Karen and Tom Wanderings

With our Wave adventure complete, we decided we'd done 'bout everything we wanted to in the Page/Kanab area.  So, a day ahead of schedule, we headed off towards new horizons.  With this extra day, we added Petrified Forest National Park as our bonus stop.  We arrived in the evening and caught sunset in the Painted Desert portion of the park.  Quite beautiful (and windy)!  The following morning, the rains finally found us. But, being from Seattle, we donned the rain gear and headed on a couple of short hikes.  Pretty fascinating colors in the petrified wood.  And the Blue Mesa had some interesting topography.  All in all, not a must see, but it was a relaxing way to spend a couple of half days. Painted Desert Painted Desert Painted Desert Petrified Log Mulit-hued log Blue Mesa Blue Mesa Blue Mesa More Photos    

The Wave is located in an area immediately south and west of Wire Pass and Buckskin Gulch known as Coyote Buttes.  For permitting purposes, BLM divides the area into north and south sections.  The "Wave" permits are actually for the entire North Coyote Buttes area.  On a previous visit to Kanab, we missed out on a North permit at the in-person lottery draw, and settled for a South permit and a guided 4wd tour of some super interesting areas.     With much anticipation, we drove to the Wire Pass trailhead in the wee hours of the morning to get an early start on the trail to beat the heat and crowds.  The approach hike is about 2.5 miles across open desert and slickrock (i.e., no real trails, just general routes), and we only saw a couple of small groups.  We excitedly arrived at The Wave formation, but quickly realized that a pool, of unknown depth, blocked our way into it.  Removing our boots and carefully wading through the edge of the pool ...

The main attraction to Page, at least for us, was Antelope Canyon, a world-famous slot canyon.  We had a bit of trepidation since it's a major tour stop and, by all accounts, quite a people-herding scene.  But we'd also heard it was still worth it.  So we joined the conga line and went through Lower Antelope Canyon, and it was spectactular! Just endless curvy shapes in the narrow canyon. Overall, we spent a couple of days in Page, and poked around to see some various sights there, including some nice sunsets.  And of course we applied for The Wave lottery, and, amazingly enough, scored!!  Stay tuned.   Colorado River at Sunset, from the Dam Overlook Glenn Canyon Dam from the Dam Overlook Lower Antelope Canyon Lower Antelope Canyon Lower Antelope Canyon Conga Line, Lower Antelope Canyon The Travelers, Lower Antelope Canyon Lower Antelope Canyon Lower Antelope Canyon Horseshoe Bend Sunset view at Wahweap Overlook More Photos    Detail...

Our next stop was Page, AZ, about an hour east of Kanab, and the site of the Glenn Canyon Dam.  We took the more southerly, scenic route there from Kanab (Highway 89A), and saw some of the extensive burns caused by the wildfire on the north rim of the Grand Canyon from earlier in the year (which, incidentally, burned down the Grand Canyon Lodge on the north rim, and kept that part of the park closed until early October). Along the way, we also visited the Lees Ferry area, which marks the NE end of the Grand Canyon and is about 15 miles downstream of the Glenn Canyon Dam.  It also serves as a launching point for rafting trips through the Grand Canyon.  We tackled the several mile hike down Cathedral Wash to the Colorado River, and it turned out to be a bit spicier than we anticipated.  There were several spots where we almost turned around due to the lack of an obvious, safe route, but eventually gathered our courage (and/or suppressed our fear), and pushed onward....