Hanging Gardens

 Day 5: The Hanging Gardens, pancake rocks, and a sushi bar!

A great day for a hike.  If you look closely at these hikers, you can see a trail lined with rocks ... what could that lead to?  Read on to find out!

Today was our first working day on the road, still in Page, AZ next to the most alien landscapes I've ever seen (Billy).  This entire area was carved from the earth over millions of years by oceans and rivers.  All of the rocks and mountains are layers-upon-layers of different colors pancaked onto each other.

2:00pm - Takin' a break for a hike.

Around mid-day, we took a break and took a hike towards the Hanging Gardens.  This was a short hike leading to an alcove containing the only green plants for many miles.

Start of the trail - the trail is marked by rocks lining each side.  Off to a beautiful start!

The weather was perfect today.

Coming up on the hill containing the hanging gardens.

Closer still...

It must have taken forever to create this trail using only rocks found around the area.  We even added one ourselves!  Can you spot it?

These mountains are made from many thousands of thin layers of clay/sandstone compacted together.  Gives off these brilliant textures.

Getting closer!

The terrain is starting to level out.  We are on the hills now!

The clay rocks jutting out.

Billy: I really wanted to climb all of these.  I felt like I was on an alien planet.

This texture looks unreal (almost painted).  Guess what this texture belongs to ...

The texture is the trail itself!

You can see the individual layers of the stones in this rock.  This is what we were standing on.  The ground sounds hollow if you stomp on it.

  

3:00pm - Hanging Gardens

We reached the hanging gardens and were surprised to find no one else there when we arrived.  It was super peaceful.  The gardens can be seen in the pictures below.  The gardens are in an alcove which contains a natural spring.  The water was flowing out of the rock itself!  Given the rock literally spurts out water, it's no wonder life has found a way to thrive here despite the desert around it.

The hanging gardens consist of ferns and other fauna inside this little spring-fed alcove.

It's mesmerizing to find such an abundance of life in a place like this.

Other humans for scale.

A panorama view of the gardens.

The little plants hang happily from the rocks.

The end of the trail.  Thank you, sign, for making it obvious ... as if I couldn't tell from the steep drop-off on the other side. 

We got some great views from here too.  The clouds started rolling over all dramatically.

A lone tree stood out.  It was a real tree, not a shrub like you find surrounding this place.  Although we think it was dead...

Who could that goat be...

The sand here was super soft and red.  We wanted to run around with bare feet it looked so comfy...

5:00pm - An end to our day ... not!

We relaxed back at the Airbnb for a little bit enjoying the sunset from our backyard ...

I could get used to this.

8:00pm - Sushi!!!

We ate sushi at probably the only restaurant open in town on a Tuesday.  We tried going to a pub/tavern, but they were closed on Tuesdays ... so we settled for sushi at Blue Buddha Sushi Lounge!  We highly recommend it if you are in Page, AZ!

*drool*

Next stop: Staying in Page, AZ and exploring more!