Seeking warmer temperatures to mitigate the cold front that was moving in from the coast, we took a detour back into Arizona where the city of Page was at a slightly lower altitude (4,000 feet) and forecasting 15-18 C weather with night time lows still comfortably above freezing. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. We have discovered several tourist-worthy places to visit here along with some inexpensive golf ($30 a round) on the lovely Lake Powell National golf course that we played twice. We also avoided the snow that fell a few days ago in places just over 100 km's north and south of us, while Page received some light rain overnight followed by an overcast, cool day. On that particular day we took a tour of the nearby Glen Canyon Dam (larger than the Hoover Dam and 3rd largest in the U.S.). The informative tour took us from top to bottom of the dam built in the early 1960's, explaining how the Colorado dam site was selected and built, and also about the water rights agreement that was developed to ensure adequate water flow would always be supplied to the downstream states and Mexico (annual volume commitments). Interestingly enough, up until 1996 (Oklahoma City bombings), visitors could do self-guided tours of the dam, even down to the interior turbine room at the base of the dam. The directional signs, imbedded into the tiled walls, still exist today.
On other days we visited the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area which featured the large dam created Lake Powell in a beautiful red rock, blue water setting. It is home to hundreds of houseboats in the summer and other water recreation activities draw huge crowds to the Page area. We also did a 1.5 km hike out to Horseshoe Bend where there was a spectacular view of the Colorado River from a cliff-top ridge looking 1,000 feet down into a canyon where the river made a sharp bend around another steep cliff on the other side. The highlight of our visit to Page however was a trip into Lower Antelope Canyon where we walked through an incredible slot canyon carved by wind and water. The canyon was very narrow, accessed by steep ladders, and the light filtering in from above created a palette of colours when it bounced off the smooth, round canyon walls below. The views were amazing and we took over 100 pictures while in the slot canyon for less than an hour. After several editing sessions that evening we narrowed it down to 40 pictures that we just had to keep.
With our time on this trip winding down we need to leave Page behind but we will have fond memories of our visit here. Tomorrow we will drive back into Utah where we plan to visit a few more National Parks to finish off our latest adventure.
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| Glen Canyon Dam - the top of the dam is 710 feet above the Colorado River. The highway bridge is in the foreground and the lovely Visitor Centre is at the top of the cliff on the left side. |
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| The 8 power generating units at the base of the dam. One of the 50 ton turbines was being replaced while we were there. |
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| Horseshoe Bend and the Colorado River 1,000 feet below. |
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| Lower Antelope Canyon with it's narrow, winding slot canyon. |
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| The filtered sunlight delivered some beautiful colours on the sandstone walls. |
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| Every time we turned a corner, another photo opportunity emerged. |
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| The rose |
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| The slot canyon exit (after climbing a steep flight of stairs). |
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