Day 14 - Page, AZ and Glen Canyon/Lake Powell

Thursday, May 17, 2018

Weather:  Sunny, mid-90’s

Steps: Shaun - ???? (Fitbit died), Shannon - 14,244

Mileage: 32568-29659=2909 miles

We ate breakfast at the Sleep Inn and Suites at Lake Powell.  It was quite underwhelming...okay it was actually pretty crappy, but we needed fuel, so we made the best of it and then got on the road.

The first stop on our itinerary was the highly touted Horseshoe Bend, which is located in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. The name is inspired by the horseshoe-shaped meander where the Colorado River loops back upon itself, and the pictures of it are awe-inspiring.  We experienced several problems though: (1) It was unbelievably crowded at the parking lot for the viewpoint when we got there, but luckily we found a parking spot near the front; (2) The trip was only ¾ mile round trip, but it was both up and down a big hill of deep sand, so the walk was really challenging; (3) Several busses of people had arrived around the same time we had, so there were hundreds of people all around the viewpoint that had no guardrails to protect people from the perilous loose rock edges all along the 1,000-foot drop. Everyone was vying for spots, and some were quite rude. Shannon was taking a picture of Shaun (who was standing with her back to the edge), and a woman pushed Shannon out of the way and was trying to do the same to Shaun. We stopped her and told her to wait a second, so she backed up but then stood and looked over Shannon’s shoulder while she took the pictures. We finally said we didn’t feel comfortable with all these crazies, so we walked back to the car, only to find it blocked in by 4 buses! Luckily, another guy was also trying to leave, so we waited for him to handle the situation and then just followed him out. All in all, Horseshoe Bend was underwhelming and totally overrated. They were in the process of constructing an alternative parking area much closer to the viewpoint, but the setup when we were there was absolutely insane.

 

Our next stop was the Carl Hayden Visitors Center at the Glen Canyon Dam which had several wonderful exhibits about the surrounding area, the construction of the dam, and a life-sized model of a slot canyon.  We walked across the dam and took a bunch of great pictures while we looked for the elusive California Condor (spoiler alert...we never saw one...dang it!).  We did see the most beautiful juvenile red-tailed hawk who had markings that reminded us of a Navajo rug, and we also saw our ever present friends, turkey vultures, as well as cliff swallows along the walls of Glen Canyon.

Shaun didn’t want to leave the dam because she knew that as soon as we left that a giant swarm of condors were going to swoop in and we’d miss them. However, we had decided to book a 2 ½-hour boat tour of Lake Powell because it seemed like the best way to learn about this crazy body of water in the middle of the desert. The tour left from Wahweap Marina which was just a short drive from the Visitors Center, and it took us through Navajo and Antelope Canyons and close to the other side of the dam. It was totally awesome, and we saw some of the best views we could have ever found from the water.  We had decided not to hike Antelope Canyon at the recommendation of friends due to its “theme park-like atmosphere” since it had become so popular, so this was a wonderful alternative. The boat traveled as far into the canyons as it could, and then the captain had to perform some pretty amazing maneuvers to turn the boat around in tight quarters to go the other direction.  We had a great time and were so glad we’d decided to spend our day this way, especially after the less than stellar start to our day.

After the boat trip was over, we hiked up a giant hill and went to the excellent gift shop at the hotel attached to the marina.  After we contributed to the livelihood of the locals, we drove into Page and got lunch at a burger shop and then drove back out of town to the Hanging Garden trailhead. This was a wonderful one-mile round trip hike where moisture was seeping through the porous sandstone allowing maidenhair ferns and other plants to grow under an overhang in the middle of the desert.  The trail was pretty easy (and there were some really cute little birds along the way) until we got close to the cliff where the trail basically led up the rocks with nothing to hang onto, so we had to go down on all fours in order to get to the overhang.  On the way back, the sun was going down, and the colors were absolutely gorgeous as the light and shadows moved along the red rock cliffs.

We drove a bit further down the road to another scenic viewpoint of the lake where we took more pictures of the fading light (I know...shocker). Next we went to Walmart to buy a new computer and FitBit and external hard drives for each of us so that we could process the 5,142 pictures we ended up taking. $700 later, we went back to the hotel to sort stuff, set up our new electronics, eat dinner, and pack for our trip to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and the much anticipated visit to the dude ranch. We heard someone say that the weather at the North Rim was in the 30’s and that it had snowed, so we checked and sure enough, the next few days were supposed to be 70 during the day and 35ish at night. The temps here are even weirder than in Michigan!

Day 12 - Moab, UT

 

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Weather:  Sunny, low 80s

Steps: Shaun - 6,600?, Shannon - 10,208

For the second morning in a row, we woke up early to get to the Moab Adventure Center by 6:45am for our half-day rafting trip. A bus took us 45 minutes down scenic Rte. 129 to a boat launch, and we spent two hours floating down the Colorado River.

We encountered four sections of class 1 and 2 rapids, with lots of beautiful scenery in between. We saw cliff swallows and a few lizards along the way too.

Our group pulled out before hitting the big rapids further down the river, and then we had to stand around for 15 minutes waiting for the bus to pick us up. Shaun managed to find a lady who was from Arkansas to chat with while we waited.

The bus trip back to the center felt super long, even though it was actually shorter than on the way out. Still, there were beautiful views as we traveled between the canyon walls along the river back to Moab.

We returned to the apartment to change and then ate lunch at another Thai restaurant. From there, we went to Dead Horse Point State Park, with a brief stop at Arches to finally return the audio tour we had gotten two days previously.

At Dead Horse, we walked along a nature trail that featured native and medicinal plants and then visited the nearby visitors center (does that surprise you?). The trail was great, but the visitors center was pretty lame, with its only redeeming quality being awesome windows that looked out over the expanse of the park.

We drove to the end of the point for views of the gooseneck in the Colorado River directly below, as well as Thelma and Louise’s cliff, Shafer Canyon and White Rim Trails, etc...all the places we had seen up close the previous day. It definitely made us appreciate the jeep tour more.

From Dead Horse, we continued down the road to the north section of Canyonlands, called Island in the Sky. We bought a book tour of the scenic drive and followed it along the way.

Our first and only hike of the day was a short one, just .5 miles roundtrip, to Mesa Arch. We could see Washerwoman Arch from there as well.

The end of one fork in the road was Grand View Point, which was amazing. The other end was Upheaval Dome, which we didn’t see because we would have had to hike 2 miles and it was near sunset by that time. 

The setting sun made for some interesting views along the road as we drove back out of the park. One side of the road was bathed in raking light, while the other was in shadow and desaturated of color. It was hard taking pictures of the latter side, but it sure was beautiful to observe.

We found a good spot to stop and watch the sunset in the park, but we decided that we were too tired to stay and ended up returning to Moab. Instead, we ran errands, packed, and ate dinner. Lame, we know.

Tomorrow, we leave Utah and head to Arizona, by way of the Navajo Nation.