of Navajo Sandstone that contains a number of minerals including iron. The walls are washed in pale pinks, orange and cream. It is impossible to capture the depth and beauty, but is an experience we will never forget.

We very reluctantly left Antelope Canyon. Next was a short hike. This is our path into the desert that led to the Hanging Gardens. Oh, did I mention it is 97 degrees today?

Our next stop is the Hanging Gardens. A short, but blazing hot hike across a desert –like rim rewards us with the most unusual site – Maidenhair ferns hanging from the shaded crevices of the rock walls. You can’t imagine how hard this is to believe if you hadn’t hiked through the desert to see it.