Upper Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend

Last fall, when we ran into Frank and Jo at Alliance Coach, Frank showed us a photograph he had taken of Antelope Canyon and ever since I saw that photograph, I have wanted to go there.  The only way you can go through Antelope Canyon is by booking a tour because it is on Navajo reservation land.  There are actually two canyons:  Lower Antelope Canyon and Upper Antelope Canyon.

After doing some checking on Trip Advisor, I was able to book a tour with Antelope Canyon Tours for an 11:30 tour for Upper Antelope Canyon.  The cost is $10 higher for the tours in the middle of the day because that is when the sun is more likely to be shining from straight above down into the canyon and supposedly gives the best lighting for taking pictures.  The cost was $50 per person which seemed a little steep but it was something we had been wanting to do for a long time.

The tour starts at their office in Page where you are assigned a Navajo tour guide who takes about 12 people per truck out to the canyon.  There were 4 or 5 trucks going out for the 11:30 tour.  We knew we had a good tour guide when he said he was going to wait and let all the other trucks go out first so we could take our time a little more going through the canyon.

The ride to the canyon took about 15 minutes.

Right before we reached the Salt River Navajo Generating Station, we turned off of Hwy 98...

...and began driving up a wide sandy wash.

A "wash" is a dry creek bed or run-off that normally only has water in it during periods of heavy rains.  Of course, to us Tennessee folks, a wash is what you do every Saturday night. Just kidding!  We take our "washes" at least twice a week.  :)

After a 10 minute bumpy ride up the wash, our tour guide parked the truck (along with about 10 other tour trucks), we climbed out and walked to the entrance of Upper Antelope Canyon.

Our group paused at the entrance of the canyon and while waiting for our turn to go in, our tour guide began explaining a few things about the canyon and the tour.  Antelope Canyon, both Upper and Lower, are subject to flash flooding particularly during their monsoon season which is typically June 15 through September 30.  In Lower Antelope Canyon which is accessed via a ladder system, eleven tourists died in 1997 when a flash flood occurred.  Very little rain had fallen that day, but an earlier thunderstorm had dumped a large amount of water into the canyon basin, 7 miles upstream. In 2010, several tourists were stranded on a ledge when two flash floods occurred at the Upper Antelope Canyon.  Our tour guide told us before we entered the canyon that the weather is monitored closely and if there is any danger of a flash flood, they will not enter the canyon.

When we entered the canyon, the swoops and swirls of the canyon walls surrounded us.

There are several tour groups going through the canyon at all times.

In addition to telling us about the geology and history of the canyon, our tour guide was also very good about showing us how to set your camera for the best photographs, the best places to take photographs, and unique features in the canyon.  For instance, from this vantage point,

the tour guide set up my iPhone to take my picture.  Looks like I'm holding a torch!  :)

For the rest of the tour, Chuck was taking pictures with my iPhone and I was taking pictures with our camera.

The tour guides attempt to keep their groups together for safety reasons...

...and so that there are many opportunities to take photographs without people in the way; but every once in a while, there would be a person (or in this case a leg) pop out.  :)

Our tour guide pointed out features in the canyon that looked like certain people, animals, or places.  There are two different animals in the formations below:  a bear and an eagle.  Can you see them?

The bear is looking up with his snout toward the sky like he's climbing out of the canyon.

The eagle is a little easier to see and is right below the bear -- kind of on the bear's back.  

Next, he pointed out a profile of George Washington to us.  Do you see him?

How about now?

The tour guide also showed us an early morning Arizona sunrise...

...and Monument Valley all from inside Upper Antelope Canyon!

As I mentioned earlier, this canyon has flooded numerous times.  In a few places, there were little dead bushes left deposited from previous flash floods,

or a small limb.

In other places, there were trees or tree stumps lodged in the canyon walls high above us.  (These pictures were taken looking straight up.)

One of the photography tips the tour guide told us was to try to keep your camera away from the direct sunlight.  Some of our better pictures emerged from keeping the direct sunlight out of the picture.

There were a couple of cool shots we took with small glimpses of sunlight.

Looks like someone is looking down on us!

We emerged from the end of the canyon after about 30-40 minutes...

...and after the tour guide had all of us together again,

...we walked back the way we came.

We had to pause occasionally for tour groups coming through. The tour guide for one of the groups would throw sand up in the air which created apparitions in the sunlight.

Before we knew it, we were back at the entrance where all the tour trucks were parked, and we loaded up on the truck and headed back to Page.

We stopped by the motorhome to eat some lunch and then headed out to Horseshoe Bend which was just a couple of miles down the road.  Originally, I had wanted to wait until sunset, but the sky was clear now and rain was predicted for later so we decided to go why the sun was out.  When we reached the trailhead for Horseshoe Bend, there were several cars parked along the road; but we checked the parking lot and there were several parking spots.

As we walked towards the overlook, we could see the top of the canyon walls of Horseshoe Bend off in the distance.

We walked up a short hill through the desert and then a longer distance down to the overlook for a total 3/4 mile.

There were dozens of people along the overlook.  The overlook has no railing so we were very careful not to get to close to the edge.

When we looked down into the canyon,

we could see some of those Colorado Discovery Tour boats that we had seen at the bottom of Glen Canyon Dam.

It was so beautiful, we decided to just sit there and look at Horseshoe Bend for a while.

We took one last look,

and the necessary selfie.

As we began our walk back to the car through the desert,

we could see Tower Butte off in the distance.

Later, that evening, we met Al and Muriel from Surprise, Arizona, who just started full-timing in their Entegra motorhome 9 months ago.  In fact, they just started RVing 9 months ago!  We had a very nice conversation with them for a couple of hours and hope to meet them along the way again sometime!