Antelope Canyon
Navajo Nation gave me mixed feelings. While the land is pretty, it also bears signs of the more loaded and uncomfortable history of the US and how American Indians were treated as they pushed westward.
The folks and I ended up visiting both Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon. We were on a tour, but it did not detract too much from the experience.
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| Sand rising from the ground (Shoutouts to the guide!) |
These are two of the various slot canyons on Navajo land. It was also very windy this day, so sand constantly blew in from the tops of the slots. The slot canyons are Navajo Sandstone formations, and true to my climbing nature, I was very interested to feel the rock surface. It is much softer than the limestone that I'm used to touching, and yet it is very solid. Honestly, it might be better than climbing gym holds. Additionally, I learned that the stone has different hues of orange and black. The black streaks contain iron oxide.
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| Presence of Iron Oxide in Navajo Sandstone (among other minerals) |
It's really fascinating traveling within these canyons, as they are shaped completely differently. Upper Antelope Canyon is wide on the ground floor and gets narrower as the canyon walls increase in height, so light bounces around and creates very interesting light bounces in photos, especially as the sand trickles in from above. Lower Antelope Canyon is shaped in an opposite direction, so you have to be a bit more creative to see certain shapes, but they still provide. Here are a few of my favorites.
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| Sand Falling in Upper Antelope |
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| Tree Trunk brought in to the canyon via Monsoon in Upper Antelope |
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| Upper Antelope |
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| Lower Antelope Yin-Yang |
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| The Dragon in Lower Antelope |
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| The ghost of Lower Antelope |
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| Seahorse in Lower Antelope |
We also saw some of the plants and foliage. It was on this very trip that I learned that sage, the herb, has a characteristic blueish hue.
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| Sage Plant on the left, Desert brush on the right |
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