|
| | | |
| |
|
| Hiking | 0.90 Miles |
98 AEG |
| | Hiking | 0.90 Miles | 2 Hrs | | 0.45 mph |
| 98 ft AEG | | | | |
|
|
| |
| Linked |
|
none
[ show ]
| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
|
none
[ show ]
| no partners | | Lower Antelope Canyon
The Antelope Canyon(s) have been on my radar since almost forever so finally I began working on a plan to visit them and bring home some of those fantastic photos that I keep seeing. I set up my trip for Wednesday traveling to Page, spend one or two nights (depending on my luck at getting a tour without prior registration) and returning Thursday or Friday. I left home at 0230 Wednesday and reached Page at 0730, just in time for the booth's to open their doors. Prior research led me to the lower canyon for the better photos with fewer visitors (yeah right). So I visited Ken's Tours and inquired about a Photographer's Only tour, only to find out that they were booked solid  Next I went to Dixie Ellis' Lower Antelope Tours and they were able to get me in for the 2:20pm tour 
I paid my $40 for the Photographer's Tour, $8.00 for the Navajo land access and went to find a campgrounds. I found a suitable camp at Page, Lake Powell Campground which came to $17.47 for one night. After getting the tent all setup, I took off to tour the Page, AZ area. First stop was Horseshoe Bend (to be covered in a later triplog) and then back to camp for a snack and a well needed nap 
I made it back to the tours before 2:00 and checked on my reservation, all was still a go so I asked how many were on this same "Photographer's Only Tour" and was told that I was the only one on the list...  and introduced me to Andrea my young Navajo guide. I asked her a few questions about cameras and, to my surprise, she was very knowledgeable, and as it turned out, extremely helpful  The trail to the canyon entrance was little more than a couple hundred yards then down a steep ladder system to the bottom, about fifty feet below the surface.
Before reaching the bottom of the ladder system, I knew I had died and gone to heaven!!!! All I could think of was "How am I ever going to describe this awesomeness to someone who has never been here?" I can only hope that my photos can do proper justice to the beauty that confronted me with each turn of my head. As I approached a good photo spot, I set up the camera/tripod and Andrea would clear the area of other tourists so that I could take my shots without having people stumbling around  she was more than helpful, hell she even carried my camera bag for me
As we reached a pre-determined photo op, she would clear the area and explain what we were going to do at this location. Then she would pick up a handful of fine sand and throw it on a rock shelf that drained down through a slot or notch to create a sand-fall, like a waterfall with sand. There was formations that resembled a lions head, or a woman with her hair blowing in the wind, or a snakes head, and on, and on (like I said, she was very helpful). Andrea was also well versed on the geography and geology of the area and explained how the sandstone base was created over centuries of blowing sand containing various minerals that reflect light at different frequencies depending on the angle of the sun.
After the shortest two hours of my life we reached the stairway leading out of the canyon and back to the surface. Although my tour was over, I knew that I had experienced something that has plagued me for a number of years and now I had the evidence in my camera to show others just how incredible this planet can be
|
| _____________________
| On every trip into the Superstitions, I find another Gold Mine. Today the mine was filled with Memories. I can not wait for the next trip. |
| | |
|
|
|
Route Editor
Route Scout
