Today I woke up to a cloudy sky – a bummer for Antelope Canyon. My tour wasn’t until 11:30 though so I hoped that the weather would clear up. Instead the opposite thing happened, and I was subjected to a pretty substantial wind storm. No rain, just endless wind. Gusts must have been 45mph or so. It was during this wind storm that my laptop was blown off of the picnic table, which is what has caused my blog posts to fall so behind (that, and a general lack of time).
I packed up my stuff for Antelope Canyon as the wind continued to blow. And then I suffered a pretty epic sandblasting in the open back of a pickup truck as we drove out to the canyon through a dirt wash. Fortunately for me, the canyon – a very narrow slot canyon famed for its incredible wind- and water-carved sandstone features – provided quite a bit of shelter from the blasting winds. Unfortunately for me, I wanted to look up but every time I looked up sand rained down from the sky into my eyes. Never have I had so much sand in my eyes. But the views were incredible and our guide Patrick knew all the right places to take really cool pictures, so I braved potential blindness quite willingly.
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| A tree branch from 10 miles away trapped here during a flash flood |
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| Sand everywhere! |
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| Looking straight up through the canyon - this picture was very dangerous to take and no doubt resulted in an extra half teaspoon of sand in my eyes |
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| Again with the whole "I should write a book on being this cool" thing |
The tour was really awesome but I was glad to get back into the pickup truck (I had managed to get shotgun for the ride back to avoid further sandblasting) to get out of the wind. There was sand EVERYWHERE – in my hair, in my eyes, in my nose, in my ears, in my clothes, in my camera, in my pack, you name it it was there. I was pretty okay with that though. It was mostly the constant wind that I couldn’t stand. When I got back to my campsite, I found that the wind had somehow blown my rainfly around and underneath my tent (while all 4 corners were still attached), which of course allowed a few gallons of sand to take up residency in my sleeping bag. Remember the part where I was happy about the sandbox-like campsites? Not so happy at that point in time.
Eventually the storm died down and the sun came out and I headed to Horseshoe Bend. Of course I had to park Jane in the parking lot, and so of course I took a picture of some people taking pictures of Jane.
Then I hiked up to the bend and WOW, this place is amazing! I had been to Antelope Canyon before so I had some idea of what to expect, but I had missed Horseshoe Bend and never knew how cool it was. When it comes down to it it’s just a giant bend in the river, but it’s a really cool giant bend in the river.
I spent an hour or so there just wandering around taking pictures but eventually that lost its novelty so I headed back to camp. When I got back my camp neighbor had discovered a few gallons of sand in HIS sleeping bag, and we mutually decided that sand was a stupid substrate. I opted to put off cleaning out my tent for a few hours and instead drank another chocolate milk and read some more of my book. For those who might be interested, I’ve been re-reading the Song of Ice and Fire series upon which the HBO series Game of Thrones is based.
Anyways, that was my day. Sand, sand, and more sand. But some really nice views so it was all worth it. Tomorrow I’m going to head on towards Springdale, UT, which is right outside Zion National Park! Zion is my number one most desired park to visit so I’m very excited. Kelly signing out!
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