2. Grand Canyon - Death Valley

Fri 17 July contd.
Eventually the road started to turn away from the Grand Canyon and we made our way down.  The Grand Canyon is actually at over 2,000m in altitude and apart from the canyon itself is actually quite green with trees everywhere, as we continued on it got noticeably drier and drier and even more desert-like.  We stopped here and there at various places that looked interesting including a mini-gorge, some roadside stalls on a hill and Horseshoe Bend, an amazing part of the river that you can stand above.

Little Colorado River Gorge

As we were still way too early to check-in to our motel in Page, Arizona (it was still only 10.30am by now, having driven 350km from the Grand Canyon already!!), we grabbed some very early lunch at Taco Bell to try out some more of the staple American diet and then did some exploring around the town itself including Glen Canyon Dam and Antelope Point Marina.  

Antelope Point Marina

Then we felt like going to a beach even though the nearest Ocean was 700km away as the crow flies in Los Angeles.  We looked up a beach called Lone Rock beach on the shores of Lake Powell just across the State Border into Utah so we headed there.  There were many campervans and housetrucks all parked up here - Americans vacationing mostly.  These were all down on the softer sand so we parked at the end of the road and walked down to the water.  Now the water was lovely and warm and the sun nice and bright however there was a strong, gusty wind which blew the sand everywhere including all over us and into our eyes so we soon got sick of that and although we satisfied our swim/beach needs, we weren't happy sitting on a beach looking like sandpaper so we headed back to Page to our motel.

In the afternoon we had a booking at Antelope Canyon, this was another thing I'd seen amazing photos of and was looking forward to seeing.  About ten minutes out of Page we pulled into a large parking lot full of other trucks and cars and walked over to a shabby looking wooden building.  We queued up, got our tickets and then waited in the shade with our water bottles for about twenty minutes or so until our tour began.  These canyons are on American Indian land and run by American Indian families so our guide was one too.  He was very helpful, even telling everyone the best manual settings and cellphone camera settings to show the canyons at their best.  He took us through the hot, dry desert and then we started to descend an iron staircase into the canyon.  These are called slot canyons and are formed due to flash flooding through the sandstone.  What lay before us was some of the most mesmerizing rock formations and tranquil canyons we had ever seen!  Although we were part of a tour and other tours were ahead and behind us, there were many times we could just go around a corner and be by ourselves with countless photo opportunities!!

In the evening we just enjoyed swimming in the motel swimming pool (even though it was indoors!)

Thu 18 Jul

Today we had quite a long drive on our plates - from Page through to Death Valley including four different states - Arizona, Utah, Nevada and California.

A portion of this was through the Zion National Park, unfortunately we just didn't have time to stay any longer here, but there are numerous hikes through this region as well as some remarkable scenery.

As we were passing by the outskirts of Las Vegas again, Rosanna had some nice cafe she wanted to check out so we timed that with lunch and then continued on with any shrubbery and greenery disappearing by the minute until there was only rock and sand and the deep blue sky.  We stayed the night right on the California-Nevada border, near Death Valley in a ranch-type motel in a little village called... actually it's so small it doesn't have a name but the landscaping was very well done.

The cafe

view from the cafe - with turtles swimming in the lake!

Our nights accommodation