Page Arizona
Just outside of Page Arizona you will find Antelope Canyon, directly under the three chimneys of one of the coal plants that has been powering Arizona. Ironically there is also a power dam located at Page as will set across Glen Canyon. Page originally the work party town for the town has developed into a pleasant down used to access
Horse Bend,
Antelope Canyon, and
Lee's Ferry.
Antelope Canyon
Antelope Canyon has a number of entrances the two main ones are upper and lower Antelope Canyon, both require Navajo Guides. So there is both a guide fee and an entrance fee. The upper Canyon is accessed by a short ride on the back of a cover truck along a wash that leads to this canyons entrance.
The lower canyon is accessed through an aluminium staircase system that descends into the canyon. Both canyons have a weather warning system which initiates an alarm if there is a sudden rain event in the wash, which can be up to 40 miles a way. The canyon has to be cleared quickly before the water reaches the canyon as there have been fatalities in the past, I believe before the warning system went in.
From Page, you run along highway 98 and 46 miles along this highway you come to Square Butte. It is worth getting out of the car here and exploring as it is one on the most interesting things you will see along the first stretch of this highway.
Also along this highway is a turn off that leads into the
Navajo National Monument which is well worth turning off to visit. The monument contains cliff dwells of the was built by the Ancestral Puebloan people and considered part of the traditional Zuni territory. The park headquarters is built on the cliffs and you have to descend into the valley to see the ruins and valley floor that they used to farm.
Kayenta
Kayenta is the service centre and the turn off for Monument Valley, Kayenta is also the name of the Navajo county or state that extends from Arizona into Utah. Located on the Butte above the town is a vast Coal mine that has been used for years to power the coal power generation station in Page. However, as it is in the process of shutting down you will find on your way toward monument valley a growing solar power farm.
Just past the solar farm, you will come across Agathia Peak a majestic extinct volcanic cone.
