Road Trip Day Twelve
One of the most eagerly anticipated days of our trip today - a full day of activities above, around and in the Grand Canyon and Glen Canyon. We were going to do this from Williams last week but the deep snowfall forced a re-plan. Good job as part of the adventure trip was cancelled due to the snow.
At the Grand Canyon airport at 06.00hrs for our one hour flight over the Grand Canyon landing at Page. The flight had seven passengers including us and everyone had a window seat. The views over the canyon, the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell were absolutely amazing.
Unfortunately, the three point harness we were all required to wear meant GC could not see out her window unless the aircraft was banking. She described the flight as boring. We are complaining.
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| Grand Canyon. One mile deep! |
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| Glen Canyon Dam |
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| Not a great view for little people :-(( |
After a short wait at Page the seven of us were collected by a 4x4 truck and taken on a short journey to
Upper Antelope Canyon - a fantastic slot canyon created by flash flooding and wind erosion in the local sandstone. I anticipated there would be loads of people milling about but as well as our party there were only a handful of others. I had most of the place to myself for photography.
It wasn't the ideal time of day for the famous light beam images this place is renowned for in photography circles. However, I am still happy with the images I managed to obtain and love the family shot below. GC thought it was boring here as well though. We are
not complaining.
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| Antelope Canyon truck |
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| Antelope Canyon. Love my tripod! |
Leaving Antelope Canyon we were deposited back in Page at a rafting centre. After time for a coffee break and browse in the shop we were taken by coach to the base of the
Glen Canyon Dam via a two mile long one way tunnel, originally used for construction purposes. At the base we walked down a small gangway to the waiting raft and our guide - Becky.
Becky was an enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide, being a biology graduate who had worked and still works on many local environmental projects. She guided the raft with ease while pointing out many features of the Dam and Canyon, explaining the local natural environment and entertaining us (?me) with stories of the history of the Grand Canyon from Native American times up to contemporary adventures.
GC took a real shine to her and the two of them went off looking for lizards. We loved this very easy going, child friendly raft trip and it's GC's favourite memory of the day. We are really not complaining about this section!
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| Glen Canyon Dam |
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| Fishermen in Glen Canyon Dam |
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| On a sand bar having fun |
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| The Junior Ranger and Becky off lizard huntin' |
looks fab hear and you have WATER to add to the brown rock and sand....horah! It's a shame that GC was not so engaged with the plane and other thingy but at least she enjoyed Becky's rafting.....
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