Monday 19th September

Today we had to set the alarm for 5.20am as we needed to be at the airfield at 6am. After coffee etc 14 of us boarded a small aircraft for a flight of just over an hour over the Grand Canyon east to Page. Amazing views and colours!

We landed at Page and boarded a jeep for a trip into Antelope Canyon, also know as Slot Canyon, because it is very narrow. The red sandstone has been eroded by flash floods into amazing swirls and shapes that the camera just doesn't do justice to. It is only 1/4 mile long but with lots of stops for photos it took a while to walk there and back. By the time we came out the crowds were building so we were quite pleased to have got there early. The water has only reached halfway up in recent years but in 2004 the canyon was full to the top with water and overflowing twice.

We then were driven to the Glen Canyon dam where we boarded a pontoon to float down the Colarado river through Glen Canyon to the mouth of the Grand Canyon.

The trip of 15.5 miles took nearly four hours, with a couple of stops to look at some petroglyphs and cool off in the river.

I just wetted my hat and let it dribble down and cool me but a couple of people went swimming, although the water was very cold. The temperature was in the high nineties so it was nice to have a bit of breeze as we went down the river. Glen Canyon's wall rise from 700-1000 feet and are made of red sandstone stained with iron and manganese.

Once we arrived at Lee's Ferry we boarded a coach to bring us back, with a stop at Cameron Trading post, where we had some coffee to try and stay awake! On the way we saw several small groups of young elk - no stags though. Once home we ate in, (pizza and salad) and intend to have an early night! Hopefully the mule deer won't be too noisy as we heard their high pitched neighing a lot last night.