HORSE SHOE BEND
Ah, Horseshoe bend! Looks exactly as the name suggests, except it’s not a narrow band of iron in the form of an extended circular arc and secured to the hoof of a horse with nails (if you think I made that definition up, you’re giving me way too much credit). It’s basically a horseshoe-shaped incised meander of the Colorado River located near the town of Page, Arizona. There were a lot of words thrown into that description of it, so if you’re still confused, you have two options, google the definitions, or just visualize the photos we have of Horseshoe bend; oh, and option number 3 is to just travel to it as you will not be disappointed.
Horseshoe Bend is located 5 miles (8.0 km) downstream from the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell within Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, about 4 miles (6.4 km) southwest of Page, and 2.5 miles (4.0 km) from where we stayed comfortably at the Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, which offers daily American breakfast freely with your stay, and boasts a 9.1 rating on Booking.com!
We chose to view the Bend at sunrise, which meant an early 4:30 am Jenna, I mean alarm. We left our room at 4:50 am, as sunrise was around 5:15 am, with nothing more than our phones, a DSLR camera, and some water. We were a little unprepared for the chilly morning, but relieved for once not to be carrying half of Best Buy’s inventory. We figured there wouldn’t be too many people at 5 am on a Monday morning but we were clearly wrong! To our surprise there were several cars parked all anticipating the same view we woke up so early for.
The entrance to the Bend is easy to locate as there will be a sign on the highway signaling the location of the parking lot. Once parked, the viewpoint is accessible via an approximate 15 minute (or more, depending on what you did the night before) walk along a sandy path which leads to straight to the Bends lookout point. Oh, and for those of you wondering, its completely free!
The overlook is 4,200 feet (1,300 m) above sea level, and the Colorado River is at 3,200 feet (980 m) above sea level, making it a 1,000-foot (300 m) drop, so please do yourselves a favor and try not to be a hero. There are no railings along the rim to lean on, and the last thing you need is a kick-ass picture that costs your life, as it has happened in the past. If memory serves correct, they were in the process of adding a railing/fence while we were in Arizona, so by the time you go, my latter comments will serve no purpose, but regardless, it’s a beautiful destination, but its not worth your life!
We cannot put into words the feeling we experienced when we reached the famous Horseshoe bend that we had spent a month looking at from other social media accounts. When you first walk up to the rim you cannot believe how incredibly massive the bend is and it takes a couple of minutes for you to process what is in front of you. Our timing was perfect with the sun and we could not have asked for more. In complete awe, we watched the different shades of color dance across the horseshoe-shaped meander as the sun rose behind us. We stayed for a little over an hour snapping pictures in various locations and just enjoying the beauty of it all. The illegality of drones was a disappointment to us because we wanted to catch that bird’s-eye view but we were definitely not risking it!
If you’re looking to get a little more out of your day in Page, we suggest you follow-up with a visit to Antelope Canyon after exploring the bend. Antelope Canyon includes two separate slot canyons individually referred to as “Upper Antelope Canyon” and “Lower Antelope Canyon”.
LOWER ANTELOPE CANYON
When we started researching Antelope Canyon, we discovered it was separated into two slot canyons referred to as “Upper Antelope Canyon” and “Lower Antelope Canyon”, however, we were disappointed to find out that you cannot visit on your own and you need to be part of a guided tour. We both aren’t fans of guided tours, but we fully support the reasons as to why you cannot venture out on your own in these slot canyons. It can be very dangerous being in the canyons during and/or after quick and heavy rainfall as there are flash floods that can occur inside the canyon. The tour monitors it closely and will cancel tours up to an hour before if it isn’t confident the weather will hold up. Part of having these mandatory tours is for safety and now we understand why. Besides safety, vandalism was another concern and problem for the Navajo County residents who live and run the tours and we think it is unfortunate that so many people are careless and disregard the wealth of our planet. Leave only footprints!
Both slot canyons are equally stunning according to the many photographs readily available online, however, we chose to do Lower Antelope canyon that day. We booked our tour with the highly regarded Dixie Ellis’ Lower Antelope Canyon tour and had an amazing tour guide named Donovan. This dude is highly recommended if you get the chance to be a part of his group. He takes the time to stop and show you all the cool shots you can take inside the canyon. he even goes to the extent of taking the phone straight from your hand and doing it for you if you can’t calibrate “the shot” properly! Now that’s service if I’ve ever got it. Do note that when booking these tours, book several weeks in advance as time slots get booked relatively quickly and way in advance from our experience. We were only able to secure an 11:45 am time slot having booked just under a month before our actual trip there. Also, the best time to be inside the slot canyon, according to the majority of people who have visited it, is between 9 and 11 am because of the way the light from the sun hits the canyon walls. The tour places you in groups of about 10-15 people depending on the volume that day. Once you leave the trailhead at reception, it’s about a 10-15 minute walk through the fine dirt to the entrance of the slot canyon. On busy days, you’ll end up waiting a good 30 minutes before entering the canyon as there can hundreds of people lined up to go in, as was the case when we went. So make sure to apply sunscreen and bring a hat because there are periods where you’re directly in the sun with no shade to hide under.
Entering the canyon, you’ll go down very steep stairs in order to descend to the base of the canyon. The tours do not permit the visitors to take pictures as we go down because it can be very dangerous as there have been instances where people have dropped their cameras. Also, with the stairs being so steep, you can’t afford to lose concentration on your footing as a drop from these steps won’t end well for anybody. Once you enter the canyon, you instantly realize that viewing hundreds of pictures online of these canyons is nothing compared to seeing it in person. The canyon walls, colors and formations are absolutely stunning and is truly a natural work of art.
When you finally descend into the canyon expect to be in a large crowd of people who just descended as well. The area will soon start to clear up as the passages are very narrow and you’ll end up walking in single file with your group. Once your group takes off into the canyon you’ll have a little more breathing room and you’ll be able to pull your phone out and snap away at the marvelous rock formations. A little tip to be able to maximize the photos you’ll be able to take is to try to stay at the back of your tour guide, so while they’re advancing, you can trail off a little bit and snap some shots we’ll later see on Instagram.
Walking throughout the canyon, you’ll marvel in the natural beauty this place has to offer. If you’re lucky enough, you’ll land Donovan as your tour guide, and you’ll absolutely love him!