Upper Antelope Canyon

The Antelope Canyon just outside of Page, AZ, was the item on the itinerary we were most excited about. The sandstone canyon was washed out by flash floods, shaping the walls into beautiful wave patterns. Even better, the sun light illuminates the canyon in all colors from bright orange to purple on its way down to the sandy floor. The canyon is on Navajo land and can be accessed at two sites: the Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon. We arrived in the morning in Page and got the last two seats for the tour of the Upper Canyon for about 25$, which can only be visited with a guided tour from several agencies in Page.

We hopped on the truck with about 30 other people and started the 20 minute drive to the entrance. The canyon is pretty crowded, the tour operates have optimized the system that there are always several groups in the canyon, but everybody gets a photo shot at about a dozen sites. Here is the most popular one, the candle.

We picked a windy day for our tour which led to a constant sand rain from the above. It was hard to take pictures sometimes just because there was so much sand around. Luckily, I had a hoody with me. The surface of the walls and the lights are incredible. Special photo tours available which allow tripods and give you more time in the canyon. We spent about an hour in the canyon, the last 15 minutes on the return path you can stop where ever you want in case you missed a site.

Our guide showed us a couple of special sites, this one is called Monument Valley.

At the Lower Canyon, tours are offered every 20 minutes on a first come first server basis. We did not have the time after our tour to the Upper Canyon and thus decided to go to the Lower Canyon on the next day.

Picture gallery