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So, this morning, after yet another night of interrupted sleep - this time, courtesy of our hillbilly neighbours in the next tent who were having sex very loudly - we woke up at sunrise and got ready to get to our 8:30am tour in time. The Antelope Canyon lies on Navajo territory and you are only allowed to access the area with a guide. The reasons are twofold: mainly because 11 people died a few years ago when a flash flop washed them away and also because people were marking the walls with graffiti, so now the only access is on a tour. Also, we were told, that according to Navajo traditions, it is taboo to enter this area as it is a sacred place but because we white folks love it so much, we can have special access (for a fee).
We met our guide, Vere (a tough, tells-it-like-it-is Navajo woman) in town and were transported to the canyon courtesy of an open-top dust-trap: a special four-wheel drive safari-type truck which is tough and strong enough to cope with the sand dunes, which form the main path to the mouth of the canyon entrance. Vere explained to the group that this is a sacred place for the Navajo and, in the old times, would have been completely taboo to go inside - not even if your favourite animal wandered in were you allowed to go in!
This may have had something to do with the fact that dangerous waters work their way through the canyon at 60miles an hour and do much to carve through the sandstone rock. Even if it is bright and sunny at the Antelope Canyon, rainfall from as far away as 40miles, could be building up and storming through the narrow tunnels down to the canyon. It is a unique place where you can really get up close and personal with a marvel of nature. The element of danger just adds another level of fascination as you can see some huge logs wedged high up in the canyon walls nooks and crannies and can only picture the terrifying desert tsunami pushing through the narrow folds of rock.
Vere played us a beautiful tune on her flute called "May you walk through beauty in sacred lands". Her flute-playing skills have been handed down through several generations via the matrilineal line. The melody was hauntingly beautiful but marred, somewhat, by the dozens of tour groups clamouring through the narrow canyon walls. Not quite the spiritual and mystical exploration when you're being pushed and shoved amongst a cacophony of sound and languages. I would have preferred to be able to wander around in some silence to really appreciate and savour the surroundings. But anyways, it is what it is! Vere said that this season was particularly busy - the busiest she has ever seen it - with several tour companies vying for the attention of the tourist dollar as it has, quite rightly, become tremendously popular and also, possibly, a victim of its own success?
Afterwards, we headed to the Horseshoe Bend and marvelled at yet another amazing creation of nature. From the cliffs, an astonishing 1000 foot sheer drop above the Colorado River, we were able to see the canyon below in the shape of, you guessed it, a horseshoe! The boats below were mere specks in the distance and I had a severe case of vertigo! The deep, oil-slick of the river snaking its way around the ochre canyon was mesmerising and the sheer scale of it made me speechless. There are so many beautiful things to see in the desert but water, in this parched environment, inspires reverence most of all.
From there we began our steady ascent towards the Grand Canyon North Rim, passing over the Navajo Bridge and watching the Colorado River (again!) carving its way through the desert rock. We also passed an area called the Cliff Dwellings, where I stopped to take photos of an abandoned adobe house built, literally, around a rock! It was eery yet impressive to behold. The drive continued on to Jacob Lake where we stopped for a picnic - Wendy made a tea whilst I drove to the Jacob Lake Inn to buy some of their legendary cookies which, indeed, they were out of this world! I bought a chocolate raspberry cookie and a cookie-in-a-cloud which had soft dark chocolate and oozy marshmallow - mmmmm!
We then drove through beautiful green meadows filled with wild summer flowers and bordered by fresh pine trees towards the entrance of the Grand Canyon National Park. The landscape leading to the gates was very Alpine-looking and totally unexpected but candy to the eyes after almost a week of driving through barren desert. When we arrived at the gates, we found that the campsites were all full, with people booking them up to 6 months in advance, so we had to drive 8 miles back to the Kaibab National Forest campground which was primitive (long drop toilets with no shower facilities) but clean and super tranquil.
The supply store across the road had plenty of things in stock, so we bought some essentials and took them back to our site. We erected a tarp over the tent (just in case we had any unexpected thunder showers), heated up some readymade carton soup (which was surprisingly good!) and sat by the fire warming up our feet and hands as the temperature dropped in the evening. The entertainment for the night was watching the stars were sparkle and shoot all around us, as there was no light pollution, but we must have been near the Las Vegas flight path because we could see planes flying every minute or so in the distance. Very relaxing after a long day of driving in the scorching desert sun.
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