We were in Page during our cross-country trip with the kids. The Page then was totally different from the Page of today. Then, it was a small quiet place. Now, the place is bustling with tourists, tour companies, restaurants, and many new hotels--not to mention a pretty new Walmart. We were beginning to wonder if we were really here 22 years ago.
But back to Horseshoe Bend. What's so special about it? Well, it's below the dam and it's where the Colorado River makes a horseshoe-like loop around a peninsula of rock.
We decided to go the morning after we got to Page. We found out that the parking lot for the trail to the overlook was closed for construction, so we had to pay $10 for a shuttle to the trail. They had three big shuttles running which were all full. Many of the tourists were foreign. We heard a lot of different languages being spoken around us. But that's not unusual for a national park or recreation area.
Once we got off the bus, we managed to hike the mile and a half to a really nice overlook with a brand new safety rail. It's pretty cool to see how the river bends around the rock. H wandered from place to place to get some more photos; but because I have a knee that gives me fits sometimes, I stayed back on the overlook.
Since I had nothing better to do and didn't want to hog the view, I entertained myself by standing back and watching the other tourists. The thing that amazed me was how many people didn't want to have anything to do with the nice overlook, but chose to climb out on the surrounding rocks which are not protected at all. Why did they do that? To take selfies, of course.
So one after the other, they took their selfie-sticks and phones, turned their back to the river and shot photos of themselves and the amazing view. Except, the amazing view is hundreds of feet below! There was no way they could get a shot of themselves and Horseshoe Bend. Yet, there was such a frenzy of selfie taking going on. And most of the people were putting themselves in danger to do it. (It's not hard to see how more and more tourists are accidentally killing themselves in places like the Grand Canyon, etc.)
I was chuckling when H got back and said, "See all these people taking selfies? When they look at their photos later, they won't have any idea where they were. The photos will just show themselves and the sky, with maybe a mesa or two in the background." Luckily there were no mishaps, and once they got their selfies, they headed back up to the shuttles.
Since it was getting quieter, we stayed longer and then had a leisurely walk back. We met another photographer along the way and had a lovely conversation with him while we huffed and puffed our way up the hill. It was really nice to meet you, Curtis!
We've added photos of the lake and Horseshoe Bend to H's Gallery. See the green in the river? At first I thought it was algae. But if you look closely at it, it seems to be the part of the actual rock that's underwater.
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