47warlord
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Antelope Canyon Entry
After a bouncy bus ride into the Navaho Reservation from Page, Arizona, we walked into the entrance of Upper Antelope Canyon. We had heard about this remarkable place, but seeing it in person was more than any description could match.
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Visitors Center
The Navaho Bridge visitors center’s stone walls reflect the rocky bluffs in the distance that lead toward the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
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Balanced Rock
Boulders that had rolled down the slope from an eroding bluff near Lee’s Ferry proved harder than the rocks underneath them, producing several of these balancing rocks that attract photographers.
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Pears
A pear tree in the orchard at Lonely Dell near Lee’s Ferry is loaded with fruit. We picked a couple of pears (using a wire basket on a pole) to enjoy later once they finish ripening.
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Orchard
A variety of fruit trees filled the orchard next to the pioneer cabins at Lonely Dell. Visitors are invited to pick ripe fruit from the trees, which are maintained by the park service.
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Low Ceiling
A low ceiling and dark interior helped keep food cool in the root cellar at Lonely Dell.
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Root Cellar
The settlers at Lee’s Ferry kept their jars of preserves and other food cool in this root cellar built into the ground next to their cabins.
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Log Cabins
These cabins housed the Lee family, the Mormon pioneers that ran the ferry across the Colorado. The building of the nearby Navaho Bridge ended the need for the ferry. Others tried to run a dude ranch here, but that didn’t last either.
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Lonely Dell
Lonely Dell Ranch, maintained by the National Park Service at Lee’s Ferry in Glen Canyon recreation area, lives up to its remote name.
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Whitewater
A raft navigates the first of many rapids on the Colorado just below Lee’s Ferry. The canyon gets deeper and the rapids bigger as they head south from here.
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Lee’s Ferry
Rafts launch into the Colorado River at Lee’s Ferry south of Page, AZ. This is where everyone launches to begin their float into the Grand Canyon (permit required). The early ferry that allowed pioneers to cross the river here was run by a polygamist Mormon family.
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Condor
This endangered condor is labeled for tracking. He’s hanging out on the arched steel beams holding up the Navaho Bridge near Lee’s Ferry on the Colorado River.
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Navaho Bridge
The original Navaho Bridge over the Colorado is now a walking bridge with a newer bridge for cars nearby. The bridge also makes a good perch for a condor below the walkers.
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Colorado Canyon
Driving south from Page, we crossed the Colorado again, this time looking north from the Navaho Bridge.
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Moonlight
A nearly full moon peeks through spotty clouds and lights up the layered sandstone rocks at the back of our campground in Page, AZ.
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Raspberry Sky
Reds and purples edged the western horizon at sunset in Page, Arizona in mid-October. The biggest storm of the month arrived a few hours later, dropping nearly an inch of rain on this desert town overnight.
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Horseshoe Bend
This much-photographed loop in the Colorado River near Page, AZ is a short walk from a busy parking lot. A crowd of sightseers lines the railings and cliff edges to get the best views and selfies this afternoon.
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Stack
A stack of flat red rocks lines the path to Horseshoe Bend near Page, AZ. The cliffs in the distance are in Utah’s Grand Staircase national monument.
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Glen Canyon Dam
The dam that backs up Lake Powell at Page, Arizona still has enough water behind it to keep the Colorado River flowing down through the Grand Canyon.
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Pioneer Courthouse
This well-proportioned brick structure on a Main Street in the historic section of St. George is the Pioneer Courthouse. A good example of a classic American public building from the 19th century.
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First Plowman
One of the sculptures in St. George’s Art District is of William Carter, the “first plowman and irrigator of the American West.” No relation, but the man knew how to use a plow to great effect on the frontier.
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Guitar
The Art District in St. George includes this nearly 15 foot-tall sculpture of a guitar created out of license plates, dinner knives, pipes, and a variety of other metal items. Look close and see what parts you can identify.
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Flowing Water
St. George’s Town Square includes this fountain that forms a stream between red stone blocks making it ideal for kids to splash in on a warm day. The boy with a hose and the two round “creatures” are works of art by different artists.
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Art District
The Town Square area of downtown St. George, Utah features a variety of works of public art. Here two older kids swing younger siblings around in a an engaging statue.
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Tabernacle
The other outstanding building in downtown St. George is the red brick tabernacle built at the direction of Brigham Young in the 1860s. The color of the walls matches the bluffs rising above the original townsite just a few blocks away.
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