Antelope Canyon, Arizona

 

The views at Lower Antelope canyon were amazing. It is an underground slot canyon spanning about 600 yards. Operated by the Navajo Indians through guided tours, the canyon is shaped like a “V” with a narrow pathway that opens up to the sky We descended via five flights of steep stairs to see formations like the Lion, Eagle head, Indian Chief, Rocky Mountain sunrise and Buffalo. The guide shared insights, including the precautionary measures taken during flash floods, with a one-hour evacuation notice for visitors. She explained how staff clear water after flash floods and how the metal stairs were once destroyed in such events.

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South Coyote Buttes and White Pocket

We had a wonderful experience exploring South Coyote Buttes and White Pocket.

South Coyote Buttes, requiring a permit with limited daily access to 20 people has intriguing formations such as trophies, a control tower, chess queen formation, a fault line, and dinosaur tracks.

White Pocket, on the other hand, offered a unique moonscape-like landscape without the need for a permit. Known for its captivating fractal formations, its popularity soared after being featured as an Apple wallpaper in 2020.

Navigating both areas is best done with a 4-wheel drive. On the way we passed a California condors view point and saw a propane powered well to get water for the cattle. Our guide, Steve from Coral Cliff tours was knowledgable and made our trip memorable. We were surprised to learn about his background, including attending an Ayurvedic course and being a vegan.

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The Wave

The Wave is spectacular and located in the Coyote Buttes North area of the Utah-Arizona border. The location gained popularity after being featured as a wallpaper on Microsoft's Windows 7. Securing a permit from the US Bureau of Land Management is essential, with a strict daily limit of 64 visitors. They have an advance online lottery and a daily geofenced lottery. Since we had not won the online lottery in prior years, we planned to stay in the area for sometime and apply for the daily lottery. But we were very lucky and won the online lottery on July 1st for visiting The Wave on Oct 24th. We were very excited and started training for the hike soon after. We had a few health issues on the way but we recovered and feel very fortunate that we could hike and see all the beautiful formations including The Wave, Dinosaur tracks, Boneyard, Sand Cove and The Second Wave. With no defined trail to The Wave and a preference for a four-wheel-drive to reach the Wirepass parking, we opted for a guide. Julie from Coral Cliffs was amazing and made our day memorable. Skycie was training to be a Wave guide and we had a great time with her too.

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Bryce Canyon National Park

 

We enjoyed our visit to Bryce Canyon National Park, celebrating its 100th year. The visitor center provided a nice movie explaining the dynamic landscape changes at Bryce, shaped by natural forces such as ice and wind. The park is renowned for its unique rock formations called hoodoos. Our hike began at Sunset Point, descending the Navajo Loop Trail and ascending the Queen's Garden Trail to Sunrise Point. Bryce Amphitheater and Queen Victoria hoodoo are some of the formations we saw on the way. We completed the loop via the Sunrise to Sunset section of Rim Trail. We also took the shuttle to view Bryce and Inspiration Points which were beautiful.

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Grand Canyon National Park

 

We have visited the Grand Canyon South rim a couple of times but this was our first visit to the North rim. There were very few people and we enjoyed the sight of the majestic canyons. We went to Point Imperial and Cape Royal on our drive. We saw Angels window, an interesting formation on the Cape Royal trail. We could also see Colorado river at a distance through this window. We were amazed to see one of the peaks named as Vishnu temple and the similarities to the Vishnu temple in India built 1500 years ago. We saw the sunset at Bright Angel point near the Grand Canyon lodge before driving back to Kanab. We didn't realize how dark it gets soon after sunset. It was a scary drive since there were a lot of wild deer in the area and they unexpectedly crossed the road a couple of times. On our way back we also saw prescribed burns in the area.

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Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

 

We were fortunate to experience the annual solar eclipse on October 14th, 2023, at the Albuquerque Balloon Festival, renowned as the world's most photographed event. The hot air balloons launch only under favorable wind conditions, and we were able to witness the balloon launch on two out of the four days we were there.

Before sunrise, we enjoyed the Dawn Patrol Show, where a few balloons tested weather conditions, signaling the launch for others. Watching the special shape balloons, including designs like happy birthday, elephant, bees, sun, and stork was a delightful experience on one of the days. In the evening we enjoyed a Drone Light Show and fireworks. On the second day, we watched the Mass Ascension, a spectacle of over 500 balloons filling the sky. These balloons landed in various parts of the city throughout the day.

Surprisingly, the city of Albuquerque had a lot of vegetarian restaurants including an Ayurvedic restaurant Annapurna which also had an associated Ayurvedic cooking school.

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