A Personal Amateur Photography Blog
Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon in Navajo Nation just outside of Page, Arizona. It is an amazing place created by the erosion of the Navajo Sandstone by water (at times very intense flash floods).
For this trip I have tried to limit the postings to around 14 photos each – no chance here, it was tough enough to get down to 21!
A big thanks to our guide Lamar, who not only pointed out the highlights, he was very adept at taking photos with your phone (no – none of these are Lamar’s!)
The day started out in Boise, with a tour around town to check out some of the architectural highlights.
The Boise Depot is a former train station that is now used for special events.
We then left town, headed for Twin Falls. Along the way we made a stop at Bruneau Sand Dunes.
After climbing on the dunes for a while, we continued across the southern Idaho countryside.
As we arrived in Twin Falls we crossed the Perrine Memorial Bridge. This bridge is 486′ above the Snake River. It is also the only place in the country where people can BASE jump without a permit at any time.
Also in town is Shoshone Falls.
Our cold, rainy Memorial Day weekend continued with a visit to one of the best named towns in the country, Walla Walla Washington.
The area around Walla Walla has always been farmed, only in the last few decades it has become known for it’s vineyards.
Further east, at the Idaho/Washington border lie the twin towns of Clarkston, Washington and Lewiston, Idaho. The Snake River south of the towns has an impressive canyon.
Washington Highway 129 leaves Clarkston south towards the Oregon border, which when reached turns into Oregon Highway 3. It is a very cool drive!
In addition to the national park there is a state park along the Rio Grande in west Texas called Big Bend Ranch State Park. While smaller than the national park, it is still very large.
Our morning in the park took us along the renown River Road, which is very scenic.
Our first hike of the day was through Closed Canyon. The trail through this slot canyon quickly becomes sided by 150′ cliffs.
Eventually you reach a point where you need rappelling equipment to continue over large erosions, so we had to turn around and return to the car.
The HooDoo Trail is another highlight of the park. Being able to get close up gives you a sense of how large they are.
Our time along the Rio Grande ended with this hike. From this point forward it will be north and east towards home.
Big Bend National Park is one of the more remote parks in the continental United States, but with some effort – we arrived!
The early morning drive down from Marathon provided an excellent sunrise, giving the mountains great coloring.
Eventually we made our way back down to the Rio Grande River Valley.
Our west Texas days constantly provided interesting cacti views.
The Rio Grande in this area is really just a decent size creek, but the kayaks were setting out for the day.
Our first choice for hiking along the river, the Santa Elena Canyon Trail, was closed due to wildfires, so we headed instead for the Boquillas Canyon Trail.
As we made our way along the river an elderly man on the Mexico side serenaded us with songs in an effort to get us to come down to the river bank so he could sell his wares.
The canyon walls continually closed in until we couldn’t go any further unless we went in the river.
We returned to cross the border into Mexico (detailed on the next post) passing more colorful mountains along the way.
With wildfires closing a number of the more popular spots in the park, we chose to go up into the basin and check out the Window View Trail. Again we were treated to interesting vegetation.
Being in the basin we were surrounded on all sides by the mountains.
This view is ‘The Window’.
While it was disappointing that the wildfires impacted the park, there was plenty to see and do for the day.
We flew from Maui through Honolulu to Kauai on a Tuesday evening. Using google maps we made our way to our hotel, which took us past the shipping docks to who knows where.
The following morning we were up and on our way before sunrise. After about an hour and a half, and a quick breakfast in Waimea, we made our way up to Waimea Canyon.
We were greeted by the official bird of Hawaii – the rooster.
We made our way through the park until we reached the famed Kalalau Overlook. If it looks familiar, it should, it was used in Jurassic Park.
We are about 4000′ above the ocean at this point.
Look closely you will see the helicopter well below in the valley.
The other highlight of the area is Waimea Canyon.
Waipo’o Falls cascades into the canyon.
From a distance you can see why it has the nickname Grand Canyon of Hawaii.
It is immense, especially given how small the island is overall. This area of Kauai is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen, and well worth the trip.
We made our way back down to the coast, and found this dirt road that continued in the direction of the bluffs we had just been on.
Eventually we reached the end of the road and found this amazing secluded beach with a view of Ni’Hau.
The waves, while not as impressive as what was in Maui, still made a great ‘Hawaii Five O’ look.
But it was the view of the cliffs that made the dusty ride worthwhile.
On our return trip to Lihue we stopped by the site of a Russian Fort, which was near the town of Waimea. Just down the hill from this fort a river ran into the ocean making some great sand dunes.
Further along the coast we found Salt Pond Park and Beach. Nearby pools produce the famed Hawaiian sea salt, but the beach was more picturesque.
Our final stop of the day was at Kauai Coffee. Very touristy, but amusing.
They claim to have 4 million coffee trees, and near the visitor center you can take a walk amongst them.
They also had some displays on how the beans are dried. These are for show, as this is a large commercial processing facility (that does not offer real tours of the plant).
Remember that drive in the dark – it was much better in the sun!
An amazing view at the Menehune Fishpond, literally a mile from our little hotel. The moral of this view is don’t always trust first impressions, the hotel and the views were spectacular – you just have to go through the cargo shipping area when you come from the airport.
RDZ Photography 