Visiting Rebekah was a lot of fun, even if it could only be for a few hours and then off we were to our next adventure.
We arrived in Page after a short drive and drove to Antelope Canyon Marina to check out the water level on Lake Powell. It’s amazing what a difference two years can make which was the last time we were here. Back then, we walked all the way down the ramp to the docks and back up again. This time, NOT! Halfway was all I was going. When we compared the water levels in the two-year-old pictures to now, it actually looks like there is more water in the Lake now than before. Good news for all those houseboat owners and renters.
Sunsets in Arizona are really pretty so we made sure we got a few good pictures.
Page, Arizona is home to Antelope Canyon where the slot canyons draw visitors from all over the world. Two years ago, we were here and did a tour of the upper slot canyons and scheduled a tour of the lower slots, but it was cancelled because of the threat of rain. All these canyons have been created over many years by the rain rushing along the desert floor causing flash floods, so even rain 25 miles away can be very dangerous. There is actually a story, confirmed to be true, that some visitors from England were unhappy about a tour being cancelled because of rain 15 miles away and decided to go anyway on their own. Within a very short period of time with no warning, they were trapped in the lower slot canyon by the water rushing in and 14 people drowned.
Fortunately, today there was no threat of rain anywhere in sight. Antelope Canyon is on Indian territory, so you have to have a Navaho guide to take you through. We actually booked this tour two months ago because they fill up quick especially at noon because of the position of the sun. Their compacity is 3,100 visitors per day and they get that every day from May through August. Today the reservations said they would have around 2,300 people tour the lower slots. The upper slots are canyons shaped like an A with narrow openings at the top and wider walkways at the base. The sun streaming through the openings is magnificent. The lower slots, however, are shaped like an A and also like a V with very narrow walkways along the base. In fact, our guide told us after each flash flood, they have to manually bring in sand to fill in the floor of canyons to create walkways because of the Vs are so pointed, visitors could not walk on them. These lower slots are more physically challenging than the upper. There are 11 ladders of varying heights because you are actually underground. The first ladder down was a doozy!
There was one ladder that was nothing more than thick steel pipes about 8 inches long attached to the side of the canyon.
They did take pity of the visitors and converted one of the taller ladders to a shorter one by manually drilling an archway that was never there before.
At the end, you have to climb up a steep hill through a very narrow crack in the rock and then walk back to your starting point in the sand.
I am here to report that although we appeared to be the oldest people on the tour, we kept up with everyone else without a problem. Before we started, the guide asked me where I was from. When I told him Florida, he said you are probably in the minority on this tour. I would say 2/3 of the people on the tour were from Europe and several other continents.
Later in the day we went to the Glen Canyon Dam which is second only to Hoover Dam in size and importance. The dam was started in 1956 and finished in 1963 providing electricity to much of the western central states and also assuring water to many of those same states. If Page is not on your To Do List along with Zion and Bryce, you need to put it on. Worth the time.
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