Month: September 2024

On Friday we left our campsite along the river and headed south and then west thru Arizona. Most of our drive was through the Navajo region and relatively flat. We dropped about 3000’ in elevation to about 4100’ in Page, Arizona which was our destination for the next 3 nights.

We arrived at Page to a private campground. Our site was easy to get into but with other campers around us. We did have a view of a nice red rock that Paul decided to climb that night.

We relaxed on Saturday, did some laundry and prepped some meals. We had a bit of light rain with lots of cloud so we were glad our canyon tour was scheduled for Sunday.

Sunday we headed into Page to our tour store to start a guided tour of Upper Antelope Canyon. We were taken by van just south of Page where we travelled several miles on a sand trail as the driver went about 40 mph thru washboards and loose sand. We were glad to reach the canyon and start walking!

Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon that you can walk through. On Navajo lands, since the mid-90s, it is only available to enter with a guide. This is due to the possibility of flash flooding during the monsoon season. Even though there may not be a lot of rain at the canyon itself, rain from miles away can enter the canyon causing flash flooding.

Summer is the best time to visit the canyon when the sun is high and can enter the canyon, bouncing off colourful walls. It is a fairly flat 660’ long walk through the canyon. The walls of the canyon are about 100’ above your head.

At the end of the canyon was about a mile long walk. Some was a covered metal walkway uphill, some a more level trail and the final was a number of flights of metal stairs down back to the van.

It was a beautiful sight and different to pick the pictures to show. We have so many more to choose from!

We did take a drive after the tour to see Lake Powell, Glen Canyon and Glen Canyon Dam.

Monday we head to Utah where we’ll spend about the next 3 weeks.

Thursday we spent time at a National Monument close by. We had the opportunity to see more about the Ancestral Puebloans. The Monument is located on the Great Sage Plain, an expansive, dry plateau with lots of canyons throughout. It contains the highest recorded density of prehistoric and historic sites in N. America. Thousands of sites have been recorded with thousands more to be found. Throughout the Monument are 5 pueblos, two at the visitor centre.

At the visitor centre is an amazing museum. Our National Parks pass gave us free admission to the museum. There was a timeline of the various times of the Puebloans and the differences between them. There were also great displays of clothing, jewellery, cooking and storing pots and even their weapons. Explanations were included as well as information about how artifacts were found. They had also reconstructed a pit house inside the museum.

After watching a film at the visitor centre we headed out to one of the Ancestral Puebloan villages, about 40 km away. The film included information about how to respect the land we were going to see. It also talked about how the ideas relating to understanding the Ancestral Puebloans had changed over the last 20 years or so. Much of the history of the indigenous people is carried from generation to generation through oral history. Because of this, archeologists and researchers are involving current day Puebloans in their studies.

Lowry Pueblo is an Ancient Puebloan village from about 1000 years ago. It was inhabited for about 165 years. By the time it was finished, it included 40 rooms, 8 kivas. and a Great Kiva.

This was the only pueblo we were able to go into and it was only a very small area.

By this time it was mid afternoon and we decided to head back to the trailer to enjoy our quiet campsite. It was nice sitting out by the river. Paul started a campfire and we decided to make supper outside too!

While we were out, we were visited by 4 deer.

We were treated to a beautiful sunset to finish off the day. Tomorrow we move on.