On Our Last Leg

With Pisgah Forest a bit over 400 hundred miles away, we were excited to get started and get home.  After Fred maneuvered through Nashville traffic and toward northeastern Tennessee, I took over outside Knoxville.  Just in time for heavy traffic, torrential rains with thunder and lightning plus several accidents.  Eventually the weather improved, traffic thinned out and driving became easier.  About 5:00 we pulled into the driveway of 104 Red Fox Drive--Home, Sweet Home!  

Sunday

Up, dressed and unhooked by 7:30, we decided an early start was preferable to pancakes.   We 'finished' Oklahoma, crossed Arkansas and reached Buffalo River, TN, the midway point between Memphis and Nashville--516 miles.

The prospect of adding to the heat and humidity inside the RV by cooking dinner was quite unpleasant so we went to the near-by Log Cabin Country Restaurant.  (I've learned that 'country' is a code word meaning 'breaded and deep-fried.')  Almost everything on the menu was cooked the country way--including green beans. ???

A fellow camper, who had also been traveling east on I-40 on Sunday but a bit behind us, said they'd spent over an hour in the back-up caused by an accident late the previous afternoon.  As Fred exited for gas, we spotted the back-up and were able to detour past the congestion.

Sunday night was hot, even with the AC running at capacity, and noisy.  We heard the traffic on I-40 and the cicadas who inhabited the trees all around us.

OK!!!

We finished New Mexico this morning, drove across northern Texas, most of Oklahoma and saw nothing of interest.  Now that the scenery has become boring, the trip is tedious rather than exciting and we're just anxious to get home.  We've covered 1100 miles with a thousand more to go; we should be home on Monday.

Fred pushed us to reach Checotah, OK so he can have another helping of the pancakes served in the campground cafe tomorrow morning.

We've caught up with the heat everyone has complained about this summer--it's 102* here in Checotah.

Tucumcari Tonight!

We left Holbrook bit after 8:00 and covered 417 miles uneventfully.  The scenery was unremarkable.  Is that because we've been jaded by the wonders of Arizona and Utah or because we've made this trip so many times?

Tucumcari drew its life-blood ($$) from Route 66.  When the Mother Road was superseded by Interstate 40, much of Tucumcari died.  The portions that didn't succumb survive by promoting kitsch and nostalgia to tourists.  'Tucumcari Tonight!' is the town's promotional slogan. Its most recent claim to fame is the model for the setting of Disney's movie Cars.

Our RV park is the grounds of a 50's-era motel.  The units are boarded up and deteriorating while the lawn and parking areas have been repurposed to accommodate recreational vehicles.

We had dinner at Del's Restaurant.  The quality of our meals and the level of their service account for its longevity.                                                      

On the Way Home

A last look at DeMott Meadows

Leaving this morning took longer than we expected.  The dirt lane from our spot to the store's driveway had solidified and Fred had no trouble bringing the RV down to the parking lot.  Evidently, the getting-stuck-in-the-mud incident at our arrival had damaged the filler pipe to the gas tank; we noticed gasoline on the pavement while filling the tank.  Fred bravely crawled beneath the behemoth, between the dripping sewer line and leaking gas pipe, to fix the problem. 

In order to handle the steepest descents of the trip, I drove the Jeep and Fred drove the RV as far as Bitter Springs.  At a pull-over at the junction of Route 89-A and 89, we hooked up the Jeep and proceeded together.  We went through a part of northern Flagstaff which was burned in the Schultz fire and flooded in heavy rains several weeks later. 

Today's leg of the the homeward journey was uneventful, light traffic and very little road construction.  The scenery paled in comparison to that of the AZ Strip--hazy pastel tints rather than deep, vibrant colors.  We were on the road for 6.25 hours (9:45-4:00) and traveled about 275 miles.


We seem to have jumped from the frying pan into the fire or, more precisely, from the fridge into the frying pan.  As usual, we slept under three blankets topped by a down sleeping bag last night and turned on the space heater for an hour or so in the morning.  As we got further from the Plateau, the elevation decreased but the temperature increased.  As soon as we pulled into our Holbrook campsite Fred hooked up the electricity so we could turn on the air conditioner.

Farewell to Kaibab Plateau

The 12 weeks of our contract at the store have flown by and our time on the Kaibab Plateau is over.  We are so grateful for the experience of living for three months in such a lovely and interesting place.  We've seen the snow recede, the lakes in the meadows dry up, the buffalo migrate from lower elevations, the quaking aspens leaf out, just about every type of weather this place gets and scores of varieties of wildflowers.  We'll leave tomorrow morning with a great deal of ambivalence--excited about going home but we leave a big chunk of our hearts behind.

Hoodoo Voodoo

This weekend's destination was Bryce Canyon National Park, about three hours from here.  Although Bryce is called a canyon, it is actually a series of amphitheaters.  Regardless of the designation, it is wildly unusual, very, very beautiful and totally enchanting.

In order to reach Bryce, we drove north on Route 89.  The topography and vegetation changes quickly outside of Kanab and resembles southwestern Colorado by Mt. Carmel.  Route 12-East runs through a stunning portion of Dixie National Forest aptly named Red Canyon--a place we plan to visit on our next trip.  Although the scenery was lovely, the closer we got to the park the darker and more overcast the sky became.  

The entrance gate to the park consisted of 4 lanes, a clue to how 'visited' (i.e., crowded) Bryce is.  It reminded me of a bank of turnpike toll booths. We were dismayed to note the preponderance of foreigners among the park-goers.  90-95% of the people we heard speaking were conversing in a tongue other than English.  We were able to identify the Europeans by their language as well as their clothing (the ubiquitious 'man purse', weird shoes and T-shirts sporting graphics like Sport Athletic, US College or American Police).

The parking lot at the trail head where our route originated was full so we drove to the next viewpoint.  Reaching the overlook, we were greeted by thunder and lightning, definitely inauspicious for hiking.  We retreated to the Jeep to wait it out; after 25-30 minutes with no improvement, we 
decided to try the next overlook.  Here, we got our first glimpse of Bryce's hoodoos. These oddly-shaped free-standing rock columns remain after the softer surrounding material has eroded.  As we marveled at their shapes and colors, the sky cleared behind us.  

Back at the trail head, we found a parking space and set out or rather, down.
We hiked from sunset to sunrise and then from sunrise to sunset.  To clarify, we descended from Sunset Point and ascended at Sunrise Point and walked the paved rim trail from Sunrise Point back to Sunset Point, a 7.1 mile loop with 3200 feet of elevation change and incredible sights.  I lack adequate skill to describe what we saw; the best I can do is refer you to our photos.

Tired and awed, we drove back to Kanab ooh-ing and aah-ing about what we'd seen.  Following a 'last supper' at Nedra's, our favorite restaurant, and showers, we just collapsed.

This morning, we did our final laundry-grocery-gas thing and were back at the RV by 11:00.   Later, we went into the park for Fred's delayed birthday celebration.  He chose hiking the Transcept Trail and a veggie pizza at 'our' picnic table on the rim of Bright Angel Canyon--our departure tradition.  Unfortunately, an Asian family chose that exact spot for their first glimpse into the canyon and to loudly commemorate the experience by taking many, many pictures.

We'll work tomorrow and Wednesday and leave Thursday morning.  It's hard to believe that 12 weeks have passed so quickly.

Happy Birthday, Fred!!!

Did you know that Fred and Smokey the Bear have the same birthdate?  Yep, same month, day and year.  Here's the really good news: Fred is alive.

Coming back to the Plateau on Tuesday morning, there was evidence of heavy rain--water flowing in normally dry washes, a mud/rock slide across Route 89A, enlarged lakes in the Parkway meadows and deep channels in the store's driveways.  All due to a storm (we missed) on Sunday.  The monsoon has been less aggressive for the remainder of the week.  Until today--the sky looks like gray flannel and there's a steady rain that seems like it will continue all day.

The upside of bad weather may be to keep business slow today.  Yesterday was tough:  a big delivery to deal with--i.e., lots of merchandise to carry, lift, price, shelve or stock--while waiting on customers, ringing up purchases and monitoring the gas pumps.  By the end of the day, we were both exhausted.  The consolation was we'd completed our last Friday and have only three more days of work.

WOW!!!!!!!

That is the only word which even comes close to describing Zion National Park as well as my response to it.  Although it's only 120 miles from the North Rim, it's very, very different and very, very beautiful. 

On Sunday, we drove to the Kolob Canyons, a separate and lightly-visited section of ZNP.  We picked up our permit for Monday's Subway hike and then did the Taylor's Creek Trail, a five-mile out-and-back that parallels the creek upstream to the Double-Arch Alcove.  Except for the entrance/exit, the route is flat and easy and zig-zags across the stream countless times,  refreshing breaks from the heat and bright sunshine.  Double-Arch Alcove was delightful--it offered shade, a cool breeze, smooth rocks for our picnic and lush banks of yellow columbine. 

On the return, I walked in the creek while Fred stayed on the trail.  When we re-united at a crossing, he mentioned spotting a rattlesnake, now slithering toward the over-hanging bank.  He coiled himself into the small cave and turned to watch us.  Evidently he didn't perceive us as a threat because he didn't warn us off with a rattle.

Early the next morning, we gathered the gear required for The Subway and drove to the trailhead.  After a short walk through the trees, we made the extremely steep 400' descent through loose rocks and sand--scary enough in itself but thinking about the ascent made it even more unnerving--to the  bottom of the canyon.  The Virgin River is neither wide nor deep but it is filled with twists, turns, rocks, boulders and flood debris.  I had assumed there was a defined trail to The Subway but it's an every-man-for-himself situation down there:  The 'best route' changes with the latest rockslide and/or flood. 

We set out early enough to have shade for the first hour or so, a relatively easy part.  We then scrambled and boulder-hopped for hours in full sun with occasional patches of shade and refreshing water-crossings.  In some places, sheer cliffs or huge boulders made walking along the bank impossible, forcing a choice between walking in the river or climbing above the obstacle.  On the way out, we chose the climbing option more frequently but by the way back, we'd learned that the river was usually the easier option.

"The Subway" is certainly an accurate name for this destination.  We rounded a bend and saw a large oval opening whose curves sides looked exactly like...a subway.   Entry was via the river; we had to proceed carefully over the upward-sloping rock bottom, threading our way through patches of slippery slime and pockets of powdery sand.  Inside was a series of pools, several so perfectly symmetrical they could have been man-made.  Beyond the small pools was a large one that stretched the entire width of the tunnel.  Going any farther required swimming, which we weren't prepared for, so we turned around and s-l-o-w-l-y crept down the slick decline. 

With our new-found knowledge about the river-walking option, going back was easier and quicker than getting there.  Along the way, we found the two immense white boulders that held dinosaur tracks.  Seeing them was quite a thrill but photographing them successfully challenging. 

All was going well.  Until we reached the bottom of the trail snaking up the 400' high cliff.  By then, it was afternoon, the trail was in full sun and we were tired.  That uphill scramble was hot, dusty and very steep but not as treacherous or difficult as I'd imagined.  Even though we were on last terrain, the distance between the top and the parking lot seemed infinite and we began to fear we'd taken a wrong turn. But, no--through the trees, a glimpse of a car in the parking lot!

We happily collapsed in the air-conditioned comfort of the motel, eventually showered and went to dinner.  Up early the next morning, we went grocery shopping, gassed up and drove 130 miles back to the Kaibab Plateau, arriving in time to report for work at 10.  A full, tiring but wonderful weekend!

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Overwhelmed by the logisitics involved, I backed out of the one-night camping adventure we'd planned:  spend Sunday night on the East Rim and hike into North Canyon early Monday morning.  Switching to Plan B worked out well because we had pleasant weather for the hike on Sunday and, by going to Kanab the following day, were able to avoid the heavy rain on Monday.

Normally, hiking in the canyon in July is a hot, dry, dusty undertaking.  However, the route Fred selected was a lovely exception--we were in shade for at least 60% of the way and a good portion of the trail paralleled running water (so rare out here), a creek fed by North Canyon Springs.  We were surprised and delighted by the abundance of wildflowers--geraniums, monks-hood, rattlesnake plantain, milkweed, violets, etc.  Well worth the 2800' of elevation change the hike required!

The state of our larder dictated a trip to the grocery store on Monday.  To make that familiar journey seem less like a chore, we treated ourselves to a pancake breakfast at Jacob Lake Inn and a side-trip to Pipe Spring National Monument, a Mormon fortified ranch of the late 1800s.

Since our visit in 2007, the visitor center exhibits have been up-graded and the gravel paths have been replaced with concrete walkways.  The outdoor demonstration venues--cooking, blacksmithing, gardening, arts and crafts--have also been spiffed up.  We enjoyed a presentation by Paiute woman   explaining how she makes pigments from the area's plants, soils and rocks and uses them to paint hand-built pottery.

As we sat by the spring-fed pond waiting for the house tour to begin, Fred started to react to something in the air.  Since we'd had the tour in 2007 with an excellent Native American guide, we decided to skip a repeat and go on to Kanab.

Along the way, we had a stunning photo op.  You'll see that Fred's pictures captured the towering cloud formations and the strikingly colored cliffs and buttes below them.  That was the view to the north; 180* from that spot the skies to the south were ominously dark and threatening.  Driving back to the Kaibab Plateau, we saw rain clouds all around us and evidence that it had rained heavily back at the store. 

Evidently, Monday's storms kicked off the 2010 monsoon season.  Dark storms clouds invade morning's sunny skies and build to produce impressive but scattered storms of thunder, lightning, driving downpours and plunging temperatures by late morning and frequently continue throughout the afternoon.

Up-dates:

--The buffalo are spending more time in the meadows bordering the road.  We saw a herd just outside the park on Tuesday.  They were very mellow; not even the approach of a family of tourists disturbed their grazing and relaxing.

--We caught another mouse (#6) over the weekend.  I think he was seeking warmth rather than food.

--We are 2 weeks away from our last day of work--10 workdays and 4 days off to go.  Although I will miss this beautiful and very special place, certain inducements of civilization (large, private bathrooms! a full-size refrigerator! a washer and dryer that don't require coins! a grocery store only 10 minutes away!) are exerting an irresistible lure of home.

Unexciting Week

Not much out of the ordinary has happened since the previous post.  We hiked a section of the Arizona Trail last Sunday.  I expected nothing more than a hot trek along a dusty path with no view or interesting waypoints.  It was hot and dusty but it did hold some surprises--new wildflowers, Billy's tank and an excavation site rife with fossils.  Just goes to prove, there is no 'bad' location on the Plateau.

On Monday, we went 'Kanab-ing' (i.e., drove 75 miles to Kanab for the usual routine of laundry, groceries and gas).  In addition to our chores, we spent a few hours exploring the town's history by visiting an historic house and the local museum.  The house, a charmingly ornate Victorian, was built in 1894 by a Mormon for one of his six wives; only she and eight or ten of his 44 children lived there.  The museum was like Granny's attic on steroids--everything any resident ever saved:  clothing, sheet music, band uniforms and instruments, toys, yearbooks, tea services, cooking utensils, farm implements, civic and family documents, Native American artifacts, etc. ad infinitum.

The monsoon season seems to have finally started.  Thunderstorms are possible, if not likely, after 11:00 AM.  So far there have been episodes of thunder and lightning but only minimal rainfall.  Right now, a large dark cloud hangs above the DeMott Meadow, our location, in the midst of a bright blue sky dotted with fluffly white clouds.

O, Give Me a Home...

Where the buffalo roam!

Yesterday several people told us they'd seen a large herd of buffalo just inside the Park.  We rode our bikes up there early this morning and spotted them close to the entrance.  The herd numbered 25 to 30 adults and 4 to 6 calves.  One large buff, munching grass at the edge of the road, was scared when a tractor-trailer whizzed by.  As he ran toward the meadow, it was amusing to see how clumsy and uncoordinated these huge animals appear even though they are capable of moving quickly.

Update

Morrises versus the Mice:
We've deplete their ranks by 5.  Survivors: Beware!!

Saffron Valley Fire:
Yesterday's bulletin stated the fire has burned almost 3,000 acres, entailing expenditures of more than a million dollars.  Experts have determined the fire is winding down and crews will be extracted starting on Friday.

Weather:
Yesterday's high was 79.5*; we may hit 80* soon.  Still chilly (50*s) during the night.

Living it Up in St. George, Utah!

This week's get-away destination is the area's largest city, St. George, Utah, about 120 miles and a little less than two and a half hours west of the Kaibab Plateau.



Since we couldn't check into our hotel until 3:00 (Utah time is an hour ahead of AZ time), we planned to do two hikes in beautiful Snow Canyon State Park.  (I thought the name derived from the grayish-white rock layer atop the red sandstone walls of the canyon.  Found out it honors Erastus Snow, a Mormon city father of the early days.)

The first hike was a trail that spiraled up the Cinder Cone, a 500' tall extinct volcano.  From the top, we had a stunning views in every direction as well as down into the caldron.  The views were earned by following a steep, narrow route devoid of shade and composed of pea- to marble-sized volcanic cinders which made it difficult to get a secure footing.

    View from the top of the Cinder Cone

We saw a table in the shade of a large tree in an empty picnic area, a perfect spot for lunch.  The park's main trail started there and we set out with the intention of doing a hot but scenic 4-mile loop.  About 30 minutes into the hike, we realized we'd lost a set of keys and turned around to retrace our steps.  Although we searched every inch of the way, we didn't find the keys.  Fortunately, we'd brought another set.  



Our options at this point were:  resume the hike or check into the hotel.  Showers! Air-conditioning! Comfortable beds! received the most votes so we headed to town.  After resting a bit and taking long showers using exorbitant amounts of water, we headed for Pancho's and Lefty's Mexican restaurant.  Our food was excellent, the waiter was efficient and the prices were reasonable--an all-around great place.  And it was next-door to The Key Store!  We made a mental note to come back on Monday and have duplicates made of the keys which had been lost.

The plan for today was to hike Oak Creek trail in the Pine Valley section of Dixie National Forest.  The trail is classified as difficult ("climb 3200' in 3 miles, bring plenty of water and watch out for the many rattlesnakes!") but worth the effort for the view at the end.  The description glossed over the road leading to the trailhead: 10 miles of narrow, washboarded gravel with steep drop-offs and blind curves.  About a mile in, fear and panic overwhelm-ed me; I could not go further.  We turned around and decided to investigate the state parks we'd passed on the way.

"Quail Creek," sounding like a more pleasant hiking venue than "Sand Hollow,"  became our first choice.  We discovered that Quail Creek is a reservoir that offers boating and swimming but no trails.  Off to second-choice, Sand Hollow!  This state park is a playground for ATVs and Jeeps; no trails.  

Having struck out on the hiking, we decided to tackle the chores on our to-do list:  First, the keys, then the tire and finally, the bank.  The Key Store copied our keys quickly and cheaply.  Next, we went to Goodyear Tire to have a big nail we'd picked up on the Point Sublime adventure last Sunday removed.  Bad news--the nail had punctured the side wall of the tire and it couldn't be patched; we'd have to buy a new tire.  More bad news--that particular style has been discontinued so we replaced the damaged tire with the spare and made the new tire the spare. 

After finishing our errand at the bank, located in downtown St. George, we strolled down the street enjoying the gardens, waterfalls, reflecting pools and sculptures.  It was beautiful but hot and the Free Tours! sign at a large red sandstone building (that looked air-conditioned) beckoned to us.  The building was the St. George Taberanacle,
built by Mormon pioneers in the 1860s at the behest of Brigham Young. 
     
              
The docent provided a very interesting and well-presented tour of the church and a passionate explanation of the main Mormon beliefs.  Due to her enthusiasm and our questions, the half-hour tour lasted about twice that long. 

We spotted a park next to the church and went to explore.  What a delightful place!  There were manicured lawns, tables and chairs under sunshades, clean restrooms and great water features for the  kids--a 'river,' fountains and waterfalls.  We went across the street for lunch in a building that was a general mercantile store in the late 1800s/early 1900s and is now a cafe and sweet shop. 

Our guide at the Tabernacle suggested that we visit Jacob Hamblin's home in Santa Clara, a few miles west of St. George, and that's where we headed next.  Once again, we had a personable and knowledgeable missionary give us an interesting tour and talk.  As we left the Hamblin house, she offered us a peach from Jacob's orchard, picked this morning from trees planted over a century ago.  Delicious!

She suggested that we visit Brigham Young's home in downtown St. George but we felt history-ed out (particularly, Mormon history-ed out) for the day and returned to the hotel instead.  Now we're just chillin', savoring a little down time before getting up early, grocery shopping, driving 'up the mountain' and starting another week of work.

Update

#1  The Saffron Fire has grown from 400 acres (Sunday) to 570 acres (Tuesday).  Plans for containment have been made, fire crews are moving into the area and several roads are closed.  We met the AZ Fire Information Officer yesterday and she promised to pass on information as she obtains it.

#2  We talked with a tow truck driver who retrieved a white Mercedes SUV from Point Sublime road on Sunday.  It belonged to two surgeons from Nevada who had shifted 'down' instead of into 4WD and locked up their transmission.  The towing charge was $300 more than AAA paid.   Thanks, Karma!

Monday, July 5, 2010

This weekend hasn't been as exciting as last.  The plan was to drive through the Kaibab National Forest to Point Sublime for a 'spectacular and unique' view of the canyon yesterday and to hike a six-mile loop today into North Canyon.

Driving to Point Sublime took over two hours on dirt roads that became progressively worse.  When we reached the picnic area, we were surprised to find all three picnic tables occupied, two by picnickers and one by a guy taking a nap (??), and campers with their tents at the very end of the point about 1 mile further on the trail.  Considering that we had seen no other vehicles except for a few ATVs on our way there, we did not expect to find so many people in such an isolated and difficult to reach location.

From Point Sublime, we spotted smoke from the Saffron fire, ignited by a lightning strike a week ago Saturday,  which has burned about 400 acres so far.  It's not a large fire; fire teams are monitoring it rather than fighting it because it's consuming fuel which needs to be removed from the forest.  The smoke has moved into DeMott Meadows, where we are located, making the sky hazy and giving the air a pungent odor.

We decided to make the return trip via a slightly shorter but more difficult route.  What a mistake!  This road was a million quantum leaps more terrible than those on the way out.  Rocks, ruts, roots, steep hills, drastic drop-offs--every hazard imaginable confronted us.  About 4.5 miles from the paved road we came upon an abandoned Mercedes SUV blocking the road--smack in the middle of a narrow bridge.   A note on the dash claimed the vehicle was 'stuck' (of which there was no evidence) and the occupants were walking to the ranger station.  No inducement on earth could convince us to backtrack over the 12 miles we'd just managed to survive, so Fred went off-road through the woods, across a dry stream bed and over a 3' high berm to get around that obstacle. Thank heavens for the 4WD Jeep!

I was so incensed by the SUV people's lack of consideration that I vowed to report them to the ranger as soon as we got to the park.  We saw no walkers along the road so they must have gotten a ride before we encountered their vehicle.  They would have had adequate time to reach the ranger station well before I arrived.  However, my report was the first the ranger had received.  Very suspicious. 


It took more than five hours to travel a mere 45 miles in the back country. Although the view from Point Sublime is lovely, it is no better and not very different from that offered by viewpoints that are quicker and easier to reach.  I'd advise visitors to skip Point Sublime and travel instead to Toroweap for views that are truly spectacular and unique.  And the chance of encountering annoying people is far less. 

Last night was so extraordinarily cold that we had trouble sleeping.  The stress of yesterday's road trip and last night's sleeplessness caught up with us this morning and made hiking seem more chore than pleasure.  We decided to go to Kanab to do laundry and buy groceries.  Phone calls to our kids and lunch at Nedra's made the trip fun.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Early Sunday morning we drove north from the Kaibab Plateau to Page, AZ, arriving about 9:30.  I'd read an effusive description of the Hanging Gardens Trail: 'a half mile walk to a desert oasis on a mesa high above the Colorado River.'  The writer took a large dose of poetic license with that sentence!  It should have stated 'This is a half mile slog across hot sandstone in the blazing sun to a bunch of weeds and shrubs growing in an alcove.'    

Our search for a cool, shady spot to eat our picnic ended at the Glen Canyon Dam visitor center.  It has two items scarce in Page--a pair of large, old shade trees and a lovely lawn.  After lunch we located the headquarters of the rafting company which was to take us for a 15 mile trip down the Colorado River, slathered ourselves with sun block, grabbed the essentials for the excursion--hats and cameras--and prepared to embark. 

Good thing I didn't know in advance about the dark, two mile-long tunnel we had to go through on the bus to the loading site or the shoe-snagging gangway to the dock or the hanging stairs to the raft. Getting there and on-board was the scariest part of the whole experience! The raft had an outboard motor but the guide only used it in a few places to avoid riffles (little rapids) or move through cross-currents. Floating 15 miles of smooth water took about three hours including a pit stop (literally--the 'facilities' were pit toilets). The braver rafters ventured into the 47* water but none of them stayed very long. I waded in halfway to my knees--that cooled me down real quickly. Fred and I went with the guide and a few others to a petroglyph wall. Most people declined because of the heat and lack of shade but it was well worth some discomfort. The guide's 'interpretation' of the symbols was suspect and the dates he gave were way off but we were happy to see them.

We landed at Lee's Ferry, AKA Hell on Earth, about 4:30 and had a short wait for the bus--the wonderful air-conditioned bus--to take us back to Page. Echo Cliffs, running along Route 89 from Bitter Springs almost to Page, offers some of the most magnificent scenery on the planet. Although we'd been on that same road earlier in the day, I couldn't appreciate it fully because I was driving. The colors of the rocks and the desert were deeper and more intense at 5 PM than they'd been in the bright light of morning.


By the time we checked into the motel (a very nice one this time!), we were hot, tired, dirty and hungry. We were cleaner and cooler after showers but too tired to put much effort into handling the hungry part. The easiest option was eating at the motel's restaurant, serving 'Navajo cuisine.' An oxymoron, for sure. My navajo taco tasted fine but contained plentiful acid-reflux ingedients and Fred's 'country-fried steak' somehow morphed into fried chicken.

Last night's dinner made us leery of the complimentary breakfast buffet but it was very nice--pancakes, eggs, sausage gravy, fruit, muffins, yogurt, juice. Fueled up for the morning, we headed out to 'the rez.' (Page was carved from, and is surrounded by, a 27,000 square mile Navajo Reservation.) We obtained the permits required to hike Water Holes slot canyon at the tribal chapter office. This canyon isn't heavily visited so there are no established entry/exit points. Fortunately, previous hikers had erected rock cairns to indicate the route over bare rock and we descended at a relatively easy angle.

I was hesitant about going into a slot canyon because of tales about hikers trapped in narrow places, unable to scale steep walls or surprised by flash floods.  The heat in the canyon was nearly suffocating and its configuration offered only small, scattered spots of shades.  Nevertheless, we threaded our way east until confronted by a 10' high vertical wall with nothing more than a small opening visible beyond the wall--it looked too iffy to continue.

Although the formations aren't as spectacular as Antelope Canyon and the colors aren't as vivid as The Wave, the opportunity to explore a place that hasn't been extensively written about or photographed and wasn't filled with others made the exploration and our discoveries a very special experience.

(The most unexpected and unusual discovery was a ram's skull propped on a rock ledge at chest height.  Who? When? How? Why?!!)

Hot, dirty, tired and hungry yet again, we decided to tackle 'dirty' first by going to a laundromat then returning to the motel for showers.  We had a simple but delightful lunch on our balcony with views of Glen Canyon Dam, Lake Powell and the desert toward the Vermillion Cliffs.  Later in the afternoon, we went to Lake Powell National Recreation Area, stopped at several scenic overlooks, drove around the Wahweap resort and marina area and out to the Lone Rock Beach.

We had an All-American evening--dinner at McDonald's and shopping at WalMart.  We would have finished up with a couple of hours in front of the TV but a long day and an 5:45 wake-up call necessitated an early bedtime.  We had stretched out our weekend by spending two nights in Page so we needed to return to the Plateau on Tuesday in time for work.