Beams of light set Antelope Canyon aglow
You’ve seen it in photos: swirling red sandstone walls aglow with light, like the inside of a conch shell or a Himalayan salt crystal lamp. Shafts of light that pinpoint, like Indiana Jones’s amulet beam, precise spots on the sandy floor. This is Antelope Canyon, as graceful as its pronghorn namesake.
Antelope Canyon conceals itself within a sandy, Mars-like landscape, on Navajo Nation land near the town of Page in northern Arizona. The canyon was high on my must-see list, and after careful planning and securing a reservation as soon as our preferred date opened, we arrived in late April for a tour. We’d chosen a tour time as close to midday as we could get, when the overhead sun briefly beams into the narrow, twisting slot canyon on cloudless spring and summer days.
To enter the canyon you must book a tour with an authorized Navajo tour company. We used Antelope Canyon Navajo Tours. They assigned us to a group of 10 to 12 people, and a guide drove us a few miles along a sandy wash in the jouncy bed of a covered pickup truck to the canyon.
That jagged crack in the rock behind our guide is the opening to Upper Antelope Canyon. At a different location, you can tour Lower Antelope Canyon, which requires descending metal ladders to reach the canyon floor.
Looking back through arabesque rock walls
And now let’s enter this cathedral of stone, sand, and light.
Water wrought this beautiful place. Desert flash floods poured into cracks in the soft sandstone mesas, carving meringue-like ridges and peaks, and ultimately creating Antelope Canyon’s rippled passageways. Floods continue to sculpt and scour the canyon today, and they can occur unexpectedly, from rain that falls miles away upstream. Eleven tourists drowned in a surprise flash flood in Lower Antelope Canyon in 1997. Safety measures spurred by that tragedy have kept tourists safe since then.
Walking through Antelope Canyon is a transcendent experience. The crested, striated canyon walls glow red, pink, and orange all around you.
Shafts of light lase the sandy floor.
Our guide snapped a few photos of us on D’s phone camera. My Nikon was sealed in a Ziploc bag with a hole cut out for the lens, my homemade attempt to keep sand out of the camera body.
Powder-fine sand hisses into canyon chambers from the slot high above and swirls delicately through the air, making the light almost tangible. Then too, it showers you with fine red grains and gets in your eyes, ears, and clothes. The views are worth the sand bath though.
A seashell glow
A scoured log rests high on a canyon wall, presumably stranded after a flash flood.
Water-sculpted light tunnels
I was awed by this place.
This is all illuminated by natural light.
D. taking a photo
Near the end of the canyon, the walls narrow, and you’re compressed into the meringue folds.
A “bench” carved by water
Sand sifting down from the world above
And then we blinked our way into bright daylight again. Looking back at the canyon crease, you might never know it was there. Was it real or a dream?
Up next: Dramatic views and wildflowers at Horseshoe Bend and Glen Canyon Dam in Page, Arizona. For a look back at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, click here.
__________________________
Digging Deeper
Come learn about gardening and design at Garden Spark! I organize in-person talks by inspiring designers, landscape architects, authors, and gardeners a few times a year in Austin. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance; simply click this link and ask to be added. Season 8 kicks off in fall 2024. Stay tuned for more info!
All material © 2024 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
GLORIOUS….was it quiet?
Nah, everyone was oohing and chitchatting. And it was echoey in there. 😉
Absolutely fabulous photos, Pam. Each one inside the canyon walls a work of art I’d be thrilled to have hanging on a wall. I’d love to get there someday.
Thanks so much, Kris! I want to give a shout-out to my husband for his photos, a number of which are included in this post. And that’s his video clip too. It was a joint effort!
Stunning and definitely awe inspiring. Thanks for sharing all your beautiful pics with us, Pam.
My pleasure. I’m glad you enjoyed them!
What an amazing place! The photos definitely set that awe-inspiring mood, and I love the video of the sand gracefully falling through the air. The dose-of-reality photos with the other people and the trucks, and the information on time of day and reservations process, were informative. Thanks so much for sharing – this will go on the bucket list!
I hope you get there one day, Maggie. It’s definitely worth the effort.
A magical place, a cathedral indeed. An experience of a lifetime I’d say. Do the walls feel like sand paper?
They felt pretty smooth, actually. Well sanded!
Your photographs are stunning! They capture the awesomeness of that place!
I would love to visit sometime.
Thanks, Deborah. It was a gorgeous experience.
Exquisitely beautiful – ever bit as awe inspiring as the great cathedrals of Europe.
On my bucket list for next year.
Paula, that’s exciting. I hope you are able to see it next year!
Absolutely beautiful. Such a tribute to the wonder of this world that we inhabit. Thanks for sharing.
It’s my pleasure, Barbara. Thanks for your comment.
Superb photography! Kudos to you both. This place reminds me a lot of Ein Gedi in the Israeli desert, which we visited in 1977 when we spent a year living in Israel.
Thanks, Peter. And I’m glad to know about Ein Gedi now too.
This nearly takes my breath away just seeing your pictures. How nice to have a couples photo or two. We usually don’t get those when we travel.
I’m glad you enjoyed the pics, Lisa. The guide was terrific about taking pictures of everyone who wanted one at various points along the way.
>>>BREATHTAKING<<<
It’s a marvelous place, Nancy. No bad views! 🙂
Pam, I have followed you for several years now, but never managed to leave a comment! I’ve always admired your blog and photos, but felt especially compelled to comment on this post…these images are stunning! I’ve been to one of the other slot canyons close by, and know how hard it is to get these good shots! Each one in this post is truly spectacular, kudos! Thanks for all of the wonderfully informative and entertaining work you do in sharing the glory of nature!!
Barbara (Elle) from Georgetown
Barbara, thank you so much! I shared your lovely compliments with my husband, who contributed photos to this post too. I’m so glad you enjoyed the images, and I appreciate your being a regular reader of Digging!