Adventures over Memorial Day Weekend

I went down to Page, AZ. Friday May 22nd to spend the long weekend with Dave.


Thursday night and Friday morning Page had a record rain storm. I arrived around 1530 in the afternoon. Mud and sand were all over the roads and you could see where there had been flooding. We made several plans for the weekend and we were hoping the weather would cooperate.


We wanted to hike a little around the Paria area. But you have to be careful of flash flooding. Thunderstorms were predicted every day that weekend.

Toadstool trail

We decided to take a short hike (3/4 mile) trail to the toadstools. This trail is located right off Hwy 89 before you get to the Paria turnoff about 5 or so miles. When we got there it had just rained. The sand was still sloggy and puddles of water were all over. It seemed hotter because of the humidity that the rain had caused.I was a little disappointed in how few toadstools there were. I guess I was expecting something more like Goblin Valley near Hanksville, UT.
But it was a fun short hike. I was amazed at how fast the trail dried out. Upper Antelope Slot Canyon
On Sunday we went to see the slot canyon just outside of Page.

There were A LOT of people. The canyons are owned by the Navajo Nation. There are tours that you have to take to the canyon. Each pickup has seats (benches) in the back and they hold about 14 people. There must have been about 6-8 trucks going at a time. You only get 1 hour in the canyon and there are people everywhere.

It was so much cooler in the canyon than I thought it would be. I was thinking that it would be hotter. But the sun doesn't get a chance to shine inside and warm the sandstone so it stays cooler. This formation on the right is called the corkscrew.
It is really difficult to get any pictures without people in them.

The picture below is really interesting because the couple in the photo were trying to get a picture with the sand showing the sunbeam shine in the canyon. He would toss some sand in the air while she took pictures.

I think it looks really cool.

The different colors that occur due to the way the light comes in is really neat.

This picture is the other end of the slot canyon.

You walk thru the slot canyon and then go back thru again to get to the pickups.

We did happen to get the best time to see the canyon. We got there about noon. When we were leaving the light had changed and was so much darker in the canyon. Thunder clouds started forming when we left

I think we are going to look for some other slot canyons in the area that are less popular and see what kind of pictures we can get.