 Giuseppe  Monday, 13th of July 2009 at 07:10:51 PM
I had seen the Wave. What would follow now would only be a side dish. I was still arrogantly digesting the main course.
My plan today was to drive around Page and visit all those little spots we had missed in 2004 whenI had been already in Page with Christiane to visit the Upper Antelope Canyon. My first target early in the morning were the Toadstool Hoodoos. A hoodoo is a tall thin spire composed of soft sedimentary rock and topped by a piece of harder, less easily-eroded stone that protects the column from the elements ( wikipedia).
The Toadstool Hoodoos are only 20 min from Page and reachable from US89 by an easy 15 min hike. I arrived there around 7 a.m. and spent around and hour photographing from different angles. I like very much the backlight photo I did of the main Toadstool Hoodoo cause I havent seen similar before. My plan was to arrive at 10 a.m. at the Horseshoebend (around 10 min. south of Page) cause I had read that then the Colorado river and the bend is out of the shadows. Here I did many many shots of the Horseshe bend but unfortunately it was still a little bit cloudy and I didn’t like the resulting light too much.
After the Horseshoe Bend I had planed to visit the Lower Antelope Canyon. We had vixited the Upper one (the one with the beams) in 2004 and I had no imagination how the lower one could beat that experience we had in 2004. Like then I choose midday time to have best light in the slot canyon. I choose the photographer tou cause it gave freedom to stay behind the guide and have plenty of time (up to 4h) to position tripod and do photos.
Our guide was a young and very funny Navajo who started the tour at the memorial plaque for the 11 photographers and tourists who died here in a 1997 flashflood. This day was cloudy and they had anticipated rain for this day, and I felt very uncomfortabe when photographing alone in the slot canyon, always thinking about possibilities of flashfloods. I left Antelope Canyon around 2 p.m. and my last target for this day was the Monument Valley. I had several times come close to it either from West (Page) or south (Canyon de Chelly) but never seen the well known Left Mitten, Right Mitten and Merrit Buttes.
I knew it would be a long 3h drive to and another 3h drive back but I had not roadtripped in the last two days so I enjoyed the drive. Weather got worse midway including rain, but when I arrived at the Monument Valley everything was again fine for some nice shots with nice clouds on top of the Buttes. I returned late in the evening in Page and I knew I would check out and lave the nice Marriot in Page the next morning. I went to bed early.
Related Posts:
Giuseppe Tuesday, 14th of July 2009 at 04:46:54 PM
My short 2009 USA Wave trip slowly was approaching its end. I would fly home to Munich already Satrurday and my last big Hike day was planed for tomorrow Wednesday: The Subway Hike. Therefore my plan was to drive back to Zion N.P. and visit some locations on the way. I had never driven the old US89a so this morning my first target was the Marble Canyon crossing the Navajo bridge and driving towards Lees Ferry where one has the possibility to come very close to the colorado river.
I wanted to do also a small hike in the cathedral wash near the Balanced Rocks but I was to tired so I just drove to the boat landing spot where a group of teenagers where preparing their boats for a Colorado rafting tour. I returned back taking US89a , passing the Cliff Dwellings and also noticing the south entrance to the House Rock Valley Road.The access to Coyotte Buttes South and the White pockets. I would like to visit those locations sometime in the neear future. It was for sure that I will come back here again. I decided to take the time to visit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, which I hadn’t seen before. So at Jacob Lake I left US89a and took US69. I arrived there around 11 a.m. After some photos and small hikes at the North Rim I drove back north towards Fredonia and further North leaving AZ , entering Utah, passing Kanab and took a last stop at the Coral Pink Sand Dunes S.P..
I had read that the beautiful rock formations around the Wave emerged thousand of years ago from Sand Dunes like those one can still see today at Coral Sand Dunes S.P. So this visit was still a tribute to the Wave. I had been here in 2004 with Christiane and we had already then liked the Dunes. I took the chance to do some more nice shots. The result was not very satisfying, it was quite windy and really hot so that the conditions were not great for photographing Around 3 p.m. I continued my drive taking the US9 west and passing the Zion N.P. once again.
I stopped at the Checkerboard Mesas and near the tunnel and took some further nice shots. Right before the permit desk was closing I arrived at the Zion N.P. visitor center to pick up my permit for the Subway Hike. I had requested it via Internet. It was still early so I decided to check out how to find the trailhead carpark for my next days Subway hike. In Virgin I took the Kolob Road driving north and after around 10 miles I spotted the car park for the Left fork Trailhead where I would start early in the morning the next day. I drove than back to find some economic Motel for a short night. I found it in Hurricane where I slept for 30USD in the Travelodge, quite a difference to the nights before in Pages Marriot, but I dint care. It was close to the trailhead so I could start my hike quite early as i had planned it.
Related Posts:
Giuseppe Tuesday, 14th of July 2009 at 04:47:31 PM
On the hike at the wave Mathias and Bianca told me that they had been at the Subway around 2 weeks ago and had arrived too late for god shots at the tube.
They told me that it is important to start early and arrive before 1 pm otherwise the sun would alread shine into the subway and good fotos would no longer be possible.They gave me also some good hints on marking the startpoint at the river with a waypoint cause its sometimes not easy to find the way back on the return. I got up therefore this morning really really eralier (around 5 pm) and checked out at the Motel in Hurricane. There was no possibility for a coffee so I drove directly to the Northfork trailhead which is 10 miles north of Virgin on the Kolob terrace road. I arrived at 6.30 am at the Leftfork trailhead and came to conclusion that this is to early to start the hike. So I used the time to drive some more miles north on the Kolob terrace road enjoing an amazing sunrise towards Zion valley mountains. I was back at 7 am at the trailhead and started the deep descent towards the North Creek. As recoemmended I set a waypoint at the sign to mark the trail for the return. Down at the North Creek there was a trail on both sides of the river and I had fun to find my way along the river, always checking for a good place to cross the river and always avoiding to dirt or wet my hiking shoes.
I was in a good mood and knew that I was early (7pm) and had to walk around 3 to 4 hours to arrive at the Subway. So I took plenty of time to search for good shots and I did not notice that the time was passing very quickly. At a big rock facing to the river I noticed a group of frogs and I spent around 15 minutes here for some shots. Later I arrived at the cascades and the crack and spent at least 30 minutes again to setup tripod and doing several photos. When I arrived at the Subway I first of all did not recognize it compared to the photos i had seen. The subway is open towards the sky.
I had always believed its a real tube. Entering the Subway at acetain point it was no longer possible to avoid walking in the water. When I looked back the first time I noticed the light was not good for photos, and immediately looked at my watch: It was alread 12:15 noon. I had spent more than 5 hours for the hike. I had consumed al my tining advance and still arrived too late. Of course I regretted not having checked the time more often and noticing that I got delayed by admiring the natures beauty along the hike. Nevertheless I took my photos walking the whole time in the water. I spent around 1 h at the tube. I knew that I had to drive back to Las Vegas at the evening (3h drive) so my way back to the trailhead I did no longer care about wetting the shoes nor did I spent long time to find the best point to cross the river.
I didn’t care to walk into the water as the shoes were already wet. I had a quick pace and not photographing anymore it took me aonly 2 hours back to the sign which marks the climb up to the car park and trailhead. It took me another 30 minutes for the steep climb. I relaxed a little bit at the car and then my next destination was again the Flamingo in Las Vegas were I would stay he last three nights and relax a little bit.
Related Posts:
Giuseppe Tuesday, 14th of July 2009 at 04:48:20 PM
This day I had planned to have no plans and have a spontaneous day. I started with a shopping walk in the Fashion Show Mall. Hereafter I got little shopaholic and visited also the Boulevard Mall and the Meadows Mall. I spent around 2 hours in each mall but did not really buy much. Some T-Shirts at Tillys and Pacsun.
At the evening I did not know what else to do and so I completed the Shopping day by visiting also the Las Vegas Outlet Mall south of McCarran. At the end of the day I felt like a woman. I had never had the energy and patience for long shopping tours before, seems that the hikes had trained me to master also this challenge. After diner I drove to Las Vegas downtown and did some further nigthly Las Vegas shots to extend my collection of “Las Vegas Neon Lights” photos.
Related Posts:
Giuseppe Tuesday, 14th of July 2009 at 04:49:06 PM
On my last day I wanted to relax and profit from the sunny Las Vegas weather. I had a nice last Buffet breakfast at the Bellagio and afterwards I returned to the Flamingo Hotel and exchanged my hiking trousers and boots with trunks and sandals and paid the 10 dollar fee to use the nice Flamingo pool complex. Unfortunatley it was quite crowded but I didn’t care. I found a comfortable sunbed near the pool which and enjoed the time in the sun with a novel, some Bud Light Lime and intermeddiate pool jumps. At the evening I visited my favourite Comic shop on East Tropicana and after dinner I gambled a little bit in he Flamingo casino. This time I lost 50 USD and went then to bed. The next day was my flight to LAX and from there home to Munich. Hopefully I will be back soon?
Related Posts:
|
Antelope Canyon, Monument Valley, Wave phototour 2009 | 
Photography, The Wave 2009, Wave 2009 | 
Comments are closed
