Al goes wandering in Page Arizona... Beehives, Gorgeous Slots and Chains...
Beehives Trail
These formations were basically sand dunes shaped by wind and rain and cemented together into stone.
Waterholes Canyon Guided Tour
I made my appointment for a weekday morning and to my surprise there were no other hikers that showed up for that time slot so I got a private tour!
Brian is a Navajo Indian and did an excellent job guiding me. This photo shows blisters and cracks in the sandstone. The "blisters" are calcium bubbles in the sandstone and the cracks are formed from freeze/thaw cycles when water seeps into the sandstone.
The color and light reflection in these slot canyons are nothing short of amazing! Brian said that he likes the morning hikes the best because of the lighting.
The Navajo family that own the Waterholes Canyon and the surrounding land do their own improvements for safety and compliance with the reservation OSHA rules. Brian said that several of the family members are welders and I met one of them building a sun shelter as we were exiting the canyon.
Brian told me that as part of their training to guide visitors they are taught how and where to take the best photos. I would say he was a good trainee, I was completely happy with the tour and the photos for memories!
The stairway exiting the canyon.
Just zooming in and taking photos from different angles makes the sandstone look different colors.
This spot was a bit of a squeeze, it's a good thing I skipped breakfast! LOL
This is what they do in the slot canyons for emergency exits. Apparently there are times when a monsoon will blow in very quickly and the guides have to get the hikers out of the canyons immediately.
It's hard to fathom that this stone was and is carved out from wind and water!
It always amazes me how plants can grow and stay alive on these rock faces.
These were some of the different types of stones found in the bottom of the slot, unfortunately no arrowheads though.
Hanging Gardens & The Chains
The Hanging Gardens was a short hike in the Glen Canyon Dam area. The highlight is ferns that seemingly grow out of the face of the rock. The reality is that water gets into the sandstone and weeps out the side of a cliff that is shaded making it a perfect spot for these ferns to grow.
For the most part the trail was slickrock but the parks service took the time to line the walking way with rocks to keep people from wandering off the trail.
You can actually see the water weeping from the stone.
The Chains
This is a shot of the Glen Canyon Bridge on the opposites side of Lake Powell from the Visitors Center.
It was pretty hot on this day and the water was very refreshing in Lake Powell.
Some of the trail wasn't marked very well and was hard to follow. This spot is where the trail turned and went down this wash.
I would go back to this spot to swim on a hot day!
1 comment:
Beautiful pictures!
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