Page Downtime (Day 7)

Page is interesting to me in that it's a gateway to natural beauty in every direction and the weather appears to be good almost always. They have a plethora of good hotels at reasonable prices too. With that in mind, you'd also assume good and varied food choices - not so much! And maybe stores that cater to photographers? I mean, I cannot be the only dummy who has dropped a lens cap?! Heck, in my mind the possibilities are endless and I'm grateful just not to have damaged a lens or camera body by now. 

This morning I discovered that no camera accessory store or other store that caters, lives here. A kind associate at Walmart told me to buy Pringles because the lid "often fits". It doesn't. (You are just as shocked as I am, right?!) Instead I found myself shopping for little socks. AKA covers for every lens size. Whatever works. Could be worse. 

Onward!

At Beehive trail (Glen Canyon area) I was lead to believe "the New Wave" existed. You know, the Wave for those of us who didn't get chosen in the lottery to hike the real Wave. 

It was a short hike, very few other folks around and featured some nice wavy patterns, mushroom shapes and plays on light.

I spent some time here (a lot more than you would think)  relaxing, experimenting and chatting with the one other person with similar intentions. Journaling and enjoying a cool but very sunny environment.

Today really IS a much needed rest and planning day. I rounded it out with a little drive down and around Glen Canyon/Lake Powell area.

Ok, before I go, just a quick shout out to the entrepreneur community of Arizona. This is some compelling marketing! And truth be told it is uniquely American but is that something to be proud of? Surely I'm not the only one thinks an outing to fire machine guns is ever going to be suitable for all ages and experience levels???!!! 

As for the free silencer upgrade.... Ummm... I can't find any words to address this... 

There is so much to love about Arizona and I'm glad I'm here. Also pretty grateful that the possible values discrepancy between me and the lovely people I have been meeting here, is only really apparent when I stumble upon a flier like this.

New Page (Day 6)

Pre-sunrise at Grand Canyon... on a rock... without my electric socks... and it was 18℉!!! Woe is me! LOL.

Actually, it was worth it. Pre-sunrise light is about the best light you could hope for when trying to photograph a subject like the Grand Canyon. The colors are fleeting and the expanse of the view will never fit in the frame of the camera. But the most difficult for me, is contrast. Peaks that light up bright yellow as the sun tips the horizon and the canyon (and wee crevasses) that are black and shadowy. It's why they invented the term "character building". And reminds me that the challenge to edit pics into something resembling what I felt, will make me a better person. More patient and more skilled. 

Leaving G.C in the flatter, bluer light of mid morning, I was still compelled to stop and take MORE pics at every overlook. That's insane. That's me. 

My next goal was to glimpse the Vermillion Cliffs today, then make my way inside the geofence area required to enter the lottery for a permit to hike to "The Wave" 2 days from now. But life is always  way more interesting than the bones of the plan ever were. 

I found myself enthralled with the Vermillion Cliffs - the size, color and rural, unspoiled location that I was driving through. I stopped A LOT! There were even horses with foals. Foals at this time of year?!

And then there was the Navajo bridge at Marble Canyon... 

The puppy on the roadside that caught the eye of both me and a lady trucker: Pups gratefully gobbled down my beef (goodbye sandwich!) and her dry cat food. Uh-huh. She had a kitty in the truck with her! Since wee pups didn't let us actually touch him, we had to leave him there, sadly. Fingers and toes are crossed that instead of being a dumped orphan, he is actually just a straying res dog and will find his way back to his village before the cold night finds him. 

My goodness he was a cutie though! 

Ok... Now let's talk about Horseshoe Bend. 

Back in 2013, during a trip that Mark and I took here, we walked down to Horseshoe Bend from a dirt parking lot, with a handful of other people and did the casual sunset thing, with feet hanging over the cliff. (Horseshoe Bend blog post of 2013)

Boy have things changed! I guess once the cat was out of the bag about this natural beauty gobs of tourists flocked to the edge, backing up to take questionable selfies. So the gov't had to get involved. "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot"!

A driveway with spikes to stop you going the wrong way (without paying), a manned booth to take your $10 Entrance fee and a manicured path complete with shade structures all the way to the overlook - also paved and fenced - and sporting 200 people. 

"Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got til it's gone..."

All I can say is the paved parking lot now has great cell reception and from here, Beast became a mobile office for a bit. I booked a hotel, checked in with clients and entered the lottery for "The Wave".

I hunkered down for the night at one of the newer, very clean hotels that Page is breeding like rabbits. Two nights actually. Because despite NOT winning the lottery for a hiking permit, this girl has been burning the candle at both ends for almost a week now and needs a sleep-in and space to spread out for more than just 12 hours at a time. 

Stick a fork in me, I'm done!  

Honestly, it was far from a hard day... I'm just tired and ready to give in to the demands for decent rest before I start the next week of this delightful road trip.

The Return to Buckskin Gulch

You might remember, after the last post about Buckskin Gulch, when we did not find the fabled "narrows" and indeed didn't find the correct time of day either, that we didn't expect to return anytime soon.

However, a day later, after fortuitously running into other tourists who had hiked the same area, we were advised that the quickest way into the narrows of Buckskin Gulch was from the Wire Pass trail head.  In fact, the narrow portion was reputed to begin less than a mile in from the car park!  We had to give it another shot.

First stop... Breakfast at the Best Western lobby.  I know what you are thinking.  "Again a post about how they made their own stupid waffles!"  No.  That's the thing... I get up to the waffle machine, begin pouring the batter into the little cup and this lady takes the cup from my hand, pours the batter into the waffle iron, flips it, then looks at me and says "don't take it out until you hear the beep!"  Excuse me?!  The control freak in me was going nuts.  Yes, she worked there, but why was she making my waffle? The lady continued to monitor the waffle maker and insist on making everyone's waffles.  Meanwhile, back at the table Mark was smirking, watching me cringe at the lack of control I had to endure.  He didn't even want a waffle until it became a challenge to see if he could make it himself. A minute later I heard him approach waffle lady and say "I can make my own waffle.  I have done it before."  And just like that, he took control of the waffle iron!  I was a little bit jealous.

Then we were off to Buckskin Gulch again.  Shortly after leaving the car at the trail head we entered what we assumed was the narrow area we had searched for the other day.

We had underestimated the glory of the geography and luckily chose to keep hiking when the canyon widened again.

One slot canyon led to another, each more dramatic and photogenic than the last.  It was not the easy hike that Sunday's hike had been... Open, flat and easy terrain to navigate.  This end of the hike rapidly evolved into cool darkness.  At times we had to drop over three foot high boulders and slide down the occasional log ladder.  More than once I wondered if returning the same way was going to be more difficult.  Not that the thought stopped me.

On the bright side, the path less traveled was truly quiet. Apart from a handful of enthusiastic photographers, there was no-one but us.  The path opened up to a majestic cathedral-like formation and the trail ended at a T.  At this point we knew turning left would soon take us to the fateful spot were Mark and had gobbled down pistachios and bananas just two days previous, then turned back.

The next quarter mile was more slot canyon delight and probably another 200 photos.  Then it was time to turn back.  Hard to imagine, but we pictured this hike as just a quick jaunt and didn't pack snacks.  Yikes!

Back up log ladder, over the boulders, through the narrows and along the river bed... 90 minutes later, in the car and bouncing along the dirt road back toward Page.  A large sandwich and a larger ice cream sundae awaited.  I was starving, plus I now had thoughts of an afternoon flight over Bryce Canyon dancing in my head.   :-)

There is nothing quite like a flight to make good day into a spectacular day.
Did I mention we planned our sunset to be viewed from Bryce Canyon?

 

 

My favorite thing about sunset flights.... By increasing altitude, you can rewind a sunset and play it again!

What a wonderful way to end a scenic vacation in Utah/Arizona.

P.S.  If you missed the other 3 posts from this flying adventure, you can check them out here:
1.  Over the hills and far away...
2.  The time warp in Buckskin Gulch
3.  Monument Valley at sunrise is just the beginning