July 6 – Page Arizona

July 6, 2016 – Lake Powell and Antelope Slot Canyon
After breakfast we headed over to the Glen Canyon Dam where we watched a movie about the building of the dam. Next we went to the marina and took a boat ride around Lake Powell. The best part was going into Antelope Canyon. The walls of the canyon are bleached white up to the high water level. Above that the walls are red from oxidized iron. The lake is only at 57% full so the white portion was very evident. Much of the shaping of the rock wall is from wind and very imressive. After the boat trip, we had lunch at the marina overlooking the lake.
We had a few hours break and then many of us took an optional tour to the Antelope Slot Canyon. The Antelope Slot Canyon is frequently shown in photographs and screen savers. A slot canyon is a narrow canyon with minimal light coming in from the top. The hike in and out was less than a mile. The canyon was wider at the entrance very tight towards the back and much tighter at the back end. Our guide Cindy is a Navajo guide. The canyon is on the Navajo Reservation.
We rode in the back of a 4x4s truck with 2 long seats holding 7 people on each side. We started out on the highway and the last 3 miles were on red sand and quite bumpy. When we got to the opening to the slot canyon Cindy showed each of us how to set up our cameras to get the best pictures. As we walked through the canyon, she would tell us where to get the best shots. It was an excursion that I highly recommend.
Back at the hotel, after dinner, a Navajo man talked to us about growing up in a time when speaking his native language was something he was punished for in school. After he spoke another Navajo man did the hoop dance for us. It was amazing and beautiful.
Tomorrow we drive to Durango. It will be a long day with a drive through Monument Valley.
The pictures of the Antelope Slot Canyon are in a separate blog.