New stop in the road trip: Antelope Canyon, which Navajo name is Tse’ bighanilini meaning “the place where water runs through rocks.” I booked a few weeks before leaving a guided tour of Antelope Canyon, I had a lot of expectations regarding this tour. At noon we were in front of the guide office (with some time issues: we slept the night before in Utah, and Arizona has a different time, but not Antelope, even if it’s in Arizona, has the same time as Utah – you follow me?). Well, we went into a Jeep, and we arrived on a very bumpy trail. Adventures, here we come!
Music: Kora Jazz Tryo
Slot canyon. When we arrived at the canyon entrance, it’s crowded with tourists. I thought that with our private guided tour we would have been all alone, I was wrong. The entrance is a slot on the rock, I feel like Indiana Jones: inside, the walls are high and the path is narrow (only 2m wide), it’s pretty dark, I can’t see the sky. Outside the heat was burning, and inside it’s cooler. The pink-orange rock is all striated, it’s smooth when I touch it – I’m not sure I’m allowed to do that, but it’s very tempting. There’s sand on the floor, and sometimes sand even streams along the rocks. It’s really pretty. I see light beams, it looks magical – that’s why summer visits at noon are the best: the sun is high in the sky, and light can go through the canyon. This canyon is not very long, only 200m.
“Flash floods” no way to jaywalk on the canyon, the guide asks us to stay together as a group, so the many others groups can go through easily. It’s packed in here, but careful, we may be asked to leave the canyon immediately if there’s a “flash floods” (which is pretty impossible during summer).
Guided tour Our guided tour was kind of strange: the guide didn’t tell us anything about geology or history of the canyon. She just pointed out some shapes on the rocks telling us that it’s a bear, a crying eye or Washington’s face. I try to almost close my eyes, bend my head, but to be honest, I didn’t see any of these. She also suggested us all the time to take a picture here or there, with this frame and this camera set up. We also had a piece of flute played by a guide… Well it may be authentic, but it sounds… touristy. At the end, she finally gave us some explanation about the way the canyon was made, and I loved her demo (you can see it on the video).
This guided tour was a bit expensive for – 46$ a person, including 6$ for entering the Navajo Land. It was anyway a very good experience. We visited only the Upper canyon, there’s also a Lower (20$), with ladders to go down it. Pretty cool!
Overland Canyon Tours: our guided tour, base in Page Arizona
Next stop: Grand Canyon !
