Antelope

On Thursday morning we headed off from Kanab to Antelope Canyon near Page - a trip of 1.5 hours with what felt like straight driving all the way (though clearly that wasn't the case).

Again today, the whole time zone thing really started messing with my head.  According to http://www.nps.gov/glca/faqs.htm, this is the official story ... and I quote

Q: What time is it?
A: This gets a little complicated, so hang on.
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area follows Arizona time, which is Mountain Standard Time year-round.
* The state of Arizona does not switch to Daylight Savings Time in summer.
* Within the state of Arizona, the Navajo Reservation does switch to Daylight Savings Time.
* Within the Navajo Reservation lies the Hopi Reservation. The Hopis do not switch to Daylight Savings Time.
* The state of Utah does switch to Daylight Savings Time.
* Exception: Dangling Rope Marina, which is in Utah, does not switch to Daylight Savings Time. They run on Arizona time.
Simple, huh?

In any case we arrived in time for the 10:20am tour in whatever time zone.  After parting with the $26 entrance fee per person we were pumped and ready to go.  Normally speaking, the group size would be in the region of 15 but we must have had something like 60-80 people and I sh*t you not !!  We later heard some disgruntled remarks from the tour guides that there was a new boss and she had never even been on one of the tours herself.

Our group ... which goes on and on.

After a quick safety briefing and the disposal of a couple of rattlesnakes, we were on our way.  Truman (he also had some Navajo name that meant "Buffalo", but I'm not even going to think about trying to spell it) started off by showing us some dinosaur footprint which must be 190 million years old.  The other tour guides - total professionals that they are - could later be heard taking the piss out of him and his 190 million years old story, but hey - it all adds to the tourist experience !

The whole experience was fab.  We entered the lower canyon via a narrow opening in the ground - single file of course - after which you end up in these caverns that are illuminated in all kinds of beautiful ways by the overhead sun.  At various points during the tour, the guide pointed out some rock formations that resemble a buffalo's head, a chief's head, ET's head and other heads (they've really got their theme down apparently).  There's lots of pictures below so forgive me if I went a little off scale on the old enthusiasm-ometer.

Entering the depths at the lower canyon.

Aaw come on - not another X-factor audition surely !

 

After the tour - still a little dazed from all the looking around for fear of missing something, we stopped off for a quick peek at the dam we'd past on the way to Antelope Canyon - Glen Canyon Dam.  Not a bad take off of the Hoover variety, but somewhat less impressive (no offense).

 

We then proceeded along our merry little way for a dip to cool off at the Lone Rock Beach at Lake Powell - which was rather pleasant !  The water was pretty warm but cool enough to be able to tolerate another 10 minutes or so in the blazing heat once you stepped back out of it.

Bye bye Mr. Lone Rock.