Visit Kristen's Closet for rare Vintage Collectable Coach Bags and Purses, fur coats, leather goods and more » Snow and Sand – Journey West Feb 2 – April 2

Antelope Canyon Gallery Page Up & Ready for Viewing!

Kristen Westlake — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 23:25:53 +0000

See all stories and links to anything Antelope Canyon on my blog.

A guide took me out on flat desert ground and said, "there it is." A small hole into a ravine is where I dropped into to stroll along approximately a mile into this narrow canyon. The light at high noon is best here as it plays on the walls of the canyon, changing the colors as well as the exposure with each moment! The shapes, the lines and the colors here fascinated me. The guide went ahead of me and played his guitar which beautifully echoed off the canyon walls.

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Videos from the Oak Creek Canyon

Kristen Westlake — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 00:10:09 +0000

See my Images from The West Fork of the Oak Creek Canyon

Videos as I hiked during the day and before I knew I was lost .. I just meandered making images as I went. .. Get the full news stories here :

More stories from my Canyon Survival:

March 13, 2010

Here’s the whole video log from start to finish but I have kept the individual videos on my page as well .. under the video blog:

While hiking the Oak Creek Canyon’s West Fork on March 13 I spent hours photographing. Going to the end of the trail requires crossing the Oak Creek 13 times which is quite refreshing in the summertime. However March is a different story.

I saw hikers through the first three streams and then only two other pairs as I made my way up the hike and to the end. Still, lots of snow, stiff from days that allowed it to melt and then refreeze at night in the cold canyon. I trekked through the snow and the creek that ran fast and deep (also from the heavy snows that were melting).

As I got to the end and began to make my way back, it wasn’t long before I came back upon landmarks that I had seen not long before. I had limited time before dark would set in and I was doing loops, somewhere missing the place that would have me continuing in the right direction towards the trailhead and to my car.

My GPS had stopped tracking me in the tall canyon. I was now the hiker I had heard about that gets lost and goes in circles. I felt panicked and it was getting dark fast. At 7pm when I could no longer see I sat down under a group of small trees with some pine needles to cushion me from the cold ground. I had no idea how cold it would get and I didn’t want to know.

I finally stopped wishing I had with me what I didn’t have and at that point I stopped panicking. When you stop wishing for what you don’t have, you can more easily deal with what IS. .. At that point I became aware of three scenarios. I knew I could easily die overnight. I had no idea how cold it would get but I know how canyons are and I was dressed for the 47 degree day that it was. It was quickly getting colder and I knew the temperatures would continue to fall. The second scenario was that I may pass out and be rescued but with hypothermia and extreme frostbite… that may be rough but I’d be alive! .. Or the final scenario and the one I chose was that I could survive it all, walk out of here tomorrow unscathed. …

When I knew that option three was for me, I had to survive. That was my only focus. I first visualized and rehearsed every detail of survival … from what to do now to putting my boots on the next morning and walking out. After my visualization exercise it was all about everything I needed to do to survive. I had no idea what time it was or how cold it was.

I was unbelievably cold and my bare feet (yes, my boots were now off and the water in the bottom of them was frozen the next morning) were colder than I could have ever imagined. … I gave myself permission to be uncomfortable. .. Just as earlier I stopped wishing for things I didn’t have, giving myself permission to be downright uncomfortable was freeing. I could be uncomfortable and brutally cold, but I had to survive.

I meditated with my breath, I rubbed each body part and used my groin and armpits for warming areas. I learned and was guided through prayer and intuition what to do to make a cocoon out of my few fleece layers to keep my core body temperature from falling. … I knew not to fall asleep.

The stars were amazing and I still remember them being close enough to reach up to and touch .. or so it seemed … but I put my fleece band over my eyes, ears and mouth to breathe warmth … I heard the leaves russell in the wind, the water bubbling and rushing fast in the creek not far from me, late night airplanes overhead and helicopter .. and birds .. BIRDS?? .. I pulled my headband off my eyes and wondered how the morning’s twilight had come so quickly.. how does one survive an overnight awake in the canyon and the time, 15 hours to be exact, pass quickly? .. See more of my story on my blog in the articles written .. I am also available to speak about my canyon survival experience. …

Oh, I forgot to tell you, the temps that night fell to 19 degrees!

Up at the end of the canyon .. or at least where you can really not go much further (at least at this time of the year, March ) .. March 13, 2010

The Red Rock News – Sedona, Arizona, made an article about my survival and my interviewer, Michael, said to me afterwards, “Congratulations. You Survived the Canyon.” .. I found out then and later that not many that get lost in the canyons survive. ..

I went back to the Canyon and just walked around on Monday, March 15 … reflected and recorded. Later I went into Sedona to just watch the sunset. There I met two women who heard my story and invited me to come to dinner at their home in Sedona. It turned out to be their friend’s home but it felt like a celebration of Life and Love to me. It was a celebration of what we are capable of as human beings and of how as I surrendered that night in the canyon, Nature wrapped her arms around me and Father Sky protected me with his ceiling … In April I went back to visit Sedona and one of the special people that reflected and heard my experience on the night of March 15. Experiences come and go but the experiences and the people I speak of here will forever be a part of my heart and life. Thank you.

… This video is my reflection of the incident of March 13 made on March 15.

… And then this video was made late in April when I returned to Sedona to visit a very special person that I had met after my survival experience… This video is in honor of my survival and to Mother Earth and Father Sky .. my tribute :

These videos show where I missed the mark on the trail .. where I got lost on March 13 and how different it looks one month later, late April 2010.

One more :

March 28: Antelope Canyon Part 2

Kristen Westlake — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 19:25:41 +0000

Now See All of my Antelope Canyon Images in the Gallery.

Part two : Images from Antelope Canyon, Page AZ.

Images on this page at the very low price of $20 per image as a promotion (that runs until April 1) – and the more you purchase the greater your savings. All images are printed on glossy paper and surrounded with a stunning black border.Each purchase automatically gives you chances to win a 20×30 inch canvas image. Find out more here. .. Just a little note: I have fallen behind on my goal to keep an even balance of print sales to trip cost. Please consider a great deal on photographic prints which helps me buy gas, food and shelter simultaneously so that I can keep bringing images back for all to see! Thanks!

March 28: Antelope Canyon. Part 1

Kristen Westlake — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 19:19:40 +0000

Now See All of my Antelope Canyon Images in the Gallery.

Antelope Canyon in Page, AZ is an amazing narrow slot canyon that you literally drop into the earth to get into. The light plays on the walls in such a way that we can’t see the colors you see here with our naked eye. A long exposure allows the light play of colors to be captured within the images. I literally dip down into this little slot canyon in the earth to wander and explore the beauty that lies within this place within the earth.

March 27: Coyote Buttes North and The Wave

Kristen Westlake — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 21:57:15 +0000

I had read about and seen pictures of this magnificent place and always wanted to come here to hike and photograph. There is a lottery which gives just 10 permits a day to visit this grand place. More on that here. So here I am at the BLM station along with a total of 49 people and was awarded one of the permits for the next day! .. the results are the images that you see here below. .. Visit me as I head into the Wire Pass Trailhead, which takes me into my hike …

Images on this page at the very low price of $20 per image as a promotion (that runs until April 16 ) – and the more you purchase the greater your savings. All images are printed on glossy paper and surrounded with a stunning black border.Each purchase automatically gives you chances to win a 20×30 inch canvas image. Find out more here. .. Just a little note: I have fallen behind on my goal to keep an even balance of print sales to trip cost. Please consider a great deal on photographic prints which helps me buy gas, food and shelter simultaneously so that I can keep bringing images back for all to see! Thanks!

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JOURNAL: March 27 – Into Coyote Buttes North and the Wave

Kristen Westlake — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 21:41:31 +0000

I headed down the easy back road Hwy 89 from Kanab, Utah to the Wire Pass trailhead, excited to do my much dreamed of hike into Coyote Butte North and 3 or so miles in to the wave.. No trail at all to get to the wave had me slightly nervous since my adventure not even a few weeks before, that got me lost and overnighted in the Oak Creek Canyon of Sedona. You will see from this video that the road that heads in to the Wire Pass Trailhead is VERY rutted! .. When this road becomes wet it is impassable. .. I thought that of it at first when I turned on to the road. 8.5 miles took me to the trailhead… On the way out later in the day I was loving the old rutted back country road!

It’s really important to not only check for landmarks that got me out to the places that I wanted to go but also to turn around and either photograph or memorize what the view looks like from the “way back” … its always very different! I used my tracking device “TRAILS” on my iphone which also helped me immensely as it tracks my own tracks on the way out and subsequently allows me to follow my own “bread crumbs” back (this stopped tracking me in the steep canyon of Sedona though .. ) … I still however, got off track slightly and ended up coming down a pretty steep slick rock cliff towards the end of my hike back… ah, it was fun though and worth it!

The wave …

Self Portrait at the Wave, Coyote Buttes North

JOURNAL: March 26 for the March 27 Coyote Butte Lottery

Kristen Westlake — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 21:10:47 +0000

I got to the BLM station between Kanab, UT and Page, AZ (off of hwy 89) before 8:30 AM Utah time (AZ doesn’t change time zones). There were just four of us total sitting in our cars outside of the station awaiting the doors to open. At 8:30 the doors were opened and suddenly a steady stream of more and more cars arrived with people to be a part of the lottery. 49 of us total which for a total of 15 “groups” ..

The lottery for Coyote Buttes North allows for 10 permits to be awarded per day to those people that walk in to this station. The permits are good for the next day. … This video shows the process that I went through with butterflies in my stomach.. hoping and succeeding at being one of the 10 to get into Coyote Buttes North.

March 26: Around Sedona … the second time around

Kristen Westlake — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 16:48:43 +0000

I first came into the Sedona area to spend some time before going back to CA to speak at the G2 Gallery on March 18. That was the time in Sedona where I had my overnight wilderness experience. I have much more to write about in that encounter, as in its duration and afterwards it was and is quite magical in it’s teachings. After my speech I headed back into Arizona to hike and photograph a tiny fraction of the magic that lies within this place. These images are near the Navajo Bridge off of Hwy 89A from Page back to Kanab, UT. .. I stayed in Kanab the night prior and was at the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) station early in the morning to be in a lottery to obtain a next day permit to hike and photograph in Coyote Buttes North. .. There were 49 of us (12 groups total) and only 10 individuals to be selected .. I got in! .. next pictures will be from the Coyote Butte North and the Wave. Video on the lottery here.

March 13 : Call of the Canyon – West Fork Trail along the Oak Creek

Kristen Westlake — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 22:40:20 +0000

More about my Wilderness Experience in the Oak Creek Canyon

The images below bring back many memories. Now most of you understand how my images are the result of experiences that I have .. there is much behind each image, stories that I will tell you that bring more meaning to the picture that you see. This day was a day of hiking and crossing a creek 13 times. The creek is high and the water fast due to the heavy snows that Flagstaff experienced this winter. This canyon is almost half way to Sedona from Flagstaff. Off hwy 89A its elevation ranges between 5300 – 5700 feet and drops significantly from here to Sedona. I was dressed for a 47 degree hike, got to the end of the trail, where the water was too deep to cross (unless I wanted to swim – no way!). I was about 3.5 miles up the out and back trail and as I journeyed back I thought I had plenty of time to get back. But I began to see landmarks that I had recently seen. I was doing loops and had no idea where I was missing the trail that took me the right direction to go back to the beginning. … More here about my story.

JOURNAL: April 2, Kansas City to Home.. the Longest Drive is the last 20 miles!

Kristen Westlake — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 17:58:38 +0000

Visit Kristen's Closet for rare Vintage Collectable Coach Bags and Purses, fur coats, leather goods and more » Snow and Sand – Journey West Feb 2 – April 2

Antelope Canyon Gallery Page Up & Ready for Viewing!

Videos from the Oak Creek Canyon

March 28: Antelope Canyon Part 2

March 28: Antelope Canyon. Part 1

March 27: Coyote Buttes North and The Wave

JOURNAL: March 27 – Into Coyote Buttes North and the Wave

JOURNAL: March 26 for the March 27 Coyote Butte Lottery

March 26: Around Sedona … the second time around

March 13 : Call of the Canyon – West Fork Trail along the Oak Creek

JOURNAL: April 2, Kansas City to Home.. the Longest Drive is the last 20 miles!

FACEBOOK posts as I got to just 100 miles away from my home:

100 miles to go!

50 miles to go.. Seems strange to not see signs that say “Watch for falling rocks” … Wait, there was a sign for a town called Rock Falls!

Driving on fumes to get to the Wi border!

WISCONSIN just welcomed me back over the ILLINOIS border

HOME… Sarah Mclaughlin singing “Drifting”as I arrive…perfect words