Our last stop on the RV trip was in and around Page, AZ, about 2 1/2 hours north of the Grand Canyon. The scenery en route is dazzling, passing the north rim of the Grand Canyon and miles of colorful rocks.
We arrived at the Wahweap Campground, which sits right at the edge of Lake Powell, and got settled in our spot. While the contrast of bright blue water and orangey canyon walls is very pretty to look at, something about this area just felt "off" to me. There are huge empty parking lots, a houseboat repair yard, a marina with a smattering of boats in the water, and very few people around. Maybe those wide-open spaces are filled in the summer, but at this time it felt like the setting for the next season of Ozark or a Dateline missing person story. But there were clean bathrooms and a laundry room, so yay!
There are only a couple of things to see in this area, and they all happen to be embedded into cracks in the earth. I kept thinking about how the original Navajos or western settlers must have felt when they stumbled across these beautiful spots after traveling hundreds of miles across sandy terrain. Even knowing they were there, it felt surprising to see it up close.
We first stopped at Horseshoe Bend, a site that is defined by the shape that the Colorado River has carved around a steep sandstone rock thingy. Droves of tourists walk down a paved path towards the promise of this view, to be met with a small fenced rim and an open pathway to rocks that jut out over the river 1,000 feet below. It is stunning. Truly. I glanced at it for about 10 seconds and then backed up and held my breath as I watched people stand within inches of the unguarded edge to take photos. I couldn't watch but I couldn't look away. I'm surprised that someone doesn't fall off that cliff every hour. In reality, it's more like a few people a year (yes, I Google'd it). We got out of there pretty quickly.
From there, we headed over to Antelope Canyon, the main reason I chose this region to visit. Because it's on Navajo land, the only way you can visit the canyon is with a tour. We met at our designated time and then descended a couple hundred feet down steep metal staircases into the canyon. The way the light shines through the cracks and against the wind-eroded curves of the walls makes for some very incredible photography opportunities. Our guide showed the kid how to use color filters on the iPhone to add definition to the colors and lines and they loved capturing and editing the shots. An hour later, we climbed back out and hit the road.
One last stop at Big John's Texas BBQ, which is worth mentioning because it was so good.
If I had another day, I would have liked to see the area by boat. There are kayaks, rafting, and motorized boat tours of the lake and rivers which I think we would have loved. But we didn't. The end.
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