Day 137: Antelope Canyon

Location: Page, AZ

Last night, I was able to try out the new comforter we bought for the first time. It’s a big improvement over the tiny fleece blanket that I had been using, which will be nice over the next few weeks, since temperatures aren’t going to get any warmer.

We woke up in the Wal-Mart parking lot at 8 a.m. and, after a stop at Jack In The Box for breakfast, headed for Lower Antelope Canyon. We arrived at 8:45 a.m., 15 minutes early, so we drove up and down the street to pass the time. By the time we returned, the gate had been opened and we met Ken, the tour leader for Lower Antelope Canyon. We were informed, much to our dismay, that the $52 we had paid to the Navajo Nation Film Office was simply for the right to use my photos commercially – we were each still required to pay the $21 “photo tour” fee, which allowed us access to the canyon for four hours over the course of the day. We paid the fee and were shown to the entrance of the canyon.

Slot canyons are the type of geological feature that, for the most part, if you didn’t know one was there, you would never find it. From the road, the canyon just looked like a gully with a sandy bottom. When we were brought to the entrance, we had to squeeze through a tiny, rippled crack in the ground. Once through, however, the experience was like no other. As the sun arcs across the sky, light bounces off the walls of the canyon in ever-changing patterns, creating amazing swatches of color, light and shadow. The walls of the canyon were vibrant waves of fragile sandstone; striated in some places. Every turn, angle, corner and position revealed new patterns in the rock. Lower Antelope Canyon is very small, rarely more than two or three feet across, and always winding downward. We trekked to the end of the canyon, about 1/4 mile, without stopping. We then slowly made our way back, stopping every few feet to take photos. We made it about halfway back before deciding to head to Upper Antelope Canyon for a few hours before returning to Lower Antelope Canyon.

I was out of cash, so we stopped at an ATM before crossing the street to Upper Antelope Canyon. When we arrived, we saw a photo shoot taking place in a small canyon nearby (not technically a part of Antelope Canyon). Effie had told us yesterday that Bloomingdales had scheduled a photo shoot for today, so we knew that must have been what it was. We didn’t see much, but we did manage to catch a glimpse of some horribly-dressed blond with wind-blown hair and huge sunglasses as she leaned against the rock, thrusting her hips forward. Presumably, these photos will be in the summer 2008 catalog. We each had to pay another fee – $20 – and ride in the back of a pickup truck with eight other tourists for three miles before we could see the canyon. Immediately, we knew there was a vast difference between the upper and lower sections of the canyon.

The entrance to Upper Antelope Canyon is nearly big enough to drive through. Instead of descending through a crack in the ground, you can walk straight up to a giant crack in the stone wall. The canyon was much larger, shorter in length and busier than its counterpart. We spent an hour dodging tourists, mostly Japanese, before heading back to Lower Antelope Canyon.

We spent the next 90 minutes picking up where we left off. We were just finishing up at 3 p.m., which was very convenient considering that’s when the canyon closes.

The tour guide recommended we check out Horseshoe Bend while we’re in town, so that’s where we went. Data was able to walk with us to the rim, 3/4 mile from the parking lot. He had been cooped up in his crate all day, so it was very nice for him to escape and get a little bit of a workout. The tour guide at Lower Antelope Canyon had also mentioned that most of the good restaurants in Page are shut down for the season, so we went to the Courtyard to ask for recommendations at the desk. One of the clerks called a Mexican restaurant in town called Zapata’s to ask which chef was working. Turns out “the good chef” was working, so we decided to try our luck with yet another Mexican restaurant.

Believe it or not, it was good! They had a salsa bar, their nachos were tasty and our meals were actually cooked properly. Feeling full and refreshed, we returned to the Courtyard, where we have been for the last few hours. In just a few minutes, we are going to drive to Kanab, UT, where we will wake up at 7:30 a.m. to pick up hiking permits for The Wave. Permits are very difficult to come by, apparently, so we have to be at the office when they open in order to secure ours.

Here are photos from today. Click “there’s more to this” to see them all, or visit my SmugMug.

A natural arch in Lower Antelope Canyon.

Lower Antelope Canyon.

A sub-par attempt at an HDR image from Lower Antelope Canyon.

Upper Antelope Canyon. Click on the above image to see a larger version.

Julia and I in Upper Antelope Canyon.

Lower Antelope Canyon.

Horseshoe Bend, part of the Colorado River.

Julia and Data at Horseshoe Bend.