We’d all seen the gorgeous, colorful photographs of Arizona’s slot canyons … today we had an opportunity to walk through one of the most famous in the US. A slot canyon is significantly deeper (typically at least 30’) than it is wide (as narrow as 3’ – 4’) and is formed by the inexorable erosive actions of water rushing through mostly sandstone and limestone rock formations.
Our trip to Secret Canyon, one of the two most popular in Arizona, began with a 13 mile drive in a Hummer, mostly off-road (an exciting, albeit slow-motion experience Debbie and I had not enjoyed before).
The Navajo call the high tension wires “Electrical Kachinas”
The yellow Hummer was carrying half of our group and following in our tracks
Then, it was a relatively short hike to the canyon but very informative as one of our two guides had been raised on a Navajo Reservation and was extremely knowledgeable about the local fauna and flora and the uses the native peoples historically had for each.
Dried “Ground Coral’
The same Ground Coral less than 60 minutes after pouring a small amount of water on it.
Cliffrose
Desert Rhubarb
Sagebrush
Desert Dandelion
Green Ephedra
Greasewood
A pallet of desert plants of differing colors and textures set against a red sandstone background
The beauty of Secret Canyon is hard to describe and even the following pictures can only convey a partial sense of its subtle colors, sinuous passageway and mostly smooth rock faces.
After our slot canyon adventure, we opted for lunch at The Cut Bistro …
where the food was both excellent and extremely inexpensive.
