Trip Report-GrandCanyon, Monument Vly, Mesa Verde, Page(Antelope Cyn), Zion
Sep 2nd, 2009, 01:05 PM
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Trip Report-GrandCanyon, Monument Vly, Mesa Verde, Page(Antelope Cyn), Zion
We did a 9 day trip doing GC-South Rim, Monument Valley, Mesa Verde, Page, Zion. Arrived at LV from Chicago around 10:30am, stopped at Walmart for supplies, and then set off for GC-South Rim. What I definitely was NOT counting on was the traffic getting across Hoover Dam! Was bumper to bumper for about 45 mins to an hour. But oh well, we had plenty of time.
Arrived at El Tovar for a 2 night stay. Wonderful hotel. The effect of being literally steps from the side door of the hotel to the rim of the Canyon was really something else. It’s right in the middle of things which is nice. If you don’t want to eat in the dining room which we did one dinner and breakfast(the hot chocolate is unreal good), then it’s just a short walk to Bright Angel Lodge restaurant, coffee shop, ice cream shop, Thunderbird etc. Nice to have Wi-fi in the lobby also. The next morning we woke up to see about 5 Elk on the lawn right below our balcony. Since we were taking the mules down on Bright Angel trail the next day, we decided we’d hike part of the South Kaibab. We drove our car to Mather Point which was already filling up with cars at about 9:00. Looks like they’re building a large parking lot there which they definitely need badly (yea for stimulus money!) because by mid afternoon, cars are parking along the road as far as you can see practically. From Mather Point parking lot it’s just a short walk down a path to the Canyon View Visitor Center and the only way to access South Kaibab is taking a 10 min shuttle from here. We went down the trail and got to Ooo-Ah point. The canyon views are really something else as you go down the trail that hugs the canyon wall. Then at Ooh-Ah the trail opens up to the east so you can now see the east views of the canyon. Getting down to here was about a mile and this was enough for us. The next leg down to Cedar Ridge was another mile, all exposed to the sun, so we took a pass and slugged our way back to the top. After lunch at MarketPlace, we headed over and caught the Hermits Rest shuttle and spent most of the afternoon hitting a few stops along there. This is worth doing because it ‘s the only place along the South Rim you can see the Colorado River without hiking down. The kids (12, 13) love doing the junior Ranger stuff, so they did all that and got their badges from the Ranger at Verkamps Visitor Ctr.
The next day, up bright and early to meet our group for our mule ride down to Phantom Ranch where we were staying that night. Nobody over 200 lbs allowed! Set off down Bright Angel Trail. Now that first 2.5 miles or so, there are more than just a few nervous moments as your mule goes down a narrow trail with up to 500 foot dropoff down the side (and you are elevated already sitting on top of a mule). But I just kept my eyes from looking down and concentrated on the grandeur of the canyon. We stopped at Indian Garden at about 10:00, water break, rest, ate some food, and then set off for Phantom Ranch ( few more steep switchbacks at Devil Corkscrew). All the way down, we are seeing hikers coming up, and boy are you glad you’re not walking like they are! Got down to the bottom, crossed over the river and got to Phantom Ranch at around noon. It was about 78-80 degrees up on the rim but it was easily 100 plus down here at the bottom. So we dismounted, threw our stuff in our cabin for the night, and then promptly went and waded in Bright Angel creek for a while which felt terrific. All the campers and other hikers were all in there too. We also went to the little canteen at Phantom Ranch and drank lemonade, had a snack. Dinner was a terrific steak dinner with all the trimmings, served family style. Got to meet many other folks who had hiked down and were staying there also. There is a ranger station down there and we attended 2 terrific ranger talks with ‘Ranger Pat’. After dark, we went out to see the stars which were unbelievably bright, like you’ve never seen before if you live in the city. The next morning, after a hearty breakfast, we rode back up and got back to the top at around 1:00. After 2 days of mules, boy was I sore!! Not used to using those muscles definitely not! We ate a quick lunch and set out for the east entrance/exit, stopped briefly at Desert View, and then off to Monument Valley.
Got to Gouldings around 6pm. They were overbooked as always and so they asked if we’d stay in one of their 3br houses which took me all of 5 seconds to say yes. Besides a kitchen and fridge, it also had a washer/dryer which we used to do couple loads of laundry from the our mule ride. Next morning , I had booked a Mystery Valley tour with Sacred Monument Tours. This was a 4 hr tour that takes you south of the monuments themselves. But our guide David, who was excellent, showed us some ancient cliff dwellings, petroglyphs, and some other places not open to public unless guided. We thought it was pretty interesting and worth doing although a little bit long. Anyhow, we took a few pictures from the Visitor Center overlook, and then decided to set off for Mesa Verde.
Arrived in MV at about 3:30, went straight to the Visitor Center to get some tour tickets. We were too late to do Long House, so we did Balcony House @ 4:30 and then Cliff Palace @ 6:00(last one). I was a little concerned that if Balcony House didn’t end by 5:30 or if we had a slow group, then we’d miss Cliff Palace. But then when I told our Ranger at Balcony, he said he was also doing the 6pm Cliff Palace tour, so we were good! These cliff dwellings are something else to see folks! To think that they were built so long ago and now preserved so well, the native puebloians actually lived here, simply amazing to ponder. Balcony House was a blast, probably our favorite. The kids loved climbing up that 32 foot latter, a little scary definitely. And then the only way to exit is by crawling thru this hole on all fours. What I hadn’t heard much about before was the ladder climb and scramble up rock and chains at the final exit! Cliff Palace was phenomenal too just for it’s sheer immensity, like a miniature city almost. This tour was much bigger, probably about 50 people. Balcony we had only about 25 I’d say. Far View lodge accommodations were very nice and clean, worth staying there if you can because otherwise it’s a 15 mile drive/ 45 minute all the way down the mountain to Cortez for any lodging. The next morning, we ate a quick breakfast at the cafeteria there at Far View Terrace and then set off for the 30min drive to Wetherill Mesa for our 10 am Long House tour. Once again, fascinating. And all the rangers are so knowledgeable, love what they do, and it shows in how they share the information with visitors. While down there, we also did the self-guided hike/tour of Step House. We then went back over to Chapin Mesa and did the loop drive to Sun Point View, which is really cool because from the over look, you can not only see Cliff Palace, but you can also see several other large cliff dwellings that are not open to the public. You just don’t realize how many of these there are there! After getting our Jr Ranger badges, we headed off for Page.
Arrived right around dinner time and ate dinner at Fiesta Americana, great Mexican place right on the main drag thru Page. Lake Powell Days Inn was very reasonably priced, clean, well worth it. Glad we had reservations because while checking in, several came to the desk asking if any vacancy and the clerk told them that there were no rooms available there or any other place in town. The continental breakfast was fine the next morning and then we shot over to Colorado River Discovery for our ½ day float trip. We really had a fun time on this, seeing Glen Canyon Dam from the bottom which is where you put in, and then heading down to Lee’s Ferry. By the way, the rafts they use are motorized, so you aren’t “floating” the whole time which is fine with me. You end up going down quite a ways, probably about 15 miles or so, so floating the whole way would just take too long. Seeing the canyon walls shooting up either side of the Colorado River was really beautiful and peaceful. There were about 8 or 9 rafts that went in, about 12-15 people on each, but they sort of space out so that you aren’t right next to 3 other rafts the whole time. Our guide was fine and fairly knowledgable, a little young. I thought one of the older guides might’ve been able to tell us more about the canyon and geology. We stopped around Horseshoe bend for a break and view the petroglyphs, and this was the chance to swim in the Colorado (45 degree water they said but I think it was a little warmer than that-definitely cold though). Disembarked at Lee’s Ferry where we saw several different outfitters with rafts, oarboats, and kayaks getting ready to begin their multi-day trips down the Grand Canyon. Someday for us I think. After returning to Page on the shuttle bus, we went ahead and got burgers at RDs. Then we headed to Antelope Canyon.
Here was the tough decision: Upper or Lower. We decided on doing Lower first which, of course, was a lot less crowded. Then the plan was to do Upper next(lot was filled with cars and a few buses). We really enjoyed this immensely- it’s really unlike anything you’ve ever seen. With the sunlight overhead, the narrow passages and the curvy canyon walls was just beautiful. When the wind blows, sand comes trickling down and reflects off the sunlight. You enter thru a narrow crack in the ground basically, down some steel stairs and then you walk thru to the end of the canyon about a ¼ mile and then walk back to the parking lot on a trail above. Yes, it’s a little pricey, $20/pp plus the $6 tribal fee?, but we felt it was well worth it. By the way, I’m sort of a novice photographer so having read the fodor boards, I brought my tripod. At the paybooth, the lady noticed I had a tripod so she gave me a camera pass. (They did not do this for everyone with a camera/tripod but I think she did for us because we waited patiently while some Italians ahead of us gave her a hard time making up their mind.) This allowed us to stay in the canyon for up to 4 hrs taking pictures. They used to not have a time limit for Lower, but they instituted one just recently I guess. So now a guide takes a group thru every 10-15 mins and ushers you along. However, when we got inside, our young guide saw my camera pass and told us we can stay back and take our time which we did! Took a lot of cool pictures(letting several other groups go by us every 10 mins or so). Had the canyon to ourselves most of the time. Having done all that, we decided not to do the Upper. I’m sure seeing the sunlight streaks is something to see, but we enjoyed Lower so much, and the solitude, that we didn’t leave feeling we hadn’t ‘done it’.
We backtracked a little to do the Horseshoe Bend hike, saw where we had been down on the river that morning. For some reason I thought there wouldn’t be as much people there but there were probably 50 or so and the parking lot was full. I guess on a Saturday. This was not a far walk although a little strenuous in the 95 degree heat. Then we drove on to Zion NP, Springdale, and our favorite accommodations there, the Desert Pearl.
We had been to ZNP 2 yrs ago, so this time for something a little different, we signed up for a family canyoneering day with Zion Adventure Company. None of us had ever done something like this before so it was quite an adventure! They also offer ½ day trips but I’m glad we went the full day. We drove to the canyon and then had to hike with our gear for about 2hrs all the way up the canyon. While it was uphill and we had all our climbing gear and backpacks, it was quite an enjoyable hike going up this particular canyon. Then after about 3 miles, we had reached the top for our first rappel and then it was all downhill rest of the day. Our excellent and very capable guide, Calvin, gave us a briefing on putting on our harnesses, and then with helmets on and hearts pumping f-a-s-t, over the edge we went one by one on our first rappel, about 75 feet. What we really enjoyed was Calvin making an effort to allow us to make a lot of choices, checking our own gear, which rappel to do, which route. He taught us different sorts of anchoring systems for safety and we used them all. We did 6 or 7 rappels in all, some ending up on dry ground, and several ending right in a cold pool of water that we had to swim out of(it had just rained 3 days before so the water was pretty muddy). The last finale rappel was over 100 feet according to Calvin and it looked and felt like it! This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for us. Recommend it highly.
One of our main reasons for returning to ZNP this time, besides how stunningly beautiful and peaceful the place is, is because 2 yrs ago, the kids were only 10 and 11, and I didn’t feel safe for them to go all the way up Angels Landing. At that time, I stayed with them at Scouts Lookout and my wife went the rest of the way. So we made a point of returning this year so that all 4 of us could do it. So after breakfast in our room(since all the Desert Pearl rooms have their own kitchenette), we set out around 7:30, got to the Grotto stop around 8:00 and headed up Angels Landing. This hike was just as stunning, and brutal, as I remember it. It actually seemed a little shorter for some reason than last time, perhaps because we knew what was around the corner. Walter’s Wiggles was just as steep and exhausting as before. After a brief stop at Scout’s , it was off to that last ½ mile with the chains. My wife had warned me about the narrowness and dropoffs for the last 2 yrs, but it was actually more severe than I had even thought. I had planned on keeping my camera handy and photo-documenting this part, but I chucked that idea after about 10 feet. You really are grabbing chains and scrambling up rocks almost the whole time. One some of the narrower and bigger dropoffs, I did NOT look down but kept my eyes straight ahead and checked on the kids(who seemed much more unaffected than I). Once we got to the top however, boy was it worth it. The view of the canyon from 1400 feet above, seeing the Great White Throne up close- breathtaking. We took pictures and stayed up there about 20 mins and then headed back down, keeping in mind that many accidents happen on the way DOWN as opposed to up. We got back down and stopped off at the Lodge for lunch and that soft serve ice cream the kids like so much. Not a bad last day as we drove back to LV that afternoon.
2 yrs ago we did Zion/Bryce/GC-North/CapReef/Moab. This time we covered more of the southern circle. Hard to pick a favorite because they are all so unique. We just love this area of the country as the scenery is unlike anything you see in the Midwest or back east. Zion is such a marvelous place- doesn’t have “stun” quality when you first see it like Bryce or Grand Canyon or Yosemite. But I think it might be my favorite of them all. You can just sit and gaze at those huge sandstone for hours, they have such a peaceful quality about them. We’ll be back, if we can convince my camping-phobic wife to raft the GC.
Arrived at El Tovar for a 2 night stay. Wonderful hotel. The effect of being literally steps from the side door of the hotel to the rim of the Canyon was really something else. It’s right in the middle of things which is nice. If you don’t want to eat in the dining room which we did one dinner and breakfast(the hot chocolate is unreal good), then it’s just a short walk to Bright Angel Lodge restaurant, coffee shop, ice cream shop, Thunderbird etc. Nice to have Wi-fi in the lobby also. The next morning we woke up to see about 5 Elk on the lawn right below our balcony. Since we were taking the mules down on Bright Angel trail the next day, we decided we’d hike part of the South Kaibab. We drove our car to Mather Point which was already filling up with cars at about 9:00. Looks like they’re building a large parking lot there which they definitely need badly (yea for stimulus money!) because by mid afternoon, cars are parking along the road as far as you can see practically. From Mather Point parking lot it’s just a short walk down a path to the Canyon View Visitor Center and the only way to access South Kaibab is taking a 10 min shuttle from here. We went down the trail and got to Ooo-Ah point. The canyon views are really something else as you go down the trail that hugs the canyon wall. Then at Ooh-Ah the trail opens up to the east so you can now see the east views of the canyon. Getting down to here was about a mile and this was enough for us. The next leg down to Cedar Ridge was another mile, all exposed to the sun, so we took a pass and slugged our way back to the top. After lunch at MarketPlace, we headed over and caught the Hermits Rest shuttle and spent most of the afternoon hitting a few stops along there. This is worth doing because it ‘s the only place along the South Rim you can see the Colorado River without hiking down. The kids (12, 13) love doing the junior Ranger stuff, so they did all that and got their badges from the Ranger at Verkamps Visitor Ctr.
The next day, up bright and early to meet our group for our mule ride down to Phantom Ranch where we were staying that night. Nobody over 200 lbs allowed! Set off down Bright Angel Trail. Now that first 2.5 miles or so, there are more than just a few nervous moments as your mule goes down a narrow trail with up to 500 foot dropoff down the side (and you are elevated already sitting on top of a mule). But I just kept my eyes from looking down and concentrated on the grandeur of the canyon. We stopped at Indian Garden at about 10:00, water break, rest, ate some food, and then set off for Phantom Ranch ( few more steep switchbacks at Devil Corkscrew). All the way down, we are seeing hikers coming up, and boy are you glad you’re not walking like they are! Got down to the bottom, crossed over the river and got to Phantom Ranch at around noon. It was about 78-80 degrees up on the rim but it was easily 100 plus down here at the bottom. So we dismounted, threw our stuff in our cabin for the night, and then promptly went and waded in Bright Angel creek for a while which felt terrific. All the campers and other hikers were all in there too. We also went to the little canteen at Phantom Ranch and drank lemonade, had a snack. Dinner was a terrific steak dinner with all the trimmings, served family style. Got to meet many other folks who had hiked down and were staying there also. There is a ranger station down there and we attended 2 terrific ranger talks with ‘Ranger Pat’. After dark, we went out to see the stars which were unbelievably bright, like you’ve never seen before if you live in the city. The next morning, after a hearty breakfast, we rode back up and got back to the top at around 1:00. After 2 days of mules, boy was I sore!! Not used to using those muscles definitely not! We ate a quick lunch and set out for the east entrance/exit, stopped briefly at Desert View, and then off to Monument Valley.
Got to Gouldings around 6pm. They were overbooked as always and so they asked if we’d stay in one of their 3br houses which took me all of 5 seconds to say yes. Besides a kitchen and fridge, it also had a washer/dryer which we used to do couple loads of laundry from the our mule ride. Next morning , I had booked a Mystery Valley tour with Sacred Monument Tours. This was a 4 hr tour that takes you south of the monuments themselves. But our guide David, who was excellent, showed us some ancient cliff dwellings, petroglyphs, and some other places not open to public unless guided. We thought it was pretty interesting and worth doing although a little bit long. Anyhow, we took a few pictures from the Visitor Center overlook, and then decided to set off for Mesa Verde.
Arrived in MV at about 3:30, went straight to the Visitor Center to get some tour tickets. We were too late to do Long House, so we did Balcony House @ 4:30 and then Cliff Palace @ 6:00(last one). I was a little concerned that if Balcony House didn’t end by 5:30 or if we had a slow group, then we’d miss Cliff Palace. But then when I told our Ranger at Balcony, he said he was also doing the 6pm Cliff Palace tour, so we were good! These cliff dwellings are something else to see folks! To think that they were built so long ago and now preserved so well, the native puebloians actually lived here, simply amazing to ponder. Balcony House was a blast, probably our favorite. The kids loved climbing up that 32 foot latter, a little scary definitely. And then the only way to exit is by crawling thru this hole on all fours. What I hadn’t heard much about before was the ladder climb and scramble up rock and chains at the final exit! Cliff Palace was phenomenal too just for it’s sheer immensity, like a miniature city almost. This tour was much bigger, probably about 50 people. Balcony we had only about 25 I’d say. Far View lodge accommodations were very nice and clean, worth staying there if you can because otherwise it’s a 15 mile drive/ 45 minute all the way down the mountain to Cortez for any lodging. The next morning, we ate a quick breakfast at the cafeteria there at Far View Terrace and then set off for the 30min drive to Wetherill Mesa for our 10 am Long House tour. Once again, fascinating. And all the rangers are so knowledgeable, love what they do, and it shows in how they share the information with visitors. While down there, we also did the self-guided hike/tour of Step House. We then went back over to Chapin Mesa and did the loop drive to Sun Point View, which is really cool because from the over look, you can not only see Cliff Palace, but you can also see several other large cliff dwellings that are not open to the public. You just don’t realize how many of these there are there! After getting our Jr Ranger badges, we headed off for Page.
Arrived right around dinner time and ate dinner at Fiesta Americana, great Mexican place right on the main drag thru Page. Lake Powell Days Inn was very reasonably priced, clean, well worth it. Glad we had reservations because while checking in, several came to the desk asking if any vacancy and the clerk told them that there were no rooms available there or any other place in town. The continental breakfast was fine the next morning and then we shot over to Colorado River Discovery for our ½ day float trip. We really had a fun time on this, seeing Glen Canyon Dam from the bottom which is where you put in, and then heading down to Lee’s Ferry. By the way, the rafts they use are motorized, so you aren’t “floating” the whole time which is fine with me. You end up going down quite a ways, probably about 15 miles or so, so floating the whole way would just take too long. Seeing the canyon walls shooting up either side of the Colorado River was really beautiful and peaceful. There were about 8 or 9 rafts that went in, about 12-15 people on each, but they sort of space out so that you aren’t right next to 3 other rafts the whole time. Our guide was fine and fairly knowledgable, a little young. I thought one of the older guides might’ve been able to tell us more about the canyon and geology. We stopped around Horseshoe bend for a break and view the petroglyphs, and this was the chance to swim in the Colorado (45 degree water they said but I think it was a little warmer than that-definitely cold though). Disembarked at Lee’s Ferry where we saw several different outfitters with rafts, oarboats, and kayaks getting ready to begin their multi-day trips down the Grand Canyon. Someday for us I think. After returning to Page on the shuttle bus, we went ahead and got burgers at RDs. Then we headed to Antelope Canyon.
Here was the tough decision: Upper or Lower. We decided on doing Lower first which, of course, was a lot less crowded. Then the plan was to do Upper next(lot was filled with cars and a few buses). We really enjoyed this immensely- it’s really unlike anything you’ve ever seen. With the sunlight overhead, the narrow passages and the curvy canyon walls was just beautiful. When the wind blows, sand comes trickling down and reflects off the sunlight. You enter thru a narrow crack in the ground basically, down some steel stairs and then you walk thru to the end of the canyon about a ¼ mile and then walk back to the parking lot on a trail above. Yes, it’s a little pricey, $20/pp plus the $6 tribal fee?, but we felt it was well worth it. By the way, I’m sort of a novice photographer so having read the fodor boards, I brought my tripod. At the paybooth, the lady noticed I had a tripod so she gave me a camera pass. (They did not do this for everyone with a camera/tripod but I think she did for us because we waited patiently while some Italians ahead of us gave her a hard time making up their mind.) This allowed us to stay in the canyon for up to 4 hrs taking pictures. They used to not have a time limit for Lower, but they instituted one just recently I guess. So now a guide takes a group thru every 10-15 mins and ushers you along. However, when we got inside, our young guide saw my camera pass and told us we can stay back and take our time which we did! Took a lot of cool pictures(letting several other groups go by us every 10 mins or so). Had the canyon to ourselves most of the time. Having done all that, we decided not to do the Upper. I’m sure seeing the sunlight streaks is something to see, but we enjoyed Lower so much, and the solitude, that we didn’t leave feeling we hadn’t ‘done it’.
We backtracked a little to do the Horseshoe Bend hike, saw where we had been down on the river that morning. For some reason I thought there wouldn’t be as much people there but there were probably 50 or so and the parking lot was full. I guess on a Saturday. This was not a far walk although a little strenuous in the 95 degree heat. Then we drove on to Zion NP, Springdale, and our favorite accommodations there, the Desert Pearl.
We had been to ZNP 2 yrs ago, so this time for something a little different, we signed up for a family canyoneering day with Zion Adventure Company. None of us had ever done something like this before so it was quite an adventure! They also offer ½ day trips but I’m glad we went the full day. We drove to the canyon and then had to hike with our gear for about 2hrs all the way up the canyon. While it was uphill and we had all our climbing gear and backpacks, it was quite an enjoyable hike going up this particular canyon. Then after about 3 miles, we had reached the top for our first rappel and then it was all downhill rest of the day. Our excellent and very capable guide, Calvin, gave us a briefing on putting on our harnesses, and then with helmets on and hearts pumping f-a-s-t, over the edge we went one by one on our first rappel, about 75 feet. What we really enjoyed was Calvin making an effort to allow us to make a lot of choices, checking our own gear, which rappel to do, which route. He taught us different sorts of anchoring systems for safety and we used them all. We did 6 or 7 rappels in all, some ending up on dry ground, and several ending right in a cold pool of water that we had to swim out of(it had just rained 3 days before so the water was pretty muddy). The last finale rappel was over 100 feet according to Calvin and it looked and felt like it! This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for us. Recommend it highly.
One of our main reasons for returning to ZNP this time, besides how stunningly beautiful and peaceful the place is, is because 2 yrs ago, the kids were only 10 and 11, and I didn’t feel safe for them to go all the way up Angels Landing. At that time, I stayed with them at Scouts Lookout and my wife went the rest of the way. So we made a point of returning this year so that all 4 of us could do it. So after breakfast in our room(since all the Desert Pearl rooms have their own kitchenette), we set out around 7:30, got to the Grotto stop around 8:00 and headed up Angels Landing. This hike was just as stunning, and brutal, as I remember it. It actually seemed a little shorter for some reason than last time, perhaps because we knew what was around the corner. Walter’s Wiggles was just as steep and exhausting as before. After a brief stop at Scout’s , it was off to that last ½ mile with the chains. My wife had warned me about the narrowness and dropoffs for the last 2 yrs, but it was actually more severe than I had even thought. I had planned on keeping my camera handy and photo-documenting this part, but I chucked that idea after about 10 feet. You really are grabbing chains and scrambling up rocks almost the whole time. One some of the narrower and bigger dropoffs, I did NOT look down but kept my eyes straight ahead and checked on the kids(who seemed much more unaffected than I). Once we got to the top however, boy was it worth it. The view of the canyon from 1400 feet above, seeing the Great White Throne up close- breathtaking. We took pictures and stayed up there about 20 mins and then headed back down, keeping in mind that many accidents happen on the way DOWN as opposed to up. We got back down and stopped off at the Lodge for lunch and that soft serve ice cream the kids like so much. Not a bad last day as we drove back to LV that afternoon.
2 yrs ago we did Zion/Bryce/GC-North/CapReef/Moab. This time we covered more of the southern circle. Hard to pick a favorite because they are all so unique. We just love this area of the country as the scenery is unlike anything you see in the Midwest or back east. Zion is such a marvelous place- doesn’t have “stun” quality when you first see it like Bryce or Grand Canyon or Yosemite. But I think it might be my favorite of them all. You can just sit and gaze at those huge sandstone for hours, they have such a peaceful quality about them. We’ll be back, if we can convince my camping-phobic wife to raft the GC.
Sep 2nd, 2009, 04:31 PM
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Enjoyed your trip report. We have been to most of the places with the exception of Phantom and Page. We have rafted the GC but only a 3 dayer. I have done some canyoneering in Moab and in Oregon(guide from moab does a few guides there 2 weeks out of the year). It is one of the greatest things I have done. The Oregon Canyoning is all in Waterfalls. If you ever had back to Durango area be sure and do the ziplining.
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