Day 7 - Lower Antelope Trail & A Couple Surprises
Remember when I said that my plans got derailed and in the most wonderful way? Day 7 is a continuation of that.
Day 7 we were supposed to be getting up early, going to Bryce Canyon and hiking the same hike we hiked the night before, heading to our destination of Lower Antelope Canyon, and then headed towards our Air BnB near our next national park. But with the extra time, Cody and I woke up early since we had a great nights rest and walked the mile to Wonderlust Cowgirl Coffee (another shirt you'll likely see me wearing around). We got some great coffee and met a pupper, it was a great time. Once we returned to our Air BnB, we were already packed up and ready to go, so we all decided to grab breakfast at a breakfast place in down town Panguitch. If you're familiar with Shepherdstown, it was very similar to a mom and pops diner sort of like Betty's. Great food and great prices!
We chowed down on breakfast and hit the road. Although, it's terrible I feel like my mind is already failing me, which is why I want to write these travels out. For some reason, I feel like we might have shopped the old Antique store today, although in my last blog post I mentioned shopping the day we got there. Or maybe we did both?! My picture trail on my phone isn't helping me either, I didn't take as many pictures as I wish I would have... hah.
Regardless, on the agenda today was going to Lower Antelope Canyon since we checked out Bryce Canyon the night before.
On the way to Lower Antelope Canyon we made some impromptu stops, which I was SO thrilled with! We didn't get to spend much time at these impromptu stops, but first up was the Coral Pink Sand Dunes.
As we were driving, we passed a sign for Coral Pink Sand Dunes. It peaked mine and Rachel's attention because we spent time together at the White Sand Dunes Notional Park just two years prior. After a quick 5 minute drive and us looking at each other, we were like... TURN THE CAR AROUND. We decided to back track and check out the coral pink sand dunes. Memories - am I right?
We quickly stopped by the visitor center, grabbed our collectibles, took our shoes off and started walking on the scorching hot coral pink sand. I wish we had more time, because I would have loved to have the guys try and walk up the top of a sand dune like we thought we were going to do back in 2021.
We watched some people sand board down the side of the dunes for a little while and then we had to hit the road and continue on. We were on a little bit of a time crunch since we did have tickets that we had to make sure we made.
As we left, however, I also vocalized that we would be passing by Horseshoe Bend. How could you POSSIBLY be in the area and not pass by horseshoe bend.... So, there we go again on another impromptu trip.
We turned off the highway and decided to make a quick pit stop. To our surprise though, this destination isn't right off the parking lot. It was .6 miles from the parking lot. Not that .6 miles is a distance, we have certainly hiked and walked more than that this trip. We were just on a time crunch to make it to our next tour.
As we headed down the trail, let me remind you that this is the desert at noon on a hot day. We were trying to speed walk down the trail so we could see horseshoe bend and be able to enjoy it before walking the .6 miles back up to the vehicle. The way to the bend was marvelous because for the most part it was slightly downhill.
We got to the bend and gosh, it was probably more packed than any of the national park that we had been to. There were probably 100+ people trying to have their opportunity at the most picturesque of places. We took some pictures, enjoyed how beautiful the bend was and then decided to head back.
The walk back sucked because not only was it slightly uphill, not only was it noon in the desert, but as I was checking the time it would take us to get to the next destination my GPS was telling me that we would BE LATE! Then for some reason half of our phones / watches had one time zone and then half of us had a different time zone.
So with that being said, we really didn't know if we were going to be late for our canyon tour or not! I am not sure if anyone else had the same anxiety that I had, but good gosh, I would have been so upset if we were late and couldn't go on this tour!
We walked the .6 miles back to the vehicle and then continued to our paid tour at Lower Antelope Canyon.
Now, the story behind why we were going out of our way to visit Lower Antelope Canyon is because when we were planning this trip one of the two things that we wanted to do was Zion's Angels Landing and we always wanted to see "The Wave". Unfortunately, both of these places you need to put in and you must be selected for the lottery in order to be able to see it.
We were able to win the lottery for the four of us to do Angel's Landing, but unfortunately we did not win the lottery to go see the infamous "The Wave". If you're not sure what "The Wave" is, go and give it a quick google. I am sure you might have seen it before. So, instead, we decided to book a tour to see a similar canyon. I don't regret the decision one bit.
After stressing out the whole trip to the Lower Antelope Canyon tour site, we were happy to report that we were in a different time zone and we were actually EARLY to our tour - YAY! We were offered to go on a tour that was earlier than the one we had booked. GREAT, we thought!
We had only 10 - 20 minutes to spare instead of the hour to spare before we got to go on our tour.
A little bit about this canyon, it is a slot canyon in located in northern Arizona in Lake Powell Navajo Tribal Park. It is a tour that is on the Navajo reservation and all of the tour guides either lived on the reservation or were native Navajo.
On this tour you are not allowed to carry anything with you but personal cell phones and a water bottle. Absolutely no bags, camelbacks, go pros, nothing. Even though you are allowed to take a cell phone, they have a strict NO VIDEO policy. They mentioned that they want to protect the beauty of the canyon and their ancestors before them. Pictures are allowed and they even would show us the best pictures of the canyon and TAKE the pictures for us.
This is another tour that we sort of splurged on, but I don't regret it one bit. We got to hear the history of the Navajo Nation, we got the opportunity to watch a Navajo world champion hoop dancer, we got to learn how the slot canyons were created, it was an opportunity that we likely won't see again.
The tour last approximately an hour and then we were headed to our next destination. I typically take videos when I travel and then go back later and screenshot what I like. I know that the quality suffers, but I prefer watching pictures when I have the opportunity because you get to hear the sounds, and see what it was actually like when you were there in the moment. I took so many pictures on this tour since we weren't able to take videos, I spent about the whole car ride to our next destination just looking at what I had taken while we were in the canyon.
We went back through Page, Arizona (which is where Horseshoe Bend is located) on the way to our next place to stay and we passed by a brewing company and decided to stop for a drink and some dinner. I loved the vibe of Grand Canyon Brewing Company. I wish we had one like that around here. Their motto is "Made for adventure seekers".
From the brewery, the drive to our Air BnB was about an hour and a half away, but I chose it because it was only 17 minutes from one of the Zion National Park entrances.
The Air BnB was one of the more disappointing ones that I have stayed in and I let them know in my review, nicely. Someone is making a lot of money because it's like they purchased an old hotel that is the closest place to stay near the park and they AirBnB the rooms to people like us who are just passing through. It was cheap, so there's no surprise there that it was dirty.... but yeah. I guess it was a place to sleep.
I am attaching this picture of Rachel, because she turned into a cat for a solid 45 minutes. It was HERE that I thought we might also be taking a CAT home.. hahaha.
We ran across the street from the hotel thing to grab some snacks for the morning. One of my favorite moments from this trip was happening in the AM!
Day 8 - Zion National Park
This was one of the days that I was excited for. After watching videos of Angel's Landing in Moab, I was now extremely nervous, but mostly excited.
We all got up and got ready for the day. Cody & I had a lottery to hike Angel's Landing at noon. Yes, noon. Not my ideal time to hike in treacherous conditions, but I didn't get many options here!
Rachel and Michael decided to sit this one out after all, but still had fun on their own adventures for the day!
We left our Air BnB and headed towards Zion National Park. The plan was to do our "normal" routine, head to the visitor center, get our collectibles, then Cody and I would ride the tram to the Angels Landing trail head and Rachel and Michael would come pick us up later.
We made it to the visitor center, grabbed the items that we normally purchased and then Cody and I were on our own.
Zion visitor center was ginormous compared to other visitor centers we have visited in other national parks. A lot of the information about these timed stamped entries for the hike weren't too clear or available online, so we waited for about 20 minutes in the information line to see where we needed to go in order for our 'pass' to be scanned or looked at. Don't you hate when you patiently stand in like forever and it takes you .2 seconds for your question to be answered?
Yup - that was us.
We then went and boarded the tram that takes you throughout Zion National Park. Some of the park is not accessible to the average driver, so you must take the tram to reach your destination. The driver on both our ride to the trail head and the ride back to the visitor center after the hike were hilarious, so that was an awesome part of our time in the park that I was not anticipating.
We got off at shuttle stop number 6 which is 4.6 miles away from the visitor center. From there we crossed the road, had to cross a river, and then made our way to the sandy path that would lead you t0 the Angel's Landing trail head.
It was along this path that we saw a ranger with a table set up in the shade that checked your Angel's Landing timed stamp entry and then lets go continue on your journey.
I am sure things might change in the future or perhaps become more struct. But there was nothing stopping us from passing on by without stopping and chatting with the park ranger. Many other people passed by since there are many other trails along the same beginning pathway that follow to Angel's landing.
Angel's landing is a 5.4 mile hike round trip with 1,488 feet elevation gain. The hike is considered strenuous due to not only its length, the the thousand foot drops on either side of the trail in some points. The hike is estimated to take most people 3 - 6 hours.
The trail starts out gravel and switches to a hard concrete surface. You'll pass through Refrigerator canyon which is a short portion of the hike through two canyons that will get you out of the heat of the desert.
From refrigerator canyon (picture Cody took of the two of us) you'll make your way up Walters Wiggles, which is 21 switch backs that help you traverse the elevation gain in a manageable manor. Walters Wiggle was named after the gentleman in 1930 that helps create the switch back design to safely get people up from the canyon. The beauty surrounding the hike in its entirety is breathtaking.
From the switchbacks of Walter's Wiggles, you'll finally make it to scouts landing. This is where a lot of people stop, grab a snack, and either head back down the trail, head to another side trail, or continue on to Angel's landing. There are many parts of Angel's landing that have steps carved into the rock to help you traverse the terrain and chains that help you get at least three points of contact for safety. Don't let that fool you though, a confirmed 17 people have died from falling from Angel's landing and some people think that number should be closer to 20. I didn't look too much into the deaths.... I didn't really want to know.
I don't really know what to say when someone asks me, "was Angel's Landing hard". I want to say yes, because yes.. it was. I get a similar thrill all over again just by thinking about it or looking at pictures. However, some videos make it look more scary than it really is.
Can you take one step off the ledge and fall over a thousand feet to your death, yes. But if you're careful can you hike this without an issues, also yes. I am sure that doesn't give you a clear depiction of what I thought about the hike.
I thank God on that trip that we had fairly good weather. It was chilly in the morning so we wore a cover up of some kind, but it was warm enough at the peak of Angel's landing that we were able to take off our sweatshirts. It wasn't TOO hot for the hike so I wasn't too worried about dehydration. But I life in a constant state of dehydration, so who am I kidding. We also didn't get any rain the day of or the day before. I have read stories of people who decided to hike this hike WITH SNOW ON THE TRAIL. Absolutely NO thank you!
Long story short; Would I do this hike again? Absolutely.
We made the long trek back down the chains, back down Walters Wiggles, down refrigerator canyon, and then finally back to the tram that would take us back to the visitor center.
From there we gave Rachel and Michael a ring that we were headed back to the visitor center and then we waited for their arrival. I swore I timed how long it took us, but I can't find the picture and I don't see it as I went through my texts. I will say, that we spent probably 30 - 45 minutes at the top of Angel's landing just experiencing the epic views and taking in all the hard work that we just achieved. I would say it probably took us about 5 hours if I had to guess.
Rachel and Michael finally found us and picked us up and we left Zion National Park and headed to our next AirBnB. I was excited for this one too because it was a TINY HOUSE! We had some time to spare that evening and we were planning on arriving to this tiny home a little early because it has a grill, it had some hammocks, and it had a picnic table and fire pit for us to chill at before we woke up the next morning and headed towards Las Vegas for the day.
We decided to stop at a grocery store and grab us dinner that we could cook. After a long hike and a lot of excitement I was excited that we were going to be having steak, salad, and some watermelon! It's the little things in life, y'all!
As we were eating dinner and talking about the upcoming day, our last day together, we started talking about how miserable the flight out west was with Frontier. I think that it was Cody who said, "LOL. Let's just drive home." ....and we all were silent.
Was the silence because we thought that was the most dumb decision we could possible make? Were we all silent because the steak was delicious? Was it silence because we were all thinking that sounded like a brilliant idea? Well...
Wouldn't you know it... WE CANCELED OUR FLIGHTS HOME.
Part of me was excited. Part of me thought to myself, what are we doing? After we canceled our flights, nothing can ever be easy... We spent the next HOUR AND A HALF trying to get a hold of our rental company to rent it for an extra day and be able to drop it off in another location. I will save you the struggle of exactly how hard that was and how many people we talked to... and what it wound up amounting to is Rachel and Michael having to drive to Las Vegas at 10:00 PM at night while Cody and I cleaned up from dinner.
Somewhere in here was day 9 - Rental Cars & Driving
While Rachel and Michael were on the 2.5 hour trip to Las Vegas to extend our reservation and be able to drop it off at another location, Cody and I were able to get a couple hours of sleep after our long ass hike. They called us on the way back home from Las Vegas for us to finish the last minute cleaning and get everything packed up. It was around 3 AM that I messaged our AirBnB owner and let them know that we were checking out early and headed back east.
I don't know how much extra Rachel had to pay to extend the car for a day and be able to drop it off on another coast. Just know that I am extremely thankful you were able to do that for us! <3
On our ride traveling back home Rachel and I decided that it would be fun for us to drive through Breckenridge. We loved Breck just as much as we loved Moab when we went through two years ago so we did make a quick pit stop where we did a little shopping and walked down town. I don't have ANY pictures of this besides taking picture of snow on some of the trails.. since I had to apparently drive out west to see any this year. As we were leaving Breck it did start to snow. So again, one of the only experiences of snow I got this year was out in Colorado.
I don't have much to report on the drive back home except that there was a lot of sleeping. We all took turns driving, but I would say that Cody did decide to do most of it. It wasn't as magical as I was hoping it would be. The whole trip from near Las Vegas all the way to BWI took us about 36 hours to complete.
Driving across the country is so funny. I began to not know what time it was or even what day it was. Coffee was acceptable at every gas station we stopped at. Whether it was 6 AM or 4 PM, it really didn't matter. At some points, I wasn't sure if I should be eating breakfast or is it time for dinner?
It felt so good when we picked up the truck and were on familiar roads again. After deciding to drive across the country around 9 PM on Thursday, we managed to get home around 8 PM on Saturday. I don't regret a single thing because I know it will likely ever happen again.
This trip exceeding all of my expectations and then some. I couldn't imagine anything more. We had our downfalls on the trip but those are small little slivers of memories that I will likely forget (I hope I forget those Frontier flights). For the other 98% of the trip, it was a trip of a lifetime. I am so thankful that Rachel invited me on her 30th birthday trip and I am so happy that we got to do it again for my 30th birthday.
I am not only creating these blog posts as a diary for me to be able to reread in the future, but also to be any help to anyone that is planning on enjoying the great outdoors like I love to do. Please feel free to message me on social media or email me at ithankfitness@gmail.com and I would love to help you answer any questions that I can. Or at least do a little digging to help you figure it out.
Rachel, here's to planning out 35th birthday? (;
xoxo
Krysta
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