Grand Canyon Family Trip 2016, Part Five in Travels with ConnieK

Here is an excerpt of the magazine article that will appear in the next edition of “Senior Living”, set to launch in November. I’ve excluded a good part of it, especially on the Native American history of the place, as well as flash flood history:

… Antelope Canyon tours are Navajo owned and operated. Entry is $8 per person (cash only, but they take credit cards in the gift shop) to get through the gate and $20+ per person for the lower canyon tour, which takes about an hour and a half …

Antelope Canyon, named for the abundance of pronghorn antelope found by the first European descendants to explore the region, is a “slot” canyon, made of spiraling sandstone rock arches and curvatures that lead visitors through surrealistic wave like passages. The Navajo people call the lower canyon “Hazdistazí” or “Hasdestwazi”, meaning “spiral rock arches”, and the upper canyon “Tsé bighánílíní” (“place where water runs through rock”) …

Upper Canyon requires no climbing. Six hundred feet long, photographers appreciate the ever changing light beams that radiate through the openings above from late March to early October. Entry is gained through a narrow passage cut through a red sandstone cliff. Once through the cut, a stunning view beckons the visitor deeper … Striped sandstone walls swirl and drape as if it were a discarded fabric instead of unforgiving rock. Winding through the canyon is surrealistic, widening and narrowing in room-like spaces. Sunlight filters in where it can, through natural openings overhead.

Shallow near the top, visitors come away knowing this area is unique and feeling as if one of creation’s secrets has been revealed to them.

A few miles north, the half mile long Lower Canyon, unlike Upper Canyon which is at ground level, requires a little more effort, as visitors descend down stairs and ladders to the caverns below. Antelope Canyon doesn’t start very impressively, but that changes quickly with descent … While a bit more difficult (there is a long metal staircase at the end to ascend), it is not a strenuous hike for the moderately fit. There are, however, a few tight squeezes, creating a slightly claustrophobic climb at times.

Photography is taken seriously here. The photography tours run about $80 per person for about two and a half hours. Children under the age of 16 and “tag-alongs” are not allowed on most photography tours, and those that do include others are pricey. Each person on the Photographer’s Tour must have a professional camera and tripod … serious photographers appreciate the specialized tours that offer insider knowledge as tour guides suggest prime spots, camera setting and angles. The purchase of a permit allows for time to wait, with light meter and tripod, on the sun, which pulls out deeper shadow and brilliant, almost surrealistic orange color as it moves across the sky. At times the sandstone surface of the canyon walls radiates.

Whether a serious photographer or curious tourist, the shapes, colors, and sheer majesty of the place is an awe inspiring commune with nature.
It is not a perfect place. Easily accessible and well publicized, the crowds can be overwhelming …

Antelope Canyon Video Link

When the article publishes, I’ll post a link to the magazine info. In the meantime, you get to see WAY more pictures than those who buy the magazine will, so I hope that makes up for the abbreviated text.