Page

Just 100 miles north of Flagstaff lies Page, AZ, a small town nestled on the southern shores of Lake Powell. With a weekend visit from Grandma, we were lucky enough to take a day trip to Page without the kids and explore the plethora of outdoor activities in Glen Canyon Recreation Area and the canyons found throughout the adjacent Navajo Nation. With an early morning departure, we were able to catch guided tours of both Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon, leaving plenty of time for a picnic and beers along the shores of Lake Powell and some easy hiking around Glen Canyon Dam and the unforgettable Horseshoe Bend. Any time we (the parents) can get a few moments alone is quite welcome. 

Antelope Canyon 

One of the most photographed canyons in the world, this magnificent slot canyon is known for its wave-life structure and the light beams that shine directly down into the openings of the canyon. While we did not see many light beams, the tall winding walls make a cathedral of red-hued, swirling sandstone that is awe-inspiring. 

This canyon is divided into two distinct sections – Upper Antelope Canyon, in Navajo “Tse' bighanilini,” which means "the place where water runs through rocks;" and Lower Antelope Canyon or “Hazdistazí” - 'spiral rock arches'. These canyons were formed over millions of years of water erosion, specifically from flash flooding during monsoon season (as you may have guessed from the Navajo names). The canyon walls, currently climbing 120 ft above the streambed, continue to deepen and erode away with each rainstorm that pushes rainwater from the extensive basin above the slot canyon into the narrow passageways. In fact, flooding is still a serious factor in this area – in Aug 1997, 12 hikers were swept away in an 11 ft wall of water that swept thru the canyon – only 1 survived; in Oct 2006 a flood occurred lasting 36 hrs and caused Tribal Park Authorities to close access to the canyon for 5 months. Since then, metal staircases have been installed to help people escape if they’re caught in a flood and a warning system has been set up. We certainly felt quite safe during our adventure into the canyons, but it is an excellent reminder that often times nature's most violent forces create the most beautiful scenery.  

While you can boat into the entrance of Antelope Canyon near its confluence with the Colorado River, to access the slot canyon region (I.e. Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon), you must hire a Navajo guide. A guide was not always required, however due to the number of visitors who were defacing the canyon and surrounding area, Navajo Nation closed this area off to the public, making it a Navajo Tribal Park in 1997. There are a number of tour companies out there who clearly provide very similar services, as we felt a bit like cattle being herded thru the canyons on each of the tours we took. It is understandable that with so many tourists in such a small space (some areas only have 3 ft between canyon walls!), and with the danger of flooding, precautions must be taken to ensure everyone’s safety. It was nice to have a limited number of people in the canyon at a given time as you could catch a few photos without people in them! However, to facilitate this the tours are timed and you are prodded along to keep with the schedule. 

Nevertheless, the canyons were magnificent and well worth the tour price!   

Lake Powell

While we are certainly not water sports enthusiasts, we could not pass up an opportunity to visit Lake Powell while we were in Page. Lake Powell is the second largest man-made reservoir in the US and is formed by the impounded waters of the Colorado River above the Glen Canyon Dam. With nearly 2,000 miles of shoreline and expansive areas of exposed and uplifted rocks of the Colorado Plateau, it is easy to see why this lake is a popular destination! We separated our tours of Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon by several hours so we could take a relaxed picnic at Lake Powell and enjoy the incredible scenery. Truly, this area could use several weeks to explore – the main body of water stretches up Glen Canyon, but also fills over 90 side canyons.  

In addition to the geology of the area (Glen Canyon has been carved by the Colorado River for an estimated 5 million years!), the Lake Powell area provides a glimpse into more than 10,000 years of human adaptation and exploration. The Ancestral Puebloans created a complex network of communities that stretched across the Colorado Plateau and evidence of their culture can still be found along the Colorado River. The Navajo people who now reside in parts of former Pueblo territory, refer to these ancient people as Anaasází, an exonym meaning "ancestors of our enemies", referring to their competition with the Pueblo peoples. The Navajo now use the term in the sense of referring to "ancient people" or "ancient ones". This place remains significant for many descendant communities, providing opportunities for people to connect with cultural values and associations that are both ancient and contemporary. 

Glen Canyon Dam

Lake Powell was created by the flooding of the deep sandstone gorges of Glen Canyon by the Glen Canyon Dam. The dam, constructed between 1956-1966, was built to help control floods and provide equitable distribution of water for the inhabitants of the Colorado River Basin. This is particularly important during times of drought as it ensures water delivery to the Lower Basin states (California, Nevada, and Arizona) without the need for rationing in the Upper Basin states (Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Utah).  Since most of these states are desert states to begin with, you can imagine how important water distribution is. The dam also provides hydroelectricity, averaging over 4 billion kilowatt hours per year – to put that in perspective, that amount of electricity could power the ENTIRE Disneyland resort for roughly 17 years...The dam is not without flaw; the flooding of Glen Canyon, the large evaporative losses from Lake Powell, and its impact on the ecology of the Grand Canyon, which lies downstream was questioned by some critics and became a catalyst to stop producing dams of this size in the US. As recent as Oct 2019, activists sued the Interior Department in a U.S. District Court in Arizona, asking a federal judge to invalidate the operating plan for this dam, with the hopes of making the dam inoperable.  

While it is hard to know what the future will hold for this dam and recreation area, it certainly added some beautiful views on our hike to Horseshoe Bend. It will be interesting to see what becomes of these legal battels and the impact they will have on water rights for the Colorado River Basin states. Colorado is our home state, and it seems as though water has been a constant struggle for as long as I can remember. 

Horseshoe Bend

The hike to Horseshoe Bend is an easy 1.5 mile hike that we used to walk off our lunch. Unlike most other hikes we take, the view at the end was absolutely breathtaking given the little mileage we put in to get there. Just a short hike off the highway takes you to a viewpoint of the Colorado River over 1,100 ft below. Like the Grand Canyon (which is only 9 miles downstream), Horseshoe Bend was carved over millennia by the Colorado River, and is an excellent example of what happens when water takes the path of least resistance: when the Colorado Plateau was abruptly uplifted approximately 5 million years ago, the Colorado River began cutting through layers rock. As so often is the case, an unstoppable force (the river) met an immoveable object (a sandstone escarpment), and naturally the water moved around the stone resulting in the 270 degree bend in the river we see today at Horseshoe Bend.  

 This day trip was a needed break from our busy travel schedule, and we are so thankful grandma was able to visit! It felt like we experienced a full week of activities in one action packed day – oddly enough a great way for us to “relax” a bit!