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We booked ourselves onto a boat trip of Antelope Canyon and Navajo Canyon departing at 9am.Our Craft was an extremely well equipped Cruiser, with a crew of 3, which was somewhat excessive given that there were a total of 9 passengers on the cruise (at least there will be enough life jackets to go around).The boat initially cruised past the Resort facilities and HouseBoats to the Glen Canyon Dam and then turned to glide through the creeks (formerly Canyons) to provide amazing views from a different perspective from the previous days.
It is amazing to think that within our lifetimes (you can't kid me about your real age !) the bed of the Lake on which we are cruising was a landscape similar to Angel's Landing !Incredible to know what lies beneath us - wow, wasn't that a deep & contemplative moment I took you to !?
To give you a brief history, the Dam was constructed circa 1973, it took 3 years of continually pouring concrete to complete the structure & a further 17 years for the Lake to fill,The Dam provides power & water to over 24 million people within the US (pay attention, there will be questions later !).
Whilst Lake Powell is an extremely popular tourist location in the Summer, offering Jet-Skiing, Water Skiing, Houseboat Rental and swimming, we did not witness a single other vessel throughout the duration of our trip.We were treated to glorious sunshine throughout the duration of our cruise & we managed to spot a Red-Tailed Hawk sat atop one of the Canyon peaks.Unfortunately we didn't manage to capture this on camera - however I have updated my webalbum to include some of the Wildlife & Critters we have encountered on our travels to date.Remember to keep checking for updates also on :-
www.picasaweb.google.co.uk/tonytobin33
At the conclusion of our boat trip, we loaded our next location into TomTom, crossed our fingers & headed off to Monument Valley (or wherever TomTom decided our next destination should be !).We did take the precaution of obtaining a second opinion from the iPhone, a third opinion from the maps we now carried & a fourth opinion from the Security Guard at Lake Powell Resort.
Once again our accomodation is superb - it has far exceeded any expectations we had.We were "quietly confident" about this location as some fellow hikers who we crossed paths with at Bryce Canyon had raved about the facilities at Gouldings in Monument Valley.
Our accomodation is located at the foot of an incredible mountain (monument) which is extremely dominant in the skyline.There is also a great tradition and history attached to Gouldings, this was initially establised as a Trading Post, and the original owners are creditted with being influential in the prosperity of the entire area.The 'Gouldings' forged extremely close relationships with the neighbouring Navajos and established the area as a recognised tourist location.
This included the introduction of Hollywood to Monument Valley and much of the scenery is familiar from many Movies & Commercials - numerous Westerns have been shot at Gouldings, in addition to Forrest Gump, Back to the Future III and National Lampoons Vacation.John Wayne, Henry Fonda & Clint Eastwood were all former regular guests at the Lodge.
In addition to all the usual facilities you would expect (including a gym & swimming pool) there is a Museum (including many Hollywood artifacts), gift shop (of course), general store & a Stage Coach Restuarant.To add to the authenticiy, the majority of the staff are Navajos.I was so inspired with the surroundings & Wild West atmosphere that I was tempted to sample the traditional fare - my evening meal consisted of Pork Green Chilli Stew accompanied by a Navajo Fry Bread, I felt like a real cowboy (Rachael had the pasta !).
We had booked ourselves on a guided tour of Monument Valley, this was organised out of Gouldings & our tour guide, Preston, was of genuine Navajo descent.The tour commenced with a tour of 'Bessie's Pad' a traditional built Hogan, in which she provided a demonstration of cleaning & spinning wool beforeweaving a rug.Whilst Bessie was clearly an experienced & competent weaver, it was clear that she was some time off finishing this creation, so we made our excuses & the tour headed into the Navajo Reservation, Monument Valley.
The skyline & scenery are surprisingly familiar - as they have featured in many movies.It was still spectacular & our tour was 'interrupted' by stops at a couple of Trading Posts, at which some of the permanent residents of the reservation were selling their wares, typically consisting of jewellery, rugs & ceramics.The option of posing on a horse was offered at one of the stops & of course, I couldn't resist that.
As our tour was conducted by a Native Navajo, we were permitted access to some remote & private areas of the reservation, including passing the homes (Hogans) of some of the dwellers.The ride covered some pretty 'extreme' driving conditions (& I speak from experience - I have driven 5 miles of the Cottonwood Road).When we took a final stop at Big Hogan - a massive rock 'bowl' with a hole in it's ceiling, Preston reminisced over the days of his youth and "treated us" to a rendition of a couple of Navajo songs.
Following completion of the tour, we made a final visit to the Navajo Visitos Centre for a bite of lunch in their restuarant - with the most amazing background behind us (again !!)
We then hit the road again for our long journey to the final destination on our hiking leg of our adventures, The Grand Canyon.We arrived at The Grand Canyon at approximately 5:15pm, just as the sun was setting.Our anticipation of what lay ahead was too great & we couldn't wait until the following morning for our first glimpse of the Canyon, so we parked up & took a short stroll to the Canyon Rim.Boy was it worth it !!The sun was now setting, the sky had turned a pink / orange colour & the light was casting a miriad of different colours across the Canyon - that was quite a welcome to the Grand Canyon.
Upon returning to the automobile (I've even picked up an American accent now !) we discovered that we had a further 25 miles to drive to reach our accomodation.We finally made it to our accomodation & dropped off our bags at about 8pm.
At this stage I, once again, ordered Rachael to take a bath (you would understand if YOU had spent the last 5 hours in an automobile with her !), I think that she had 3 tons of genuine Monument Valley Sand in her hair. Meanwhile I checked out the facilities in the Lodge & uploaded some photos (I am SO committed to providing regular updates - I hope you appreciate it !).After checking out the availability of organised tours, it seems unlikely that we will be undertaking any (many have ceased for the season), however there is certainly plenty of Canyons, Trails & Hikes to keep us occupied for a couple of days.
We have been really fortunate throughout the duration of our travels to date, none of the areas we have visited have been heavily populated & we have felt comfortable exploring the locations at our pace, practically un-interrupted.The fellow 'travellers' who we have crossed paths with have been extremely friendly & keen to share tales of their travels & exploits with us (except, of course that German family who barged past us on the Kaibab Trail, but perhaps they had heard tales of Rachael's treatment of a fellow compatriot in the Blizzard Beach parking lot a week previously ?!).
That's me done for now, I have an early morning to head back to Vegas tomorrow.I will update you on my adventures in the Grand Canyon when I next get access to the Netbook.
Bye for now,
Tony & Rachael
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