Tiff Mapel
Escalante-Class Member
Ahoy, Wordlings! Today you get a two-fer. From a past edition of Lake Powell Magazine, here's Three Roof Ruin and Antelope Canyon. I thought this was fitting since Antelope Canyon recently re-opened to the public. It's been closed for over a year due to that invisible invader, Covid. Now that it's open again, I think about the current challenges with the monsoons and threats of flooding. So if you go, be safe!
Tiff
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A variety of restored ruins exist at Lake Powell that are open to the public for viewing. One of the best ruins on the Escalante arm of Lake Powell is the Three Roof Ruin. It is located 11 miles up from the confluence with the lake on the left side, just beyond the mouth of Willow Creek Canyon. Right now with the water level at 3600, access to Three Roof Ruin is difficult, so the Park Service temporarily closes it. Once the water comes back up, you can boat right up to the edge of the cliff, and scramble up the face to the ruin. Stay on the trail for the best path up to the ruin.
Once at the top, the view over the Escalante canyon is stunning. You have to wonder if the ancient folks who built Three Roof loved the view too. It’s also a safe bet that the canyon floor was a veritable garden of crops: squash, beans, and melons… With the Escalante River flowing nearby, it would be an ideal place to live.
When visiting Three Roof Ruin, remember—you are a guest in someone else’s house. They may not live there anymore, but that does not mean to make your presence known. All archaeological sites within Glen Canyon National Recreation Area are protected by law. If you find any arrowheads, pottery shards, or other artifacts, please leave them where you found them. They are not yours to take. Don’t damage petroglyphs or pictographs. Don’t chip your name into the sandstone. Graffiti IS a crime in GCNRA. It is a punishable offense with heavy fines and/or jail time. So please enjoy the incredible beauty of Lake Powell that surrounds you, and the occasional ruin—relics of the past from another civilization. Leave them as you found them, and remember to take only pictures and leave only footprints.
Antelope Canyon
Antelope Canyon at Lake Powell is one of the most popular and spectacular sites to visit. You can boat into Antelope Canyon from the lake, but the most exciting adventure is on land. If you’ve ever seen pictures of a narrow sandstone slot canyon with an overhead beam of sunlight shining to the bottom, that is Antelope Canyon. It is a photographer’s delight, as you can catch the canyon in any mood—lit up from above, or subdued with soft hues and graceful curves in the stone. To find Antelope Canyon, look for the signs at the side of Highway 98, just a few miles east of Page. Once you pass the Navajo Generating Plant heading toward Page, you should see a parking lot where the tours start.
Antelope Canyon was carved through the millennia by floods and wind, gouging down through the Navajo Sandstone. Now, spectators can view the narrow canyon from the inside, looking up and around to witness the breathtaking result from the awesome power of nature. The beautiful curves and undulations in the sandstone are sculptural in their simplicity. The still and silent walls are a contrast to the violent motion that created them, but their immense beauty lets you momentarily forget that fact. As you move through the canyon, you can see the path that the floodwaters take. Each time a flood passes through, the canyon will change slightly. Grooves will get deeper, pockets will get wider, and sometimes the canyon itself will get a bit deeper.
Antelope Canyon lies on the Navajo Nation, so any tours going into the canyon are Navajo owned and operated. You must first check in and pay the fee in order to get into the canyon, and access is by guided tour only. There are actually two parts to Antelope Canyon—Upper and Lower. The Navajo name for the Upper portion (the Crack) is “Tse' bighanilini,” which means "the place where water runs through rocks." The Lower portion (the Corkscrew) is called “Hasdestwazi,” or "spiral rock arches." In the Upper canyon, the walls rise to about 120 feet above the sandy floor. In the Lower canyon, the walls are shorter, but the Lower canyon is longer. Antelope Canyon is dry most of the year, but is prone to flooding occasionally from heavy rains. Rain doesn’t need to fall in the immediate vicinity for it to flood. Floods can come from rainfall from miles away, and can occur with no warning.
For sightseers, Upper Antelope is more popular, as it is at ground level and requires no hiking on inclines. You can walk all the way through it. Lower Antelope is more challenging—it is narrower, and requires the use of several ladders and stairs to get into and out of the canyon. For photographers, light will be the biggest challenge. If you’re looking to capture that beam of light shining straight down, best to try in the middle of the day during the summer months. For the more muted hues, try going in mid-morning and early afternoons. You’ll catch an array of colors: rose, orange, lavender, and others reflected off the sandstone walls. I wonder what the photo would look like at noon on the summer solstice, June 21st? Would it be too lit up? Any time you go to Antelope Canyon, it will be spectacular. It is quite possibly the only place on earth where the sunlight casts its ever-changing artwork in a narrow sandstone chasm, befitting of only the most sacred cathedrals. However you choose to word it, Antelope Canyon will take your breath away. Be prepared.
Tiff
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Three Roof Ruin
A variety of restored ruins exist at Lake Powell that are open to the public for viewing. One of the best ruins on the Escalante arm of Lake Powell is the Three Roof Ruin. It is located 11 miles up from the confluence with the lake on the left side, just beyond the mouth of Willow Creek Canyon. Right now with the water level at 3600, access to Three Roof Ruin is difficult, so the Park Service temporarily closes it. Once the water comes back up, you can boat right up to the edge of the cliff, and scramble up the face to the ruin. Stay on the trail for the best path up to the ruin.
Once at the top, the view over the Escalante canyon is stunning. You have to wonder if the ancient folks who built Three Roof loved the view too. It’s also a safe bet that the canyon floor was a veritable garden of crops: squash, beans, and melons… With the Escalante River flowing nearby, it would be an ideal place to live.
When visiting Three Roof Ruin, remember—you are a guest in someone else’s house. They may not live there anymore, but that does not mean to make your presence known. All archaeological sites within Glen Canyon National Recreation Area are protected by law. If you find any arrowheads, pottery shards, or other artifacts, please leave them where you found them. They are not yours to take. Don’t damage petroglyphs or pictographs. Don’t chip your name into the sandstone. Graffiti IS a crime in GCNRA. It is a punishable offense with heavy fines and/or jail time. So please enjoy the incredible beauty of Lake Powell that surrounds you, and the occasional ruin—relics of the past from another civilization. Leave them as you found them, and remember to take only pictures and leave only footprints.
Antelope Canyon
Antelope Canyon at Lake Powell is one of the most popular and spectacular sites to visit. You can boat into Antelope Canyon from the lake, but the most exciting adventure is on land. If you’ve ever seen pictures of a narrow sandstone slot canyon with an overhead beam of sunlight shining to the bottom, that is Antelope Canyon. It is a photographer’s delight, as you can catch the canyon in any mood—lit up from above, or subdued with soft hues and graceful curves in the stone. To find Antelope Canyon, look for the signs at the side of Highway 98, just a few miles east of Page. Once you pass the Navajo Generating Plant heading toward Page, you should see a parking lot where the tours start.
Antelope Canyon was carved through the millennia by floods and wind, gouging down through the Navajo Sandstone. Now, spectators can view the narrow canyon from the inside, looking up and around to witness the breathtaking result from the awesome power of nature. The beautiful curves and undulations in the sandstone are sculptural in their simplicity. The still and silent walls are a contrast to the violent motion that created them, but their immense beauty lets you momentarily forget that fact. As you move through the canyon, you can see the path that the floodwaters take. Each time a flood passes through, the canyon will change slightly. Grooves will get deeper, pockets will get wider, and sometimes the canyon itself will get a bit deeper.
Antelope Canyon lies on the Navajo Nation, so any tours going into the canyon are Navajo owned and operated. You must first check in and pay the fee in order to get into the canyon, and access is by guided tour only. There are actually two parts to Antelope Canyon—Upper and Lower. The Navajo name for the Upper portion (the Crack) is “Tse' bighanilini,” which means "the place where water runs through rocks." The Lower portion (the Corkscrew) is called “Hasdestwazi,” or "spiral rock arches." In the Upper canyon, the walls rise to about 120 feet above the sandy floor. In the Lower canyon, the walls are shorter, but the Lower canyon is longer. Antelope Canyon is dry most of the year, but is prone to flooding occasionally from heavy rains. Rain doesn’t need to fall in the immediate vicinity for it to flood. Floods can come from rainfall from miles away, and can occur with no warning.
For sightseers, Upper Antelope is more popular, as it is at ground level and requires no hiking on inclines. You can walk all the way through it. Lower Antelope is more challenging—it is narrower, and requires the use of several ladders and stairs to get into and out of the canyon. For photographers, light will be the biggest challenge. If you’re looking to capture that beam of light shining straight down, best to try in the middle of the day during the summer months. For the more muted hues, try going in mid-morning and early afternoons. You’ll catch an array of colors: rose, orange, lavender, and others reflected off the sandstone walls. I wonder what the photo would look like at noon on the summer solstice, June 21st? Would it be too lit up? Any time you go to Antelope Canyon, it will be spectacular. It is quite possibly the only place on earth where the sunlight casts its ever-changing artwork in a narrow sandstone chasm, befitting of only the most sacred cathedrals. However you choose to word it, Antelope Canyon will take your breath away. Be prepared.