Upper Antelope Canyon
When you see pictures of Antelope Canyon you cannot help to put it on your bucket lists of places you want to experience first hand. The great news is that this is an easily accessbile item from your list that you can experience with a trip to Page, AZ.
Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon that has been created in the sandstone by floodwaters that come from the surrounding area when it rains. The rainwater is funneled into this thin canyon through a small crack in the and as it's path is constricted into a smaller space, the force of the water carves the slot canyon. As you stand inside the canyon you can see the waves of rock that have been created by the water flow. At times the canyon is only wide enough for a single person to walk through and then it will open up into a small room. The walls can reach up to 120 feet above you and they can limit the light, or at just the right moment the suns rays will find that path through the rocks and create a single ray of light to the canyon floor. It is humbling and inspiring to stand in the canyon and enjoy the beauty that nature creates.
How to Experience Antelope Canyon:
Access to Antelope is controlled and you have to take a guided tour to experience it. It is a big part of the tourism of Page, AZ, and the Navajo Nation. There are a number of different tour operators and the tours are well structured to move people through the canyon. We chose to use Antelope Canyon Tours by Carolene Ekis as our tour company. They are located in Page in one of the local shopping areas. You will want to be sure to make a reservation in advance to ensure that you have your time secure. When you arrive you check-in and broken into groups before you load into a specially converted pickup bed with bench seats. You will then ride for about 5 miles on the city streets and the highway before you get to the creek bed that takes you up to the canyon. At this point, you are no longer on the road and head another couple miles up the creek bed.
Once you arrive at the bottom of the slot canyon you disembark the vehicles and walk towards a solid rock wall with a single crack in it. Before you enter the Canyon the tour guide will help you set up your camera on your phone to get the best results taking pictures. Then you start your journey into this special place. The guides coordinate well together and work hard to allow you to have a quality experience where your small group is in a section of the canyon without just a parade of people walking through. They explain different features in the canyon and help you know where to stand to get some of the best pictures and experiences. I was pleased with the guides' ability to help orchestrate this because there were frankly a lot of people in the canyon at the same time.
Eventually, you make it to the upstream end of the canyon where you get to see where the water flows into and you are amazed at how it all starts. You then turn around and head back out the same way that you came through, this time without stopping along the way and trying to minimize your impact on the groups that are coming up through the canyon behind you.
Tips for visiting Antelope Canyon:
- Make your reservation with one of the tour groups well in advance to be able to get select times when you increase your chances of seeing sun rays.
- Be sure to read the tour site's information about the dates that you will be visiting and when light rays will be most common in the canyon.
- There is an upper and lower Antelope Canyon, some packages allow you to tour both. The Upper Canyon is thinner, and what you see in the pictures here. If you have to pick just one as we did, I would recommend the Upper Canyon.
- The tour groups will offer photography tours that are designed to optimize the run ray time and allow you a slower pace through the canyon, but they are definitely more pricy than the regular tours.
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