We arrived at the Grand Canyon at a pretty decent time. We stopped at a few scenic points and even saw a rattle snake at the visitor’s center. There were lots of people at the park, a lot more than in any other one we have been in. We decided to take the shuttle bus to the last scenic point and then do a spirited 5.5 mile hike back to Hopi point, which is where the best views of the sunset are. The hike was relatively simple (smooth, level ground) and we were able to cover this distance in two hours. We arrived at Hopi point, found a non crowded spot, and had some snacks and water while watching the sun set over the tremendous canyon.
After getting our fill of water activities on Lake Powell, we decided to spend another night at the same campsite. The next morning we took a tour to cave in Antelope Canyon. We got driven in a truck with humongous tires. Antelope Canyon is on Apache territory so the only way to see it is through this type of tour. Our guide took us into the canyon and provided some history and even took photos for us with our camera. It was a very beautiful and mesmerizing place indeed.
We initially planned to pick up our kayaks from one source, but when we drove past the business, we felt that it might not be such a great idea. It was a locked brick house with no signs. Next door was a lovely establishment with a great lady working there. She gave us 2 kayaks for two days for $40 (which is a GREAT price).
We got to lake Powell around 12. This is about the same time a thunderstorm came too. We sat on the side of the lake waiting for it to pass. When it passed, we set off with our hats, tent, sleeping bags, and life vests (and other stuff).
The first stop we made was at a cliff ranging from 20 to 25 feet, where we spotted a kid jumping off of them into the water. Without question we joined and had A LOT of fun jumping into the water. After we had our fill of heights and swimming we started to paddle into Antelope Canyon. We got about 3/4 of a mile into it when another thunderstorm started to come in from the distance. We saw it in time and decided to turn around to where we had more opportunity to get onto land. The storm did in fact reach us and both Aleksey and I decided to get out of the lake and take shelter on land.
We met up after the storm and paddled back to land, loaded the kayaks on the hood of the hyundai accent (denting it again and again), and drove to the return them at the rental place.
We ate REALLY well that night. We used an open fire to make steak, peppers, onions, corn and a baked apple.
Now we are about to get on a tour of Antelope Canyon (aka The Corkscrew)
