Lower Antelope Canyon–WOW!!!

Several years ago a blogger I follow posted a blog about Antelope Canyon, a slot canyon near Page, Arizona on Navajo land. I knew after seeing the photos that this was going on my bucket list as something I had to see for myself.

We spent the night before our tour in the Page Walmart lot!  Yes, this would be our first ever stay at a Walmart but we had little choice as everything in Page was booked! I can say that staying in this Walmart was great as it was level (no need for levelers) and mostly quiet and close to Antelope Canyon.

There are two parts of Antelope Canyon available for tours. They are called Upper Antelope Canyon (Tsé bighánílíní, 'the place where water runs through rocks') and Lower Antelope Canyon (Hasdestwazi,'spiral rock arches' ). Both slot canyons are located in the Navajo Nation and are only accessible by guided tours ever since 1997 when the Navajo Tribe made them part of a larger Navajo Tribal Park

Antelope Canyon was formed by water erosion of the Navajo Sandstone layer. Monsoonal rains causing flash flooding accelerates this erosional process. In fall of 2006 a flooding lasting 36 hours caused the closure of Lower Antelope Canyon for five months!

I read that doing the lower canyon was better in the fall and the upper canyon better in the spring so I kept an eye on the tour sites to see if I could make a reservation for Lower Antelope Canyon.  The lower canyon is supposed to be a more difficult hike and is longer and narrower in spots so I figured this one would be the most enjoyable to us. Happily my patience and persistence paid off, we got a reservation!

These tours aren’t cheap and the web sites state the tour costs $40 per person. Well after adding taxes, park entrance fees etc. we paid about $104.00 for the two of us.  By the way we selected Ken’s Tours and there is only one other tour agency. They both got great reviews.

We left the RV in the morning to drive over to Ken’s Tours, parked and went to the ticket window with our reservation info in hand. The clerk verified our reservation, gave us a tour assignment and told us to be in the main tour room 15 minutes before our tour start time of 12:30. Each tour group had 10 people and a tour guide, Our tour guide was a very friendly native Navajo young man named Preston.

Man there were a lot of people in the tour center speaking every language known to mankind! When our time came our group followed Preston down a mostly sandy trail to the entrance of the slot canyon. I should mention that no backpacks or bags of any kind are allowed in the canyon nor are tripods or selfie sticks. Preston reiterated the rules and went to everyone in the group offering advice for capturing the best pictures.  He adjusted Sharon’s Pixel 2 phone to the proper setting (Cloudy) which she very much appreciated.

We had a bit of a wait to enter due to the steep staircase going down into the canyon. Here there were five flights of stairs we had to take to reach the bottom of the canyon floor. Even as we dropped down the glowing reddish orange canyon walls came into view. Once we reached the bottom the crowd slowly dispersed into the slot canyon and the crowd became much more manageable. Even with the narrowness of the canyon there were plenty of times we felt mostly alone and were able to capture photos making it appear as if we were the only ones there.

What what a fabulous slot canyon as the colors and hues changed constantly as we meandered through the canyon. Faces and animals seemed to be everywhere as the rocks took on the features of people, sharks, bears etc. Preston pointed out many key features and a few times grabbed Sharon’s phone to take some angles of special sights that may have gone unnoticed by us.  He also showed us photos of snow in the canyon, of a mountain lion seen there, showed us evidence of flooding and told us about how a snake fell on a tourist during a tour a few years ago. He really added to the experience with his engaging personality.

The details of the curved and smooth rock make this canyon a very, very special place. About 50 or so minutes into the tour we were told we were nearing the end. While the canyon hike is only a bit more than a mile on sand there are some challenges to those afraid of heights or tight spaces. The uneven ground, narrow passages and steep and uneven stairs could be challenging but Sharon who has a fear of heights had no real problems with this tour.

One by one we emerged from this slit in the bowels of the earth knowing full well we all wished we could do it over again. It was amazing to look back and see that very thin crack in the surface of the earth especially knowing the enchanting beauty it hides below…

WOW! Was it worth it? It certainly was to the both of us. Check another one of the bucket list! Wow, what a really great day on The Road of Retirement…

NOTE: We are currently near St George UT for a while, then on towards Nevada…