Quick 3 day trip through Page/Kanab/Vegas

[jdgibney]

This is my first attempt at a TR, I'm not sure it will be very informative, but hopefully somewhat entertaining, if not completely stream of consciousness rambling.

The short of it is, I did a 11 day loop through the area in the early fall but we didn't get permits to hike Coyote Buttes North (and didn't have the time to try to get walk-ins). So I decided to try the lotto every month until I got them, and then build a trip around that. It turns out, based on my experience that I'm glad we did not get them for our trip because a) it was nearly 100 degrees, and b) my friend and I, on that trip, were extremely out of shape and would have had a tough time with it. So anyway, while I was ON the trip on Oct 1, I got the email that I was selected for permits in January (the 7th), and I was psyched! But as it turned out, I had accidentally put in for 6 permits not just 2 (OOPS!) I contacted the BLM folks and they said they couldn't switch it to just 6 but that there should be plenty available on the 15th if I don't pay for the six permits by the deadline. I couldn't wrestle up that many people (and didn't know about this forum yet!) so I took the chance and released them. As it turned out, there were plenty of spaces available and I decided to grab 2 for the 25th of January and my best friend (Rob) who works in Washington DC at the Pentagon was psyched to come with.

We both flew into Vegas from the east coast (I flew from Boston, he from DC) on Sunday, Jan 23rd. My flight was delayed 2 hours getting to Vegas, which didn't start the trip off outstandingly, but what can you do! We drove up to St. George and got there shortly after 11pm. Our original plan was to wake up super early and drive to the Rim Rock Hoodoos trailhead before sunrise (I figured, we're both on east coast time so getting up early wouldn't be a problem, if we got to St. George when we planned). We decided to scrap that and just get up and on the road for 7AM.

It worked out perfectly to visit Lower Antelope. We drove straight there, got there around 10:30am. Paid the fee, got photo permits and had the place for 4 hours. There were only a handful of other folks in the canyon with us including a photography club from Michigan, who I really enjoyed talking to and sharing stories with along the trek through the canyon. I imagine most of you have been in there before. I've yet to go to Upper, but I really enjoyed this place. I hope the pictures below can do it some justice! We only spent a little over 2 hours in there, and I'd love to come back during the summer (even though it'd be much more crowded) with the possibility of the light beams)

Following Lower Antelope, we went and checked into our hotel for the night, and relaxed for a bit and grabbed some lunch.

Around 4PM we headed out to the scenic overlook so Rob could see the river and the cool view of the Glen Canyon Dam (I was there on my last trip and didn't take any photos this time). After that, we drove down the road to the Horseshoe Bend parking area and headed up to the overlook. Again, I was there in the fall. On that trip, we didn't get up early enough to catch 'pre-sunset', on our way up to the point, another photographer was heading back down and snidely remarked "you're 30 minutes late". Thanks for the tip jerkwad
Anyway, this time, we got there at a perfect time. We met one other dude there, Mike from Scottsdale, Arizona, who was set up with his tripod. It turned out, he was in town as he got permits to hike to the wave the following day, and he was solo. We got to talking, and decided to all go in together to Coyote Buttes, which turned out to be pretty cool. It didn't seem like there'd be anything cool to shoot, but as the sun was setting, the clouds (which I didn't see on most of my trip in the fall, OR when we went to CBN on Tuesday) really popped and the rocks lit up.

After shooting for a while, we packed up and walked back down to the parking area where we met a Navajo dude who was supposedly paid by the parks service to make sure that everyone had left HSB each night, since someone had supposedly jumped to his death the week before (?) He asked us for a ride back to WalMart and since we were going that way, we obliged.

We went to grab dinner at Bonkers which was recommended to us, but it was closed for the season. Instead we went to an italian place who's name I can't remember, and the food was just as forgettable (and I got a piece of plastic in my chicken marsala).... We made our plans for the following morning and then went back to the hotel to crash.

Here are a few pix from Lower Antelope and Horseshoe Bend. I'll continue the report with photos from The Wave/CBN later on tonight hopefully.
Enjoy!

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[jdgibney]

Thank you!

Day 2:
Tuesday morning we set out to meet Mike at our hotel and head to House Rock Valley Road by 6:45, but my buddy Rob isn't the easiest person to get going in the morning. We finally left around 7:10 or so and made the drive out. We had a Chevy Equinox SUV, and while it wasn't 4wd, it was AWD, and thankfully the conditions were dry on HRVR. Mike has an Audi and he didn't have any trouble either, though he drove very slow as Wes can attest to, as he blew past us in his truck
We stopped at the trailhead parking for Rimrock Hoodoos as we were debating whether or not to leave Mike's car there, and drive in, but he decided he didn't feel comfortable leaving it there all day (can't blame him), and in case he or we wanted to bail early on CBN, it was good to have both vehicles at the trailhead.
Anyway, I think we got down there around 8:30 and ran into Wes and his wife (who's name escapes me, sorry Wes!) who were taking off down the trial as we pulled in. I introduced myself and my buds to them and then we packed up for the hike. It was chilly, probably in the low 20's at the time, so we layered up pretty good (I was glad I had my winter coat).

The hike itself was beautiful, and also made me realize that as bad a shape as I thought I was in, I was probably in a little worse! (though i have dropped 15 pounds since early December). I also probably brought more stuff than I needed in my pack, but thats another story. I think it took us about an hour and a half to get there with some stops to take photos. Rob is new to taking pictures and had a new point and shoot he bought from his brother that he loved learning how to use as we went along. As it got warmer, we took our winter coats off, and we found a spot to hide them to grab on the way out...We ran into (ran into as in were passed by!) dayhiker and his two beautiful dogs on our way there.

Once we got to the 'wave' we took some cheezy portraits along the entrance there, and then ran into Wes and chatted for a while before they took off. We ran into dayhiker again at the top of the Wave where a few photog's were set up with their tripods. There was a really nice couple from Denver there and then four people showed up with one of them, an older woman, practically being carried up the hill and into the Wave by (I think) her husband and either children or son/daughter-in-law or daughter/son-in-law. We found out she had a brain tumor that was taking its toll on her, but she really wanted to see the Wave. What an incredible place to see, and a labor of love getting her up there. They were extremely gracious for us offering to help her, and offering to share our water/food, even though they had plenty and shared some food with us. There was a film crew and adventure show hosts from Montana there filming stuff for their show too. They were pretty friendly, and seemed to be enjoying the wave....
We hung out there for quite a while before wandering around a little bit behind the wave. Its a shame, but honestly, we weren't up for exploring too much the sites I really wanted to see, and definitely have incentive to come back soon, and hopefully often.

The hike back was uneventful, though exhausting for me and Mike (Rob's a cross country track runner, and also only about 140lbs, it was a breeze for the little twig ) we got back to the cars around 5:15 or so. After using the restrooms and packing stuff up, and saying goodbye to Mike, I pulled what is commonly known in my circles as a 'gibney moment'... I had two bottles of generic pills in the console of the car. My back and shoulder were really sore, and I reached for what I thought were 2 Aleive pills and popped 'em... well, it turned out, that they were immodium pills (they don't even LOOK alike) which I realized as soon as I swallowed (I usually take a couple in the morning so I don't have any 'issues' out on the trails, which i didn't!) So yeah, that happened.
We drove out HRVR a lot easier/faster than driving in, and then drove to Kanab for the night.

We found an awesome place for Mexican called Escobar's I believe, and then relaxed for the night.
Photos from Coyote Buttes North (Part 1)

[jdgibney]

(Part 2):

[oldno7]

nice pictures and TR

[ibenick]

Killer shots.

[jdgibney]

Thanks, fellas!
I'll have the final day up later tonight or within the next few days, I hope.

[Dayhiker]

Nice shots. When I am in a place thats been photographed as much as the Wave has I try to find other things to set my images apart from the usual and you did a very good job at that. And like you I had a hard time narrowing down the 425 digital images (plus I haven't seen how my 120 film came out) from two days and from two digital bodies.
Like you I carried a bit more in my pack than needed but most of it at the start was water, 196oz of it mostly for the dogs, and thanks for the compliment about my dogs. You ever come back this way again let me know.

[jdgibney]

Thank you for the compliments, and I'll definitely let you know when I come back. I'm not sure if I'll be back to that area this year, as I'm planning a week in/around Moab later in the year if I can pull it off, but I'd like to come back soon!

[tanya]

Great stuff!!!

[Deadeye008]

Love the shots in Lower Antelope!

[apcronnelly]

Talk about knowing how to make a person jealous!

[jdgibney]

Thanks, everyone! I still have one more day to recap, but it'll have to wait a few days, as I am heading to Connecticut to be with family after a cousin passed away this week :(

[wes242]

Nice shots man! Makes me wish we made it over to Page on our trip. To bad we didn't have some clouds at the Wave....

[bigred72]

Sweet!!!

[jdgibney]

Day 3, part 1
Wednesday morning we headed over to Coral Pink Sand Dunes to catch sunrise. I didn't think we'd make it in time, but we made it at a perfect time to catch the sun peeking over the mountains. It was really cold and windy (low 20's) but the colors on the dunes were great. I imagine sunset is even better there. Wondering why they have bleachers set up, is it to just watch sunset?
Anyway, here are a few shots from our quick drive-through visit:
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[accadacca]

Great stuff! Excellent photos man.

[jdgibney]

Thanks again for reading, and for the compliments! I'm hoping to finish it off tonight or tomorrow with my Valley of Fire pix and quick tale about almost losing my friend waiting for the sun to set at the 'fire wave'.....

[abirken]

FABULOUS!!!!! LOVE Antelope Canyon photos. WOW! I think I may also have to see that while down that way. ;)

[jdgibney]

Thank you!
Definitely do it, if you get a chance. It was wonderful!
(I have another set of photos from Valley of Fire, along with a quick story, but I'm still recovering files from my portable hard drive that crashed, it'll be a few days but they'll be up here soon!)