Antelope Canyon X

 We drove South into Arizona to see Antelope Canyon. Antelope Canyon is a series of slot canyons on the Navajo Reservation and requires special permission and payment for access. Cindy picked Antelope Canyon X from among the different options. The name comes from Antelope using the slots as a migration route. At one time the Navajo would block antelope in the canyon and kill them for food. When Lake Powell was filled this blocked the immigration path and the antelope found a different route. The following are images from our time in the canyon.

Our guide provided the following demonstrations (I had to compress so Blogger would accept). Videos are better if you expand to full size. 

Crocodile fossil

Here is the reason it is called Antelope Canyon X. 

Lesson learned

We did not understand when booking access to an Antelope Canyon visit that there were multiple slot canyons. Because one says that the canyon is accessible by the elderly and those with mobility problems a different slot is not necessarily the same. We just thought we were visiting Antelope Canyon. Antelope Canyon X is accessed by a trail that descends abruptly for a length of about two football fields. Some of this trail is deep sand and the rest steps and sand side by side. The climb back up to the vehicles was quite challenging and we had to stop several times to catch our breath and get our hearts to slow down. We were last in returning by a significant amount of time. Tough being the old folks. 

Snow Canyon State Park

Our strategy in Utah has been to avoid the popular National Parks and to visit far less populated State Parks. Today it was Snow Canyon State Park. The smoke of yesterday has cleared and it was a bright and warm day. We did walk a bit and we seem to have become more tolerant of the altitude. There are land tortoises in this park. We did not see one but assume the probability is about the same as a moose or bear. Interesting signs to read anyway.

Smoke in the Valleys

 We have headed toward southern Utah for a few days to explore some new territory and we will then head back to Salt Lake City to see Todd, Jess, and kids this weekend. We have set up camp at Gunlock State Park. The park is new and very nice. Plenty of open sites.

It has been very smokey because of nearby fires all the way down from Salt Lake City. NOAA Weather is warning that the air is very dangerous and we have decided to mostly stay in our camper or the car. The Ranger at the gate told Cindy that the smoke is coming from surrounding states, but the Utah fire map indicated there is a fire just North of our present location.

Multi-tasking

 I am having a unique but what may seem a trivial experience to many today. Recognizing such events may be the key to a good life. This insight relates to those situations when I sneak a look at my phone to check on something. For example, I am at a meeting and check to see how my favorite team is doing at that moment. Tonight we are in Utah and attending a volleyball match to watch our granddaughter Olive play. She plays in the back row so there are times when she is not on the court. I have been checking Twitter (X) to catch comments on the Trump-Harris debate. Tech and multitasking. 

Rocky Mountain Elk

 We have seen a lot of spectacular scenery, but we haven't seen much wildlife. Cindy saw some deer while walking to the bathroom and I saw an elk making the same trip this morning. Strangely, we have observed more wildlife walking the hundred yards or so in the campground than the time spent in the park.

Our luck changed today. When our reservation let us into the park, we decided to drive a 40-or-so-mile route. About halfway through, we came across several cars parked along the road and they were watching a herd of elk. We saw the elk, but there was no place to park so we drove a 1/4 mile or so further down the road, found a place to park, and then walked back. The group of elk had begun to move, but we found a pair that had moved ahead of the others and within a reasonable distance of the road for my camera.

The hike back to the car proved to be challenging. It was uphill and there was little room on the side of the road. It took a while to begin to breathe normally again. We are still not used to the altitude. 

The day provided one more surprise. The end of our route turned out to be a different entrance on the other side of the park. We exited and then began to look for a route back to our campground. It turned out the primary route back was to retrace our original route. This was a challenging drive because of the windy route through the high mountains. The alternative was two hours longer driving back towards Denver to get around the perimeter of the park. We had also exited the park and now had to deal with the timed entry reservation process again. Yesterday we waited more than half an hour in line to get to the gate. After some discussion, we decided to take the long way home with a couple of stops along the way, 

Old River Road - Rocky Mountain National Park

 We did not have immediate access to the Rocky Mountain National Park today (I explain at the end of this post) so we had time to consider what we would do when we were in the park. When we paid for our camping site, the salesperson recommended to Cindy that we drive the Old Fall River Road because the views were spectacular and we were likely to see wildlife. The gravel section of the Road is about 9 miles in length is gravel and one way only. It takes about an hour. The road was built between 1913 and 1920. 

I think I remember driving Pikes Peak road when at least part of it was gravel and gravel is not an issue for me having grown up in Iowa. Old Fall River Road is one way and the speed limit is low (the documentation I provide says 15, but I think you can go a little faster in sections). I did not find it scary, but I was driving and not looking over the edge. Cindy had a different perspective. The switchbacks were something and about at the turning radius the car could handle. All in all, it was an interesting experience. I did take on video and that will give a sense of what it was like. At the top, you switch to the Ridge Road which actually ascends to over 12,000 feet before heading down again. The Ridge Road is blacktop with two-way traffic and a top speed of 35.

At the summit, the air contains less oxygen and it was easy to tell even without any exertion. I can see why athletes train at altitude. We had a cup of coffee and left without spending a lot of time. We did not see any wildlife and except when at the summit, I kept my eyes on the road.

Timed entry reservations

National Parks are experiencing tremendous visitor pressure and not just for access to the campgrounds. The parks themselves receive too many visitors. Rocky Mountain National Park uses a process called Timed Entry Permits. You need to have a QR code just to be admitted to the park. Earlier in the year you could acquire a permit ahead of time, but now you must complete an online application beginning at 6 the night before you want access to the park. Before 9 and after 2 you can simply wait in line at the gate, but when we left today this line was miles long (it was a Saturday). Our permit allowed us to show our code beginning at noon and we still had to wait in line about 30 minutes to get to the gate and show our code to gain access. This is the new reality for visiting the National Parks. 

Iowa Hotspots

 

Finding something to write about while spending your days in a car requires some creativity. Here is an observation related to our time driving through Iowa. Perhaps it is only of interest to old tech people. I can remember a time when we traveled by car and had to find ways to connect our devices to the Internet. How else to check email and post a photo or two? McDonalds was always an option. I remember driving through Iowa and seeing rest area signs announcing that this rest station offered wifi. Either Iowa has not changed its signs in the last 25 or so years or Internet access is still a selling point. I am writing this on the Interstate using our car as a hot spot. Times do change. 

Ledges State Park (Iowa)

We are on a trip eventually to explore parks in Utah. We are pulling ourrPod so it will take several days to get there and we intend to take our time and explore along the way. We stayed in Ledges State Park (Iowa) our first night. 

This post follows in a personal way from our last trip post when we were participating in a reunion at Ames, Iowa, and Iowa State University. Cindy and I attended ISU and visited The Ledges several times as part of gatherings related in one way or another to our time at Iowa State. That was more than 50 years ago. This was our first time staying in the campgrounds and we remembered little from our original visits. 

The Ledges is 100 years old this year and its names for the rock formations cut through limestone by a creek. The creek frequently floods and I remember reading about flooding earlier this year.