September 19, 2019

Another early morning due to the 6:50 pickup to for the Upper Antelope Slot Canyon photography tour. The temperature was a pleasant 22°C, clear sky and windy.

The hotel complimentary buffet opened at 6 a.m., which worked well for us to eat breakfast before leaving on the tour. Our Navajo guide, Cindy, picked us up in a 4-wheel drive pickup truck with open air bench seats for 12 secured to the box, then drove us to the Upper Antelope Canyon entrance. The drive was along highway for three miles but the final three miles were on a bumpy dirt road, which counted over 3,000 extra steps on my pedometer (which have been removed from today’s step count). There were seven other pickup trucks with their own groups.

Cindy explained to us the geology of the Upper Antelope Slot Canyon. If there is heavy rain in the area up to 15 miles to the south , it eventually flows into Antelope Canyon sometimes as a serious flash flood. There are no tours on days when there is rain in the forecast. Cindy showed us high water marks on the petrified sand dune canyon walls and pointed out logs stuck between sides over 4 meters above our heads. The visuals helped to display the power of the flash floods. She pointed to wall and asked for guesses as to what the formation looked like, the first was an elephant. We waited until the other groups had entered and then Cindy took each person or couple’s camera and took a photo of them in front of the tiny canyon opening.

We walked along the sandy canyon floor which was different than yesterday walk in Zion Canyon. The narrow canyon walls were almost 40 meters high at an altitude of 1,220 meters. You could stretch your arms out to your sides and touch both sides of the rippled canyon walls in places. Other times you were squeezing sideways to continue to the next view around the corner. The next space could be a cavern that would easily hold the whole group with light filtering in from the fissure above. Since this tour focused on photography, Cindy showed us how to get great shots of some formations that showed profiles of a candle or a sideways heart. She also took more individual photos of people and even arranged a scene with falling sand. Although Cindy had a flashlight, it was only used in the place where she took pictures of people sitting on a ledge. The whole walk was about 200 meters one way, then we turned around and walked back to the opening, climbed onto the truck and returned to the hotel. The buffet breakfast was still available so we got a mini-muffin and coffee before the bus left.

Today’s journey was about 270 kilometers from Page to Williams. By the time we left Page, at 9:15, the temperature was already 26°C. We rejoined Highway 89 south, still in the high desert on the Kaibito Plateau. We stopped for short photo op at a viewpoint overlooking the plateau known as the Painted Desert to view the large crack in the ground that was the route of the Colorado River, but we could not see the water, Back in the bus Matt played a video about the two-day guided mule rides to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

We stopped at the Cameron Trading Post on the Navajo Reservation for lunch. It is over 100 years old and the dining room was trimmed in wood, had stamped tin ceilings plus Navajo artifacts and old photos decorating the walls. We shared a table with Kay and Bob from Pennsylvania.

As the bus continued south on Highway 89 to the Loop Road for the visit to Wupatki National Monument, Matt gave us more information about the state of Arizona as we waited in line due to road construction. The mountain range visible in the distance was the San Francisco Mountains which are over 4,000 meters above sea level.

We had 45 minutes to explore the ruins of a Pueblo Indian village, at Wupatki National Monument, which was abandoned over 800 years ago. Some reconstruction has been done and there were panels explaining the lives of the people who lived there. The final stop was about 20 minutes away at Sunset Crater Volcano. We hiked the 1.8-kilometer Lava Flow Trail through the ancient lava field of the Sunset Crater Volcano. The temperature had dropped to about 21°C. There were only seven of the group energetic enough to hike the trail. We were able to stand within one meter of an old volcanic spatter cone. The rest of the group took the 400-meter paved walkway to view the lava field. The last time the volcano erupted was 1085. The volcano is about 340 meters high. Steps 7,512

We returned to highway 89, then at Flagstaff turned onto Interstate 40. In the mid 20^thcentury, Flagstaff and our destination Williams were towns on the old Route 66 road that ran from Chicago to Los Angles. It was decommissioned in 1956, when the wider better designed Interstate Highway system was created.

When we arrived in Williams, Jose drove through the old town on the one-way (east and west) streets of the old Route 66, to show us the different restaurants in the downtown section, then we proceeded to the La Quinta Inn And Suites-Grand Canyon Area. We have two nights in Williams and do not need to be on the bus until 8:45 tomorrow morning.

The elevation of Williams is 2,062 meters, almost 800 meters higher than in Page. The temperature in Williams at 4:30 p.m. was 21°C, cooler than when we left Page this morning.

The Grand Canyon Brewing Company was next door, so we walked over for drinks. Since the bar and restaurant were a bit too noisy, after drinks we walked over to the old downtown with its early 20^thcentury store fronts and nostalgic Route 66 theme. We decided to try the Route 66 Diner for a light dinner of sandwiches with coleslaw. The temperature had dropped to 18°C by the time we walked back to the hotel.

Final steps 13,786