Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon located just outside of Page, AZ. There is an upper canyon and a lower canyon. To see either section, one must go on a tour. The canyon is on Navajo land and it is controlled by the Navajos. This is a place that has been on my bucket list for a very long time. I’m ecstatic that I finally got to see it with my own eyes. And, we were not disappointed.
We had a very long drive to Page from Las Vegas, however, the drive itself was a wonderful experience. What fantastic countryside! We oohhed and aahhed and said “wow” about a hundred times and it got only better from there. The drive from Las Vegas to Page was day 1 of our out west trip and from Page we would start our Mighty 5 tour.
We stayed at a Comfort Inn in Page. The town itself seems quite quaint, but it certainly is a tourist attraction. The slot canyons are a big draw, as is Horseshoe Bend and the Glen Canyon dam, to name just a few attractions. Our big draw was the slot canyon. We chose to tour the lower canyon as it requires more physicality in getting into the slot, whereas the upper canyon is more accessible. I thought that the lower canyon might be less crowded. Not so, but I’m still happy with our choice.
We signed up for our tour with Ken’s Tours. Groups of about 20 are lead every few minutes down into the slot by a Navajo guide. Our guide was Kyndra and she was great. In addition to telling us everything we wanted to know about the slot, she was an expert on camera settings, so she helped everyone so that photos taken were the best possible.
To get into the lower slot, you had to climb down successively steep stairs, no easy feat, for sure. It’s about 75 feet down into the slot. The lower slot is V-shaped, which means that it is narrower at the bottom than at the top. And it certainly was that. In some places, it was a challenge to get a foot down in between the canyon walls.
Once down into the slot, it was an incredible sensation. The canyon is Navajo sandstone, which is yellow at the top, then orange, then reddish, then purplish and finally brown at the bottom. Everywhere you looked you saw different colors. And with the sun moving across the sky, various sun rays shined down into the slot and illuminated different colors of sandstone. It was truly magical.
The Navajo name for Antelope Canyon is “the place where water runs through rocks.” And it was certainly clear that water had created this canyon. Standing in some of the areas, you could actually feel a sensation of swirling water. The effects of water coursing through the rock is very dramatic. This lower slot wound its way along over a mile-and-a-quarter. It took us about 90 minutes to walk that distance so we weren’t rushed, and although there were lots of people in the slot, it didn’t feel that crowded because the guides ahead and behind controlled the flow. In our group, everyone was very responsive to picture-taking and stayed out of each other’s way.
The rock in some places looked like someone had tossed down a blanket. The stone was nearly smooth in places, but you could see the striation of the rock in various colors. I thought that the rock looked like chocolate pudding in some places. Our guide pointed out lots of features of the rock, especially places where the rock looked like heads or people. Here are a couple of examples.
The guide kept reminding us to look in all directions, especially behind us, and I’m glad she did. Everywhere your eyes looked was a spectacular sight. As you walked along the canyon walls, there were side chambers and other smaller slots. With the sun up above, the colors were blazing yellow and orange up above.
It was absolutely surreal being in the slot canyon. I didn’t want to leave it. I think the next time, I won’t take a camera so I can just experience the slot and not be clamoring to take pictures. I think I took about 300 photos in 90 minutes, so I was preoccupied. The spirituality of the place needs to be felt. It truly is an amazing place.
Here’s what the area above the slot canyon looks like. Looks kind of like a mud pit, but it’s all Navajo sandstone. Amazing to think we were 75 feet down into those crevices.
What a fantastic start to our Mighty 5 tour! It was truly an awesome experience.
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