This is a continuation of my post about the Sand Dunes. After I left the Sand Dunes I went to Page AZ, Grand Canyon, Zion, Capitol Reef, and Arches National Parks. It was an amazing trip. I knocked off 4 bucket list hikes on this trip by doing Antelope Canyon, hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and doing the Subway and the Narrows in Zion. I'll post the Grand Canyon pics in a different thread because it's an amazing park and I took to many pics of it.
1) Horseshoe Bend
It's hard to see but there are blue rafts at the bottom with people camping. It helps give the landscape some scale.
2) Antelope Canyon
Antelope Canyon is very commercialized and overcrowded but if you keep your expectations in check it's still worth doing once in your life. It's an incredibly beautiful place.
3) Archangel Falls Zion
This falls is on the Subway hike. The 1st 3.5 miles involves boulder hopping up a stream bed. The last half mile is when the scenery gets good starting with this falls. This hike requires a permit to keep the crowds down. In 8 miles of hiking I saw only about 20 people.
4) The Subway Zion
5) Crossing the narrow section of Angels Landing
6) The Narrows Zion
In the cold months this hike requires water boots, neoprene socks and dry pants. The water is ice cold and in places the pools are waist deep. I rented gear from one of the many outfitters in Springdale for about $40 or $50 from the night before to 5 or 6 PM on the day of your hike. It was well worth the money, I stayed dry and warm all day. I meet two young guys hiking barefoot. they told me once their feet went numb it wasn't to bad. Yeah, I guess that way you don't feel your toes breaking against all the rocks in the river.
7) The Narrows
It was so dark in this spot my shutter speed needed to be at 20 seconds for correct exposure. With a couple seconds to go a person walked into the frame. I thought the pic was ruined but a photographer next to me said if he keeps moving he'll ghost out of the picture. Sure enough, the person disappeared from the photo. Very cool!
8: The Narrows
9) The fall colors were peaking in the Narrows which made it even more beautiful.
10) Capitol Reef
This is such an underrated park. 1st, the scenery looks like this and 2nd there's no crowds.
11) Capitol Reef
12) Arches