Wednesday

The wind finally calmed down a bit last night, but not before it blew half the seed out of our bird feeder.  This morning the yellow headed blackbirds were happily doing clean up duty on our site!

The day started clear and cold with ominous black clouds producing snow on the mountains and mesa's north east of us.  Troopers that we are, we took our second cup outside in the pale sunshine.   Hoodies have become our best friends.    When we could stand it no more, we went inside and did a few household chores.     After lunch we set out for a bit of auto touring that ended in a bit of a real hike to Horseshoe Bend.

First stop was the Glen Canyon Dam visitor center (Carl Hayden Visitor Center, I think).   We looked at all the displays, and watched a cool 15 minute movie on how the dam was made.   The building is beautiful with floor to ceiling windows hanging out over the dam with dramatic views of the dam, bridge and canyon below.   Dave went outside and walked on the bridge a ways, but I stayed inside, close to the wall.

view of the bridge from inside the visitor's center

I wanted to try and drive down 89 south to see where the road had been carried away and subsequently closed, so we headed that way.   Just south of Page, we were turned away, but not before stopping at the  trailhead for a hike to Horseshoe Bend.  It looked like the trail was just a sandy walk up to the top of a mesa, so up we went.   Turned out it was a sandy walk up that mesa and then down the other side and across a relatively flat, stony expanse to the very edge of the cliff overlooking a horseshoe shaped bend in the river.    No fence, no guard rails, nothing, just 1000 feet straight down to the Colorado River.  It was breathtaking.   What I could see of it.   I couldn't make myself go near the edge, just couldn't do it.  It was windy, oh so windy and I felt like I would be blown right over the edge.  Actually it felt like we were experiencing, first hand, what wind erosion felt like.   Bits of sand were blasting into our faces and they stung like bb's.   Dave, silver tongued devil that he is, said my hair was acting like a snow fence and I was getting drifts of sand on my forehead.  Isn't he sweet?

flat section of trail over the hill.   no hints of what is to come

I wonder who lives here, a hobbit perhaps?

this guy was quietly giving himself up to the sun by the side of the trail.
Dave says even the critters have thorns out here!

ahead of us, the ground was beginning to crack.
can you see the other people?

Horseshoe Bend as seen from as close as I could make myself get to the edge

even my shadow was having a bad hair day

On our way home, the skies to the north were roiling with black clouds.  I just can't get over the way the light plays with the shapes of the mesas, mountains and lake.  It changes from minute to minute.  I just can't get enough of it.   Below are two pictures of the same rock feature, across the lake from us, taken within 15 minutes of each other.

Navajo Mountain, in the background, has become snow covered during the course of the day