North of the Grand Canyon (Days 10, 11, and 12)

“Mom, if a piece of paper could exist in a 2D world... how would you cut it? And if we could make a tool that uses the fourth dimension, then every 3D object would be paper thin in the fourth dimension.  This would make every object easy to break.  Imagine how that knowledge would affect battles in our world.”  (paraphrased)

Wow.  The parenting continues.

  Nathan woke up early and started driving North toward Page, Arizona.  It amazes us how few people there are in the northern parts of this state.  We saw on the map that we would pass 2 towns on our 2.5 hour drive to Page.  When we passed the first (Gap, AZ), it had less than 20 homes along with a small school.  The other town of Bitter Springs was the same story.

  Luke and Gabe were excited to be arriving in Page so early.  They had both been anticipating the pictures that we would be able to take in the most famous “slot canyon” in the western United States.

Antelope Canyon, AZ

Lower Antelope Canyon is on Navajo land so we enjoyed an hour tour of the quarter mile canyon with a Native guide and his flute.  We had to squeeze through a crack to enter the wider canyon region below the desert floor.  Fourteen visitors were killed there during a flash flood in 1997.  Most of the victims were French.  There was a memorial plaque at the entrance, along with a few preserved dinosaur footprints.

  Staying with the theme of small canyons and dangers from flash floods, we decided to head even further west.  The detour from our original itinerary would mean adding Utah to our state map and a few extra hours of driving on the way home.  Since we had no internet in the desert, I called my mom to find out whether she liked Bryce Canyon or Zion National Park better, both were equidistant from Page.  Hours later we pulled into our camping spot along the Virgin River at the gate to Zion.

One of the first things that stuck out to us, other than the incredible red walls of the narrow canyon, was that nearly all the rock formations had biblical names.  We supposed this was due to the Mormon settlers.  It made me wonder why the formations at the Grand Canyon were named after eastern gods and philosophers.

  Come morning we were ready for our big challenge.  It was our goal to tackle as much of “The Narrows” at Zion National Park as possible.  This 9 hour strenuous hike begins as a paved trail, but after 1.5 miles the trail ends at a wide stream that runs between canyon walls that are 1,000+ feet high on each side.  The number of people heading to the Narrows amazed me.  Each person was outfitted for the amount of the journey he or she intended to complete.  We only had three hours so we headed off with our water bottles and our water shoes.

The trail was incredible.  Within the first 100 yards you are forced into freezing flowing water over your waist.  I heard someone say that it was a great example of “survival of the fittest”, the number of hikers diminishing with each new challenge.  One hiker even stripped to his underwear and carried his shorts over his head.  

  The walls towered above us, becoming more impressive as we travelled. Luke even found a small snake sitting on a rock that stuck above the cold creek water.  We would love to have been able to finish the 9 hours, but the East Coast was calling to us.  

  At noon on Tuesday, we left Utah for a 22 hour drive to Arkansas, where I am sitting now beside a lake with a stunning sunset.  We drove straight through the night with the exception of a 3 hour stop at a picnic area.  Pretty tiring but it is worth it as it makes the rest of the trip lighter.  Nate and Gabe are out birding as Luke and I watch a fisherman’s boat pull in for the night.

  It is worth mentioning that between 30% and 50% of the people we have hiked beside, camped beside or pretended to be amazing photographers with have been international travelers.  I have found this particularly fun.  I love hearing the array of languages.  One asian man was great at the Grand Canyon.  It seemed that we passed each other many times.  Sometimes doing photos for one another, even though our communication was fairly limited.  At our last meeting he stopped me on the rim path to show me a photo on his camera.  It was a picture of Nathan and I dancing on a rock.  I hadn’t even seen him there.  Travel can be a unifying experience... I think I’d like to go to Asia.