We’ve had a busy few days… Today is a little more laid back…
The caravan broke into four groups to take a short trip to see Horseshoe Bend Slot Canyon, on the Navajo Nation Reservation… We were lucky to get the Noon time slot. We were able to have a leisurely morning…
To get to the Slot canyon, we drove into Page, then rode in a truck outfitted with 15 seats… We were driven along the highway for three miles, then we rode over dirt and rock roads for another six miles…
Once the truck parked, we walked the last 1/2 mile…
Once we reached the entrance to the slot canyon our guide told us about it… Slot canyons are formed by erosion due to water and wind. While they are beautiful, they are dangerous if thunderstorms are in the area. They can fill with raging torrents of water within seconds…
The canyon averages about six feet wide, with many places only about three feet wide. It is mostly open to the sky, but, because of the narrow width of the canyon, sunlight sometimes does not reach in to the bottom of the canyon…
We walked from one end of the canyon to the other, then back again. All along the way are spectacular views up, out, around, and through the sandstone walls. These canyon walls are Navajo Sandstone, and they really are this color red…
Our driver, and tour guide, was a Navajo women who grew up on this land. She first saw this slot canyon when she was six years old and the sheep she was tending wandered into the area. Her grandfather was named Manson, and it was he that traded the land named after their family to the Federal Government for the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam. In exchange for his land, the Navajo Nation received some much coveted land in Utah.
(The Navajo Nation Reservation is one of the few reservations in the US that is actually on the ancestral land of these particular Indians. They owe this to the Spanish explorers, who controlled this entire area, in the 1600s and 1700s. The Spanish explorers and the subsequent Spanish government kept meticulous records of who owned what. When the Federal government wanted to put the Navajo Indians onto a reservation, the courts held that this was their ancestral land and that they could stay on it as their reservation… Zuni, Acoma, and Hopi Indians are in a similar situation…)
After our tour we returned to the Villa and had a relaxing evening. Most Caravaners went out for one thing or another, so the entire campground was quiet…
And an enjoyable time was had by all…
Adventures in the Villa 
October 4, 2018 at 2:52 pm
Wow! Those sandstone pictures in the slot canyon are fantastic!😊
Sent from my iPhone
>
LikeLike