Some of the American Out - West _ Antelope Canyon

 Our second stop was at a place called Page near Lake Powell. Robert had booked us a tour (I believe one cannot go to these spaces without a tour guide) and we were taken by surprize with the beauty of these lands. It so happened that there was a rain storm at Page, as we stood in queue to get into a 14 seater van. Unclear about the final outcome we just tagged along our guide. Fearless leader meandered along the raods to bring us to the slot canyon which had no affects of the rain storm, and we had a fantastic visit. 

This was once we left the Hwy 98 and drove on vast lands which were just sand..... Our guide kept talking about the story, from her point of perspective. She did not claim to be a researcher, but simply a member of the Navajo community and shared her personal knowledge about life and earth in these surroundings. We arrived at these rock formations and got off the van. 

The view of the 60 or 70 feet tall rock before we entered the gap between the formation.

I hope the visual journey will spell out stories that I cannot capture in words.

We reached there around 2:30PM. It seems that the tour at noon gets booked within seconds of its opening. That is because at noon the sun light - the beam of light enters into this gap with full intensity. It must be an experience to be in here at that hour of the day. 

 

You may come upon many pictures of us, as our guide kept having each of the fourteen members pose for a picture at special photogenic spots in the slot canyon!

Looking towards and against the light.

The wind was blowing very hard, I got a sand particle in my eye and the faces of the rock looked sculptural even still. Robert and I kept making associations with the forms familiar to us and the play of light and dark on the wind and water carved rock was incredibly beautiful. Sharing so much yet sharing nothing.

The guide told us about flash flood that last for a few hours. It has become easy to predict with the new technologies and they have had to cancel tours when there has been such events. Though they flash floods are like flashes, they don't last very long. 

Close to the end of the gap between the rocks.

Looking back at the path we had been on for the last hour or so!

Walking around the outside of the slot canyon to get back to our van.

On the left side one can see the entrance of the gap where we walked in to the slot canyon. 

We learned that the native people, elders and priests do ceremonies in this slot canyon on specific days of the year. The place holds energy which is difficult to express in words. Some say it feels spiritual. I wont be able to sum it up in a word. 

To me this experience brought me another example of the power of nature. The place has seen so many particles of sand, water, wind may be fire; so many people ... I wonder what it thinks of us?

Some of the American Out-West _ Bryce Canyon

This August (2024) it will be nine years living in Logan UT USA. I came to this continent for going to school, and life had plans for me, I have continued to stay. I am learning the ways of life in this culture, society and land. The experience of this land is exquisite. I would not have imagined in my wildest dreams the kind of beauty the natural parks, landscape and surrounding has....

In any case, this was the first time when my husband and I ventured out to explore five different national parks, and not only visited the look out point but hiked into the valleys and canyons to really feel the space, and breathe its air, learn about its history and understand its value. 

The trip was about two weeks, and this is the area we covered - 

Our first stop was Bryce Canyon National Park. We did two hikes during our stay, and heres image of one of the hikes we did - 

The following images are when we were in the canyon, and admiring the absolutely stunning beauty of the red earth. Well it was not all red, and not only red. There were many different hues of the color, warm and energetic. The weathering, wind and water have sculpted these land forms in such a stunning fashion that it is overwhelmingly inspiring. The pioneers call them 'hoodoos' It is a clay artists marvel. These rocks were formed underwater, called sedimentary rocks. Some layers are harder to erode than the other softer layers. Hence they look like these congregation of anthropomorphic shapes. Throughly amazing... and seeing them from different levels, and we hiked was mind blowing amazing. 

The intense blue sky with spread of fluffy clouds was the perfect backdrop for this inspiring sight. 

The scale and expanse of it was also hugely inspiring!

The return climb to the top was very steep. The trail had many switchbacks, and we stopped every couple of those to catch our breathe and hydrate before taking on further climb. It was intense yet rewarding. 

We ran into some lovely people who took our picture against the red canyon. 

We ate some amazing food at the restaurant at the lodge, It was in the heart of the park, and served delicious food. There was not a lot of choice, but enough for us to be satisfied and excited to return. 

The national park is spread across thirteen miles, which is pitch road. We drove and stopped at the various look out points to get more overwhelmed and inspired!

We did try to get to the theatre to watch the sunlight slowly lightening up the hoodoos. The clouds played a role in the drama being subtle. 

The hike we did on the second day brought to us different perspective of the canyon. We also came across the tiny little glimpse of snow, which remained unmelted only to our surprize. We were there in mid May. The temperatures were thankfully not very hot, and it was pleasant for Robert, and cool for me in the shadows of the mountains and trees!

It was rare to see flowers, but they were there, a few and far in between. These yellow ones on cactus caught my eye and I absolutely loved them.

Our stay was exciting and wonderful, and we left with plans of returning to the park with a longer time duration to simply stay and go do other small and big hikes in the canyon. 

I will share about our next stop - Antelope Canyon in my next post. 

Thanks for reading!