The rain came back today and much heavier too. We were originally going to go to Buckskin Gulch but would be too dangerous in the canyon because of the flooding. A lot of the dirt roads to the trailheads were also flooded and part of the highway even got washed away overnight. Kyle, our guide, suggested we visit White Pocket instead. We passed by the Navajo Bridge en route and got a glimpse of the beginning of the Grand Canyon.
Late in the afternoon, we visited Horseshoe Bend which is a horseshoe-shaped meander of the Colorado River near the town of Page. You have to go up a sandy path to the top of the hill and then down a more rocky path to reach the rim of the canyon with a view of Horseshoe Bend from 1,000 feet above. You will need a wide-angle lens (I used my Fujifilm 10-24 f4 lens equivalent 15-35mm in the full frame world) to get the entire scene. There are no railings and it was a bit nerve-wrecking walking up to the edge to look down.
We flew into Phoenix and connected on a propeller plane to Page where we stayed for 5 days. There isn’t much choice in terms of accommodation in Page and out of the handful of hotels, we stayed at the Courtyard Marriott which was quite basic with very limited food choices. Alternatively, we should have stayed at the Amangiri (which I didn’t realize was this close) on the Utah side about 20 mins from Page. The benefit of staying in Page is that it is very close to both Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, and Lake Powell etc.
