John & Anne Wiley

2014/06/08

Strange Colors

Filed under: 4C Adventure,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature — John @ 18:25

Back on that day we flew out of Page, AZ toward Cortez, CO looking for a safe path across broken terrain, there were strange colors.

8639 Colors & Caves

8639 Colors & Caves

The camera couldn’t seem to capture the colors, but the rock was really interesting here far from roads. The caves accented alternating layers of whitish lines eroded from the sandstone. The shapes made a magical topographic effect in many places.

8646 Topo Tumult

8646 Topo Tumult

When we finally approached the edge of Monument Valley, the colors had shifted and the air was more laden with dust but the views were still striking.

8695 Into Monument

8695 Into Monument

Off to the left of these buttes was a lonely spire, small by Monument Valley standards yet towering far above the trees at the bend in that dry creek bed.

8708 Tiny Giant

8708 Tiny Giant

I seem to alternate between enchantment with the arid spirit of this place, and fascination with what geologic forces could have possibly left that thin spire in a miles-wide valley.

2014/06/01

Alternates

Filed under: 4C Adventure,Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 22:36

Pilots think about Alternates, and visually I also enjoy alternates. Like taking a break from the intriguing formations of reddish rock on our 4C Adventure, to look at pix like this from our recent overnite trip to “shower” love on our recently-engaged niece in San Diego.

3608 Alternate

3608 Alternate

The lush blues and greens of coastal California near Laguna Niguel offer a welcome alternate scene. Aviation alternates include planning for extra airports along the route in case the need should arise, and even alternatives to airports in rare and extreme situations. “In a car you can just pull over,” people say. But pilots know that aircraft are designed and maintained to much higher standards making that a very rare need. Also that most planes glide quite well and most areas offer plenty of safe places to land other than airports. Most areas.

8599 No Airport

8599 No Airport

Beautiful as this area near Lake Powell is, it’s no airport. The day we took off from Page headed to Cortez, CO the idea was to fly past Monument Valley. Since we’d flown that basic route along the lake shore before, my hope was to find a different route farther South. Lest I worry the majority who harbor an unreasoned terror of flight, I hasten to add Fact #1: We detoured along the edge of this unwelcoming terrain.

8593 On Edge

8593 On Edge

As you can see, the inhospitable view toward the lake didn’t match what we were actually flying over. Fact #2: We adapted to the terrain, and climbed higher once we chose a safe route across it at a narrower point with plains on both sides. But along the way we quite enjoyed the variety of slot canyons, sandstone amphitheaters, shallow caves, open spaces, vegetation variations, and majestic buttes.

8630 Butte Beauty

8630 Butte Beauty

I’m learning to understand the unreasoned fear of flying, yet it’s still surprising to me that people will skydive out of a perfectly good airplane yet be afraid to even think about flying in it. 🙂

“Fear is the little-death”     –Frank Herbert

2014/05/25

Invitations

Filed under: 4C Adventure,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,Relationships — John @ 20:01

Yesterday I was avoiding the tragic Isla Vista events partly by posting more pix from our 4C trip with Zubair & family. Last night a dear friend came over and we all faced it together, watching the news with many tears and much thoughtful conversation. Today I’m contemplating a connection between the horrific events, and my post yesterday. For me, the common thread is Invitations. When someone says or does something that triggers anger or sadness in me, it’s an Invitation to those feelings. I then choose, still too often unconsciously, what to feel. My life is a long story of learning this, and transforming my choice of feelings from childhood reactive impulse to conscious compassion for myself and others.

So today it’s helpful for me to take this news that has so shaken our entire community, as an Invitation to reconnect with happiness and beauty. That’s already happening in conversation with friends and loved ones, so right now I’m also taking a moment to complete a review of the final Invitation we accepted on that one enchanted day that began inside Antelope Canyon and included an experience of earth and sky on the rim of Horseshoe Bend.

8292 Returning

8292 Returning

As we descended quietly over the high mesa between the Paria and the Colorado, warm feelings of Return washed over me. Returning to an ancient yet for us recent place, with new perspective. Beyond this tight bend in the river of time, looking to the right where it takes a turn in the other direction we saw the place we’d be standing in a couple of hours.

8295 Viewpoint

8295 Viewpoint

Coming out the highway from Page and turning onto the short road to a parking lot at top right, we’d hike that dusty trail out to the rim and watch the sunset at this turning of the river where millions of people have gathered in awe.

8307 Horseshoe Bend

8307 Horseshoe Bend

Down there we’d have a different perspective on this view, with solid rock beneath us and the thrill of a sheer ledge open at our feet. We’d feel our hearts soaring with a raven in the wind and remember being up here looking down. From that sunset viewpoint we’d climb the outcrop at the bottom right where I embraced a powerful invitation to capture a new fav pic of my lifetime fav person with a passing squall in the distance and the sunlight in her hair. An invitation to feel and release pain, as consciousness expands to ever more fully enjoy this gift of Life.

8456 Life Invitation

8456 Life Invitation

Second Invitation

Filed under: 4C Adventure,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,Random — John @ 06:44

So the second of our “Three Invitations” was when we looked up the Paria River that branches off the Colorado River at the top of Marble Canyon. We almost took a few minutes to fly up there for a look, but wanted to join Zubair and family at Page because they’d flown on ahead. Thus it was that on the same day as our trance-forming walk down into Lower Antelope Canyon, Tripp lifted us up over it and after a brief detour over Navajo Canyon we made the short hop West. In a few minutes we had this view back down the Paria River toward the distant top of Marble Canyon.

8181 Paria River Canyon

8181 Paria River Canyon

In places the river has carved a very deep and narrow channel through the rock, similar to yet different from the other carved gorges we’d seen.

8218 Deep & Narrow

8218 Deep & Narrow

The zig-zag in this spot really caught my eye. I wonder if many hikers explore the bottom there, presumably equipped with weather radios to listen for warnings and climbing gear to make a hasty exit in event of any rain in the region. In most places the channel was much wider, but in medium sized areas there are rock islands and complex shapes.

8242 Complex Carving

8242 Complex Carving

In this region is an area called Vermillion Cliffs where I thought we might spot The Wave but we didn’t know exactly where to look and probably flew too far North along the river to see it. In most places it was too dark at the bottom of the river to see much in the medium or narrow channels, but I did manage to get this view as we headed back to accept our third “invitation” (pix to share in my next post).

8257 Down & In

8257 Down & In

2014/05/24

Up & Over

Filed under: 4C Adventure,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random — John @ 01:37

The second part of this one enchanted day was quite soon after we wandered in awe from the timeless hour or so of strolling through Antelope Canyon. While our companions went on to do other things on the ground, we climbed into Tripp for a brief tour of the area around Page. There were of course many visual treats, but most impactful for us was climbing out of the airport over Antelope Canyon where we’d begun this magical day.

8012 Antelope Inlet

8012 Antelope Inlet

It opens into Lake Powell, so even quite far up the inlet there was enough water for this houseboat (that’s not a bus at the bottom) to navigate. As it continues further up, there’s only water during rains when of course everyone gets out of the canyon.

8015 Antelope & Power

8015 Antelope & Power

The part going up to the right goes to the section we’d walked in, to the right of the power plant. Though it narrows further up, even the wider parts look cool for walking in on rainless days.

8024 Narrowing Canyon

8024 Narrowing Canyon

Looking back as we passed it, I was surprised to see that the part we’d been in is just a side canyon off this main channel.

8057 Lower Antelope Canyon

8057 Lower Antelope Canyon

That’s it going to the right toward the building and parked cars where we’d bought tour tickets. You walk to a stairway at the left, through the canyon, and you exit up some stairs at the right end. It was frankly startling to see how short it was, because that hour and some felt like miles and hours that passed in a fleeting dream. Next we turned left for a look at the start of Navajo Canyon with Tower Rock and Lake Powell in the distance.

8091 Navajo Canyon

8091 Navajo Canyon

This too is an inlet, but vastly larger than you can tell from this pic. Another view just beyond the bottom of this pic included a 20′ boat that looks like a small speck at this range. All along this canyon, and in fact along the lake shore, are many narrow canyons. Some you can drive a boat into, and many that continue far up from the water especially now with the lake at such a low capacity. Then we climbed back across Antelope Canyon and the airport for a look up that intriguing river at the top of Marble Canyon that was one of our Three Invitations.

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