Antelope Canyon - Lower and Upper

Robert and Kathy, from Chicago, climbing down into the Lower Antelope Canyon.

Our guide showed us how to take panoramic shots like this on a phone.

No tricks, just different colours from the light entering the canyon.

The entrance to the Upper Antelope Canyon.

And the fleet of trucks waiting to drive us back across the dusty wash.

Please note: if you click on the photos they enlarge.

Tuesday, July 12th.

I woke up before the alarm. This was it… I really wanted to see Antelope Canyon and had booked it a couple of months ago. There is an upper and a lower canyon tour. Unable to decide, I booked both on a full day tour which would pick me up from my hotel. So I waited in the lobby anxiously for the 8:15 pickup. Turned out there were only three of us on this tour, me and a couple from Chicago. Our driver took us to the Lower Antelope Canyon location just outside of Page, in the Navajo Nation. Our little group was joined by another 5 people and we got a local Navajo guide. They have strict rules about masks and what you cannot bring into the canyon. I thought it was really strange that only clear bags were allowed in. It turns out that that is to stop graffiti artists and people who would bring an urn of ashes and dump them in the canyon. This practise really offends Navajo beliefs, so that explains it. We had to climb down 75 stairs into the canyon and were immediately met with the sheer beauty of what water has done eroding sandstone as it rushes through the narrow slot canyon. Our guide was an expert at taking special shots of us on our phones. She was also adept at pointing out all the hidden figures in the rock formations: eagle, Mickey Mouse, Abe, bear, brave, etc. I was enamored enough by the real beauty without all of that. The canyon had a narrow base, sometimes just a foot or two wide but we never felt claustrophobic. We had about 75 minutes in the canyon and despite some reviews I’d read, it was not rushed or crowded. I was able to get lots of photos without other people in them. Then our driver took us to a trading post back in Page where we could use the facilities and have a rest. Then he took us to the Upper Canyon, which is very close to the Lower. Again our group was packaged with a few other people and we had a new guide. They drove us three miles out into the desert in an open truck over a very sandy and dry wash (a dry river bed). This time the canyon floor was at ground level and we were able to just walk in. This canyon was smaller but just as beautiful with a wider floor and narrower ‘ceiling’. When we emerged out the other end we had to climb a small hill and walk back around the hill to the start point and where the open truck was waiting to take us back to our driver. He took us to a little Navajo ‘Starbuck’s’ in a trailer and we had Navajo iced tea, before he took us back to our hotels. When I got back I went to the pool and jumped in with my hat, shorts and shirt to rinse out the red dust. Then I relaxed in my room for a while avoiding the heat. At five I went out on the bike to find where tomorrow’s tour starts (how’s that for proactive?) and then went to Safeway and bought some things for dinner, breakfast and snacks on the tour for tomorrow. Only 27kms today!