Monument Valley at Sunrise is just the Beginning!

5:30 AM never feels great when the alarm goes off.  The struggle to get up and moving is only balanced by the promise of adventure in the sky.  Motivation is gathered from anticipation ... of beautiful colors, glorious silhouettes and photos to remember it by.

Mark and I had a plan.  Wheels up by 6 AM at Page would put us at Monument Valley right around sunrise at 6:30 AM.  We had seen where Monument Valley was in relation to Kalenta Airport and flew in the general direction needed.  Both of us figuring that the iconic rock formations would be pretty obvious as we got closer.  And they were.

Right on schedule, N303B and the first rays of sun arrived at Monument Valley simultaneously.
Stunning!  We took turns flying and shooting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But the day wasn't over yet.  We refueled with breakfast back at the Best Western, taking particular pride in our waffle expertise, then took some time out to organize pictures.  The sleepiness of the early rise had not yet caught up... Or perhaps it was that we were excited about the next event.  

We were picked up 10 minutes late.  At 1:10 PM the truck roared into the parking lot.  After climbing into the back and seating ourselves on the bench seat next to some German tourists, we buckled up.  One seat belt per two people!  I wondered if we really even needed a seat belt... until our Navajo guide and driver left the main road and proceeded to fly down a sandy river bed.  Dust filled the air and our lungs.  We bounced up and down, restrained thank goodness, by the seat belt built for two.

Shortly thereafter, we arrived at what can only be described as "the end of the road" - the place where the the river bed, at times 75 feet wide, became just 3 feet wide and entered the Upper Antelope (slot) Canyon.  There were a half a dozen other vehicles already here.

Entering the slot canyon

And in we went.  

Our guide was an expert in her field.  With all the stories and history the Navajo people have to offer, she herded the 6 of us inside.  Every so often stopping to show us what would make a great photograph, giving us camera-specific advice and pointing out shapes and shadows with their respective Navajo names.  Some of the shapes were only recognizable when viewed as photographs!

"The Heart"

"The Bear"

"Monument Valley"

As beautiful as I thought this canyon tour was, apparently the best time to visit is when the sun is directly overhead.  Midday, middle of summer.  At this time the tour is famous for the "beam of light" that reaches the sandy floor of the canyon.

Like any place that narrows to little more than a shoulder width, there are rules that make it possible for multiple groups to visit at the same time.  Its a one-way photo tour.  On the way through there are plenty of opportunities to stop and photograph.

At the end of the canyon our guide took out her musical pipe and played for us.  Sweet traditional Navajo melodies played on a rock, in the sun.

On the way back, its a non-stop walk, with reminders to be respectful of the people who are on the photography leg of their tour.

Antelope Canyon, located in Navajo Nation, is magical place.  I would go back.... In fact, lower Antelope Canyon still calls, so I guess I will be back!

The Time Warp in Buckskin Gulch

Saturday had been a long day. Good, but long.  Sunday morning started quite differently.

Best Western offered a breakfast downstairs in the lobby. I say this not to bore you with details but to set the stage for a later post.  We were delighted to find cereal, bagels, pastries, a self serve waffle iron and an automatic pancake maker.

Glad you asked ... The pancake maker was a closed contraption with an "ok" button on the front. Hit it once, two pancakes were dispensed from inside to your waiting plate in about minute, hit the button twice and out came four.  Genius.  Except that most of the guests were foreign and the number of times they repeatedly hit "ok" and failed to place a plate under the exit hole, was astounding - and amusing!  As for the waffle iron; You pour a pre-measured amount of batter into the iron, close it, flip it, and wait for the beep before opening and removing a perfect waffle.  Not rocket science by any means but Mark and I (the control freaks that we are) took pleasure in making our own waffles.

With full bellies and the plan to visit Paria Canyon, we gathered a few snacks and some water and sped out of town in our Mazda 6.  Stopping at an information board we did the next best thing to actually having a map and took a picture of this one on our cell phones.  It was here we also saw a gorgeous photograph of a narrow canyon... Buckskin Gulch the caption read.

At 11:55 am, parked at the Buckskin gulch trail head, we paid the $6/person fee and signed the hikers register.  It was a 4.5 mile one way hike through the gulch to the intersection of Wire Pass.  Not knowing how fast the hike would be and being sure that I would slow us down with a thousand photos, we set a time to turn around.  Two hours in.... Meant two hours out.  We aimed for being back at the car by 4 pm, with the notion that a sunset flight would be ideal too.

The trail followed a river bed, dry now, but with obvious signs that it was recently and violently flowing. Wild flowers were abundant and in the quietness that only the "middle of nowhere" offers, we occasionally saw critters and birds too.  Around every bend we were convinced we would stumble upon the narrow part of Buckskin that would lead to dozens of stunning pictures.  Alas, no.

It was warm and dry out here and snacks were calling.  A quick check of the time revealed it was already 2:35 pm.  How could that be?  We both agreed that it didn't feel like we had been hiking over 2.5 hours, but cell phones don't lie... Right?

Perplexed and looking for a reason that we had lost track of time so badly, we used the hike back to the trail head to do the math, using time zones and the weirdness of Arizona's lack of daylight savings time as possible excuses.

Fact: We were pretty close to the Arizona-Utah border.
Fact:  Denver, Arizona and Utah were all in the same time zone.
Fact:  Utah was on daylight savings time, Arizona was not.

Questionable:  Whether the hike, which began in Utah, was still in Utah when we checked the time.
Questionable:  Where our cell phones (all 3 of them, from 3 different service providers) got their time/date information from.
Questionable:   Whether we were more dehydrated than originally thought.

To be completely honest, if you had run into us on the return hike, you would have seen two incredible confused individuals.  Unable to tell you the time, unsure of how long they had been hiking out here and completely baffled as to how they, normally intelligent and sensible people, had become so disoriented.

At this point we thought we had run out of time for a sunset flight, plus I felt I lacked the wits needed to operate an aircraft safely.  That plan was put on hold until we knew the time and had freed up the brain space needed.

Back at the car we realized we had our hour back!  Somewhere along the trail, the cell phones had gone back in time once again and it was looking more and more like a daylight savings time issue.

Arriving in Page, it became a priority to figure out exactly where the daylight savings time ended and how reliable our phones were.  After all, we had a booking for a tour tomorrow at 1pm and needed to be sure exactly when 1pm was!

So... Here is what we figured out.

1.  Yes, Utah has daylight savings time.
2.  No, Arizona does not observe daylight savings time.
3.  Our hike was definitely in Utah, but close to the Arizona border.
4.  Navajo Nation spans both Arizona and Utah, and does observe daylight savings time... even in AZ.
5.  Page AZ sits just outside Navajo Nation.
6.  Our cell phones get their time data not from GPS, but from cell towers.
7.  If you Google the current time in Page AZ, you get two different answers!!!!

www.google.com shows Page AZ using daylight savings time

www.timetemperature.com has the correct time.  No observance of daylight savings.

 Conclusion:
We left Page on mountain time and arrived at the trail head with phones still showing mountain time, despite us having traveled into Utah.  We were still using a cell tower located in AZ.

Part of the way into the hike, the cell phones changed towers and picked up Utah time... Mountain Daylight Time.  The clocks went forward an hour.

They returned to mountain time as we neared the trail head again.   And remained on mountain time as we crossed back into Arizona.

As for Navajo Nation... Well that time warp didn't affect us today, but could be a real problem tomorrow, depending on where our pick up for the Antelope Canyon tour was.  Pick in Page at 1pm = Pick up at Antelope Canyon/Navajo Nation at 2pm.  Good to know!

Once all this was figured out, we opted for an early night followed by an even earlier morning tomorrow. New plan:  Get up at 5:30 am, wheels up by 6 am and watch the sunrise over Monument Valley.

O'er the Hills and Far Away

Ooh-wee!  It has been a long time since I posted an aviation adventure.  Luckily, these last few days saw me fly west, over the hills and far away... For play time in the cloudless blue sky and on the sunny ground too.

Actually, it started with an incredibly well planned flight to Wisconsin, a  much needed "unplug" from work, the house and life as I experience it daily.  The weather was checked, the flight plan stored and ready to file and a bag packed full of warm clothing and comfort food stood ready.

About an hour before anticipated departure northeast, doubt began to creep in.  It seemed that while 5 days holed up in a cozy cabin on a lake could be really nice, it would also mean that every time we stepped foot outside, we would get wet and cold.  Yep, the extended forecast, which started with a late departure from Longmont due to snow, was filled with rain and sleet in the woods, ended with potentially disturbed homeward flying plans due to snow in northern Wisconsin too.  Hmmm....  Not ideal.

After eyeing the weather graphics for the entire US, it came down to Texas or the Arizona area. Arizona was a quicker flight, offered mountain flying practice, stunning scenery and plenty to see and do once there. The Texas coast, while still looking beautiful, was coming up in second place.

We departed early-ish on Saturday.  It was calm and clear.  The new flight plan had us heading south to Colorado Springs to gain altitude before heading west, past Pike's Peak, over Salida, across Monarch Pass and just south of Crested Butte.  We sailed merrily out of the mountains just after Montrose and onward to the land of canyons.

 

First stop... Cal Black Municipal Airport at Halls Crossing, UT.  This tiny spot perched not far from a marina at Lake Powell was intended as our snack, bathroom and fuel break.  They sell auto gas - and at over $1/gallon less than 100LL, this stop on the way to Page, AZ was more than worth it.  N303B was thirsty! The airport is run by a cute husband and wife team.  What an industrious couple!  Out in the middle of nowhere (80 miles from the nearest supermarket) they keep a friendly and spotlessly clean FBO and in their down time, they are building themselves a little house.

 

By noon on Saturday we had reached Page Airport.  As luck would have it, an "airshow" was in full swing. I use quotation marks because a bouncy castle, pizza truck and vintage cars do not an airshow make! We did have a little giggle about the complete and utter lack of flying, as we filled our hungry bellies from the food truck and peered into a DeSoto's windows.  And it didn't escape our attention that the very second a couple of older airplanes took to the sky and did a low pass down the runway, we were super impressed. No, this was not Oshkosh... and you take what you can get!  The community was enthusiastic and the tents, colorful. It was all gravy.  Mark and I had spent the last 3 hours flying through snow-capped mountains, marveling at the rugged canyons and admiring reflections in Lake Powell.  A great day already.

We unloaded the Bonanza and loaded the rental car.  Checking into the hotel involved the mandatory asking of recommendations.  We were advised of canyon tours, boat tours, hiking, restaurants and more.  Already we knew our 4 days in Page were going to be packed with activity.

The day was rounded out with a sunset/twilight hike.  Just a short one, from the nearby trail head to the top of a 1000 foot precipice, overlooking Horseshoe Bend.  This 270 degree bend in the Colorado River has to be one of the most photographed places in the area..  In fact, a Google image of this spot was what first attracted me to Page as a potential destination, while scoping for sunnier, alternative vacation spots just the day before.

 

Day 1 of our vacation was rounded out by a steak dinner and live music by a talented Johnny Cash cover guy... and a soak in the hot tub under a full moon.

Our "plan" for the next 3 days was already scratched out on a Best Western notepad.  Hiking... Flying... Photography... Eating... And repeat!

Mmmm.  Vacation.  :-)


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