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Thursday 5th November - awoke to brilliant sunshine again (that's 3 consecutive weeks of sunshine now !) and a bright and crisp morning. The temperature had dropped to 6 below freezing overnight, but I kept myself warm by wrestling the sheets from Rachael.
I started the morning with a hearty breakfast (involving 3 visits to the breakfast buffet bar) before driving to Rainbow point, the highest plateau in the Canyon.
From this start point we completed the Brinscone Loop walk - effectively this is a Forest Trail walk along the Canyon Rim, which is punctuated by amazing views of the hoodoos over the Canyon Rim in the clearings in the trees.
On completing our tour of the Brinscone Loop, (a Forest Trail, remember) we discover that there have been recent sightings of Black Bears in the area.This is information which we could have done with before embarking on the walk, however at least the notice provided some advice which could prove useful throughout our future expeditions.Basically, as I understand it I should not look directly at the bear (so I apologise that I will not have any decent photos), I should make some noise (believe me, I'll be wailing like a baby), and casually make a retreat.Should this fail, it is advised that I 'put up a fight' !Now I am sure that you will have noticed what a hardened traveller I have become over the course of the last week,however I still don't fancy my chances against a wild Black Bear !
At 12.30, it's time to hit the road again and to continue our travels to Lake Powell. The roads appeared to be extremely remote & desolate, we barely passed another vehicle, however we felt confident that we were in safe hands following the advice & directions provided by the lady in the TomTom.
It was only an hour into our journey that the "local knowledge" of TomTom was called into question, as we arrived at a somewhat unexpected junction............the road appeared to come to a complete end and ahead of us were warning signs that the "road" ahead consisted of a 46-mile dirt track and that the driving conditions were not suitable for any vehicle other than 4WD of speciaslist off-road vehicles. Undetered by this we decided that TomTom knew best & we continued along the 'short-cut' which she was recommending.........I mean, what's the worst that could happen !?(keep reading & you'll soon find out)
We proceeded along the track, which by now had deteriorated into a slight sand clearing amidst an arrid landscape at breakneck speeds (reaching an 'adrenaline busting 18 mph at times !) until we reached a fork in the road. Both options at the fork involved transversing a ford at the bottom of a steep descent with a steep climb on the other side, something which I decided our car was clearly not designed to do..............see I have learned from the "Saab & the puddle" incident !
We conducted a 19-point-turn (Rachael was at the wheel) and reversed our 5 mile crawl back along the dirt track & our 25 mile road journey to 'Ghostville'. The only sign of any life whatsoever was a solitary cow which had decided to position herself on the single track road, causing an obstruction to us. I guess she had seen the roadsign & mis-uderstood the intention of the sign (you'll have to wait until the photos are uploaded for this to make any sense !
WORK IN PROGRESS - I'VE BEEN BOOTED OUT OF THE INTERNET CAFE FOR HOGGING THE ONLY INTERNET LINKED PC IN MONUMENT VALLEY !
It's now 8:30am local time & I'm back online (wonder if Argyle are continuing their climb up the Championship) - I have taken the opportunity to keep you updated with our travels before embarking on a 3.5 hour guided tour of Monument Valley. Our plan is to complete a 3 mile hke (un-guided) this afternoon, I'll let you know if that materialises.
Back to yesterday........On arrival in Ghostville against all odds this settlement actually had a Tourist Information Centre - I'm sure that this building had mysteriously appeared since we 1st drove through ! The Tourist Information Clerk (who I believe doubles-up as the Sherrif, Mailman, Vicar & Lollipop Lady for the Town) told us under no circumstances to attempt to negotiate the Cottonwood Road & suggested a 140 mile detour to avoid this trecharous bit of track.
True to form TomTom failed to acknowledge the existence of Lake Powell (it is only the largest man-made Lake on the Planet), however we made it safely to our Resort at 5:15pm.
At this point I will have to take the Receptionist's word for the fantastic Lake views which are offered by our apartment, as we arrived after sundown. We are booked onto a 3 hour boat tour of Antelope Canyon & Navajo Canyon departing at 8am.
Update on the boat tour, journey to Monument Valley to follow, along with details of the wildlife which we have encountered during our travels (I can't believe that I am now doing requests to satisfy my audience of bloggers !). Best wishes to you all & have a nice day !
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