Dear Steemit friends

It is time for new travel story from my side!
That is my fourth part of travelling in US this April. If you somehow missed any of first three parts, you can check them on links below:

https://steemit.com/travelfeed/@crazy-andy/my-travel-story-usa-zion-np-bryce-np-part-1

https://steemit.com/travelfeed/@crazy-andy/my-travel-story-usa-byway-12-capitol-reef-np-goblin-valley-sp-arches-np-part-2-23-photos

https://steemit.com/travelfeed/@crazy-andy/my-travel-story-usa-canyonlands-np-arches-np-goosenecks-sp-monument-valley-part-3-27-photos

In first story I shared our third day of the travel (first two was in Vegas and I returned to Vegas later on the trip and will share Vegas time on day 7), later I shared my fourth day when I had an amazing time on hike to Delicate Arch and in third part there was the rest of Arches NP with Canyonlands NP and some other amazing places.

In today’s post I will share my most intense day of this travel (and my other travels as well). It was brutal, but it had to be done if we wanted to see everything we planned.
Through almost 40 photos you will see beauties of Horseshoe Band, Antelope Canyon and Grand Canyon…

I am trying to honor all my followers and supporters with travel story every time I achieve some milestone. This story is coming on my 300th day on Steemit!
Wuuuppp wuuuppp, I am with you guys for almost a year now 😊

I was inspired by @travelfeed to write travel stories at first time. They are doing an amazing job with encouraging people to share their personal stories with the community. Give them support and with it you will give support also to the authors.

I would also like to show how grateful I am for all your support dear Steemit friends.
Especially big thanks to @fbslo, who is recognizing my effort and is my number one supporter right now. He is a Steem Witness and is doing an amazing job for my home country Slovenia.

As well I would like to expose work of @czechglobalhosts which project - 7 World’s Continents Photo Challenge hosts some of the best photos on Steemit, and also a huge thanks to Tomas for his support of my work, which I am posting on his blog almost every day.
I am this week’s winner of African Wednesday challenge so I would be very happy for any of your support by upvoting post on the link below:

https://steemit.com/travel/@czechglobalhosts/7-world-s-continents-photo-challenge-african-wednesday-week-58-winner-announcement
After a “short” intro it is time for a first photo as I however like taking photos much more than writing 😉

After getting to Page late last night and accommodate in motel which was not really the best, we really just drop to bed and wake up next morning at around 7 am.
We knew that it will be a full tempo day as we had three highlights to see in just one day. But that was also a reason that we were really looked forward to it 😁
Breakfast with coffee woke us up and we were already on our way to Horseshoe Bend. I have already been there once and it stayed in great memory. Also when we came there this time it justified my expectations with that amazing view await you after a short walk.
Overlook is at 1,300m above sea level, when Colorado River is at 980m altitude and that makes 320m vertical drop. I have to admit I thought that it is even bigger drop, but in any case it is impressive and taking selfies on the edge of the overlook is just for the bravest. Unfortunately I didn’t have the right equipment with me, to be able to take a quality shot of the canyon, but still I am sharing what I have with you 😏

As we had our tour to Antelope Canyon reserved at 10 am and we finished with Horseshoe Bend just before 9 am we decided to go and take a look at Lake Powell as well. It seems like a great lake with much to do. We were there only for half an hour to take few clicks and to see the Glen Canyon dam, which is actually as big as more famous Hoover dam.

And there was the time to start our Upper Antelope Canyon tour.
This is a place run by Navajo nation and it provides a huge part of income to them and is very important for the region. Photos below will make you want to go there. And it is not even hard to take good shots. There is actually just one rule of take as many photos as you can and then something good will come out. OK, there is one condition. SUN! We didn’t have the best of luck with sunny conditions to be able to catch some sun beams penetrating in the canyon, but still we had a great experience and were happy that there was no rain. In case of rain the completely close the canyon and all scheduled tours are canceled and this is due to such a high danger of floods in this canyon. Water fills it in few minutes and there is no rescue if you are there at the time the water comes.
Another thing which affects on your photos is how crowded the canyon is… Last several years this canyon is a real hit with all this amazing photos doing advertisement by itself on all this social medias. So it is quite hard to get empty canyon. Good thing in all of this is that you are mainly shooting up to catch light coming from above. You can also book photographers tour where the group is smaller, you have more time and your guide is helping you with settings and so on. These tours are only from 11:30 – 13:30 due to the best photography conditions at this time with best possibility to catch sun beams in the canyons.
We were just on regular tour and it was an early one so not the best conditions, but canyon by itself is so spectacular that photos are looking good…

After that amazing tour of small canyon and taking a lunch at delicious Big John’s Texas BBQ restaurant (YOU HAVE TO EAT THERE IF YOU ARE IN VICINITY OF PAGE), we were off on about two hour drive to much bigger canyon, actually the biggest on the world and most famous one – Grand Canyon!
That was my second time there and both times I was awaited by cloudy, windy, rainy weather. You can imagine and also see below how big difference the weather can be. We had luck when first sun beams find their way through the clouds just as we parked our car at visitor center. From there on we took a walk to the edge of the canyon and really enjoyed in the view.
After, we had unpleasant experience with the driver of one of the shuttle lines. We wanted to go to Yaki point as I had it in a great memory from my first visit and asked the driver before entering the bus if that one is going to Yaki point and he said yes. We said let’s do this and first disappointment came when this bus than waited for at least 15 minutes on one of the stations. But we said ok, that is their schedule and were looking forward to see Yaki point. The bus driver really took us to Yaki point, but didn’t allow us to exit on this station as it was under construction/maintenance. Ok, all good, but couldn’t you tell us this when we asked you if the bus is going to Yaki point. Also with amazing shuttle system Grand Canyon Village has, we would expected that there would be some note about this, or remark on the shuttle maps. Anything…
Ok we lost a precious hour there, just waiting and driving around so we hurried to Hermits Rest Route as much as we could. We take the red line and exit on some of the stops than walk along a gorgeous trail just on the edge of that mighty canyon. We ran sometimes to catch a bus taking us forward, but it was an amazing and funny experience. We actually saw a lot and also our wish to be on good location at sunset was fully met. You cannot describe that canyon with words and also photos are not good enough to get the real impression of what the stunning Grand Canyon really is.

We drove to smaller city called Williams just about an hour away from Grand Canyon. Our motel was quite nice and once again we slept like a baby as we were so tired due to that superb day we had.
Now as I have been twice to most of this things, my big wish for some day is to go on a rafting trip in Grand Canyon. I love rafting and I love water, so Havasu falls are on my bucket list as well.
Ohhh now that I was writing about my recent trip I am really missing it, but I can announce that I have just confirmed everything for my next trip and that one will be to a new destination –America, but this one South America, region of Patagonia.
That will be all for now. If you like my travel story I won’t be angry if you hit upvote or even resteem it 😉
Have a nice weekend folks and all the best…

All photos in my posts are @originalworks and were taken with my own equipment.

@crazy-andy