We packed up and went for our free breakfast. The lodge dining room has a number of large framed photographs of the Park -- some beautiful scenes. Last night at dinner we noticed a foreign tourist (Chinese I think) in a distinctive checked fleece jacket and toting an expensive camera going from picture to picture taking careful photographs of each. This morning we spotted the same woman having breakfast with a group of about 6 others. Then she got up and started taking photos of the same pictures on the wall. Teresa commented that perhaps the light was different in the morning. Then the photographer and a friend left for a while and came back with a small package from the gift shop. Teresa wondered if she had bought postcards to photograph.
This was our second encounter with foreign tourists. Yesterday afternoon, as we approached the trailhead for the Lower Emerald Pool Trail we saw a group getting out of a tour bus just in front of us. The bus said "Mesquite" on it, so I told Teresa, "They are from Mesquite." She said, "No, I think they are from Japan." They were indeed acting like stereotypical Japanese tourists -- they all had expensive cameras and there was a traffic jam at the trailhead as they all took pictures of each other in front of it.
We got through that and then they all passed us as I paused along the trail to take photos. They congealed again at the view point. We snaked our way through and continued onto the rest of the trail while they hurried back to the bus. They weren't Japanese though. They were speaking in a tonal, staccato-like language -- maybe Chinese. As if to confirm our suspicion, we heard on the news that the US is experiencing a surge in Chinese tourists. One woman had a fur coat on (the kind you would wear to a formal) and designer bag and glasses. She didn't have heels on, so she wasn't totally clueless about mountain trails, just different. Hope she didn't get any of that red mud on her coat.
Back at the lodge, we finished our breakfast and headed out up the mountain road that leads out of the park to the east. We had numerous switch backs interlaced with fantastic views and went through two tunnels, one over a mile long. The long tunnel had windows carved out of the rock every so often -- just enough to light the way. Once we got to the top, we encountered many beautiful, layered sandstone formations.
We left the park and headed southeast. The countryside was loaded with pink rock formations and we passed a sign for a state park. I told Teresa we were passing the Coral Sand Dunes Park. She said, " I don't think they have coral here." Evidently this is a common misunderstanding. I looked again at the name of the park: Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park.
According to our guide book, many television shows have been filmed among the wind-swept coral-colored dunes.
Soon we passed through Kanab (population: 3514; elevation: 925). A sign posted just prior to entering the town proudly proclaims "Greatest Earth on Show." And the town sports a distinctive "K" on the red bluff towering over the town.
At some point Teresa commented that we had lost our sun. Indeed, it was an overcast day. I didn't until she said something. Just a normal day for a Portlander. With the sun undercover, the temperature was chilly.
As we approached Lake Powell, we passed a sign for a real estate development advertising a "Million Dollar View." A little further down the highway we saw a sign for a scenic view and decided to check it out. I don't think the ad was an exaggeration. You had a 360 gorgeous view of the lake, the dam, the vermillion cliffs. Everywhere you looked it was breathtaking, with the exception of the smoke rising in 3 plumes from a single plant to the left of the dam. Don't know what that was, but it didn't belong in this picture.
We stopped at the visitor's center for the Powell Dam, part of the Colorado River Storage Project. The dam provides electricity throughout the West, but evidently its main purpose is storing water. And that it does. Lake Powell has tentacles into all the canyons and valleys and goes on for miles and miles. There are no roads in the recreation area to speak of, so it is mainly a boating paradise through the carved arches and beautiful canyons of the area.
Right over the bridge from the dam is Page (population: 6809; elevation: 4281). Founded in 1957 to house the workers building the dam, it now has a number of nice motels and acts as a gateway to the recreation area.
We entered the Navajo Reservation and stopped at a scenic view point on Antelope Pass. The view was great and there were several craft stalls, with local craftsmen selling their wares. Of course we stopped to look. There were a lot of craft stalls along the highway -- mostly abandoned because of the off-season. But we found that every scenic view point seemed to have at least one or two. The largest group was at the view point for the Little Colorado River Canyon (quite impressive). In a show of capitalism, they had set up so that you had to walk through them to get to the viewing area. They had some beautiful wares.
It was getting on to 4:00 pm as we approached the east entrance to the Park (too many stops at those craft stalls). So we didn't stop along the 25-mile Desert View Drive, but headed for the Maswick Lodge, hoping to get checked in and get to the rim somewhere for sunset. We made it at the tail end of sunset.
I'm planning on getting up before dawn. Teresa is planning on sleeping in. Then we will have all day to explore. Note that there is no Internet access in the room, only in the cafeteria, so my postings may lag a little.
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