Geology Rocks!

The Grand Escalante and Vermillion Cliffs National Monuments are well known for their slot canyons and other rock formations. One, The Wave, is so popular that a lottery is drawn to distribute the 10 available daily passes to visit. On Monday morning we showed up at the Ranger Station, along with 60 other people and  were disappointed, but not surprised, that our number wasn't drawn. Instead we walked out to Buckskin Gulch, a perfect slot canyon.

We decided to give the lottery one more go, and spent a second night camping in the wild, under our own cottonwood tree on the banks of the Pariah River.

The next morning, amazingly, our names were drawn from the hat to visit The Wave the following day. We spent the day in Page, resting the girls' legs and exploring the John Wesley Powell Museum, which chronicles the fascinating feats of the early Colorado River runners.  One pair of 1950s insurance salesmen swam all the way down the Grand Canyon in inner tubes because they thought it would be a "fun, cheap vacation"!  We drove back to the Pariah Wilderness to find a campsite and made ourselves at home in the picturesque trailhead car park...

With the forecast of thunderstorms, and a 3 mile hike to get there, we set off early this morning with our precious pass.  Our luck continued, the weather held off and the stunning, sandstone 'Wave' lived up to all the hype.

Not wishing to lose friends, we will spare you most of our 300 pictures, but here are a few more nevertheless...