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Antelope Canyon Tours
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8 reviews for Antelope Canyon Tours
Antelope Canyon is actually made up of two slot canyons, Upper and Lower. Upper is the most popular because it is the most accessible. Lower (literally right across the street) requires you to use ladders to descend down into the canyon itself. As a result, it is less crowded. Upper is considered by many to be the most picturesque. (Canyon X is a newly discovered slot canyon, which I myself do not know too much about). At the time of this writing, no guide is required to visit Lower Antelope Canyon. A guide, however, is required to visit the Upper Antelope Canyon.
During my recent visit to Antelope Canyon, I visited Upper. You can drive to the entrance gate and have a Navajo guide drive you to the canyon itself. However, most people, myself included, join a tour offered by the many tour outfitters that operate out of Page, AZ. I was attracted by my company of choice, Antelope Canyon Tours (ACT), due to its good recommendations by many photographers who have shot in the Southwest. ACT offers a "photography tour" which costs $50, and allows you about 2 hours to photograph in the canyon. This makes it easy for photographers to take their time to compose their shot and not feel rushed.
I thought photographing in Upper Antelope Canyon was going to be a zoo. But the Indians help control the crowds, so photographers get a chance to compose that perfect shot. As a photographer, one shares the narrow slot canyon with hordes of tourists. What I liked about ACT was that our guide told us where to stand, and where to point our cameras for the best photographic opportunities. Like clockwork, a good Navajo guide (like mine from ACT) knows exactly where a beam of light will shine, when it will appear, and when it will disappear. There is only a brief window to take the shot, and my guide helped control the regular tourist population, so that they will not get in the way of any photographer's long exposure shots (long exposures and a tripod are required to get a decent shot here).
Upper Antelope Canyon (and I am sure any slot canyon for that matter), has a tendency to become extremely dusty. Because several people walk inside the canyon lots of dust gets picked up and finds its way on everything (and I mean everything). Be very careful with your equipment. Dust off your camera and lens every so often, and try to take as little inside the canyon with you as possible. Great compositions can be found all around you. Be sure to look up as well! Best time to photograph is in the middle of the day, around 11am-12pm, when the sun is overhead.
The entire Upper Antelope Canyon is very sacred and magical, and entering it is almost like entering a church. I highly recommend anyone visiting northern Arizona to pay Antelope Canyon a visit.
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We drove out 98 to the starting point of the off road route to the upper canyon and hopped on the 8:45 am tour that left from the parking lot. The light, I guess, wasn't perfect but it was amazingingly beautiful. The canyon is not very long, I thought an hour or so was plenty of time, but we're not photographers, we just came to see the slot canyon.
Yes, this slot canyon is made up of two canyons, the upper and lower.
I took the photographer's tour and our guide was pretty good. He kept the other tours from entering our area and gave us time to photograph the slot canyon. The problem that I did encounter was when our guide threw up sand into the light, it ruined my lens with fine red dust. I'll have to take my lens in for repair. As a photographer, I managed to sell some of my slot canyon photos and gave some away as gifts. The cost for this particular tour is $50 and I have to say it was worth the money (except for my ruined lens). This tour is from 11:30am to 2pm where the beams of light fall into this majestic slot canyon. This canyon is just 30 minutes SE from Page, Arizona. The other spectacular view you'll need to visit is Horseshoe Bend, just south of Page, and it's not for the acrophobic.
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The Antelope Slot Canyons themselves get five stars--I'm rating the tour I went on. I loved my tour guide--could've done without all the sand being thrown in the air whenever a prominent light beam shot to the ground floor, though. What they get a mark-down on are the scary vehicles they use to transport you in. It's this huge, tall pick-up truck with two benches in the back facing outward (I've loaded a picture of it). My family sat on one side and let's just say our driver wasn't driving as cautiously as he should have, considering there were 14 people without seat belts bouncing around in the back of the truck. After driving 2-3 miles on paved road in Page, AZ, you take this adventurous 3-mile venture on an ocean of sand--it kind of feels like being on a huge jet ski skipping across the water as fast as it can. We survived. And I'm assuming most do because they're still in business. But that ride is kind of risky.
In the wake of the Katrina devastation, there is something to remind you of what Mother Nature can do when She is in a good mood...
This is a Navajo-run tour operation that takes you to one of the most amazing sights in the Southwest, Antelope Canyon, near Page, Arizona. It's a slot canyon, which means it's a narrow rock formation which you walk into and see the most spectacular swirl of color and light and the eons-long effect of wind and water.
Hit it close to noon on a clear day, and the sun rays will allow enough natural light for you to photograph the interior for the best effect. Just make sure you have a couple of rolls of high-speed film (1600 worked for me) and a tripod to make sure you get a good photo (I've added a few of mine as a point of reference...though I have seen pictures that absolutely glow with the brightest orange light). It does get crowded with tourists, especially in the summer, so you should probably take an early tour and wait around until you get the light you want.
The tour really just consists of a Navajo guide who drives an open-air truck from the office in the shopping center to the outside of the Upper Antelope canyon. I understand the Lower Antelope Canyon is bigger, but it's been closed due to some fatalities from a flash flood in 1997. The Upper Antelope Canyon is more than adequate and easier to navigate since you simply walk into the slot rather than climb down into it.
It costs about $22 for the whole 2-hour trip, an absolute bargain for the magic you can experience. Remember that a cloudy day will not help with your photography. You can also take time to hike the adjoining slot canyons which are more challenging to climb through but worthwhile as well. By all means, make sure to stop by and take this tour when visiting this part of the country. Nearby are Lake Powell, Horseshoe Bend and a few hours away, Monument Valley.
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Antelope Canyon made the cover of backpacker magazine last year. That was reason enough to visit Page, Arizona and see the place my self. The pictures on the web does this place no justice, it's like nothing else I have ever seen. I got to the site about 30 minutes after a commerical photography crew left. Some company brought in models and did a photo shoot there. The Navajo guides tell me this happens all the time.
Some things to know.
11:15 to 12:00 is the prime time for this attraction. That is when the sun is over the canyon and this slim ray of light shines through the canyon.
To get more personalized service, drive to the site and hire a guide at the Canyon. If you sign up with a guide in the city, your truck will be full of people, around 15 tourists to a guide. I had a single guide to my self for a couple more bucks, well worth it.
I went with Chief Tsosie's Tours. The reservation business was somewhat disorganized. I made a reservation online, credit card number included and everything. The next day, I called to make sure they had received it; they had, and said I had squeezed into the last 3 spots of the photographic 10:30 am tour, which is the time when you get the sunbeams at Antelope Canyon. The day before my reservation, I called again just for confirmation; they said I had no reservation, and there was nothing in their computer system that I'd made a reservation online, or been jotted down. So, I ask if there are any other tours available, as I'm making a long drive and have planned it already. There is a spot available on the photographic tour for 1pm, I give my credit card number (again) and hope for the best. We call the morning of the reservation while on the road and we're told that they won't be giving any tours today because the Navajo Nation has closed the canyon due to rain, and so all the tours are cancelled. When we get there and check in the office ourselves, we find that the tours are not cancelled after all... So, a bit disorganized. But the tour itself was fantastic. It starts off at the store where they sell Navajo souvenirs, and begins in the parking lot with a Navajo hoop dance, where one guy in costume gets a bunch of hoops together and dances with them like a bird and does some cool tricks. There is another guy with a drum and he sings. Then, we were off to Antelope Canyon. With a limit of 12 people per photographic tour, our guide Mylo was able to personalize our experience. He knows every single camera out there, and while my group felt like maybe we wouldn't get very much attention as each of us has a point-and-shoot digital camera and everyone else has giant expensive-looking cameras with tripods, Mylo went into our pre-made settings and set each of ours on manual or program or whatever it is and adjusted it so we would take good shots. He also showed us how to use the rocks our our shoes as tripods. He showed us where there would be a good spot for us to sit and take pictures. He was very energetic and positive, and played a beautiful flute song at the end. It was such a good experience, Mylo was very attentive and memorized our names for the 2 hours we saw him; we definitely had more than enough time to take all the pictures we wanted and relax, and soak in the beauty. It was also nice because Mylo was so pleasant and gentle and smiled all the time, whereas some other tour guides we could see rushing their groups and screaming at people to hurry up. So overall, great tour, but keep checking on those reservations!
OMG - you have to do this. We did KEN'S TOURS. It was actually a self tour of lower Antelope Canyon. Very pricey - $26 each, but well worth it. Canyon is actually below ground level. So you start off taking a few steps down into this wonderful beauty of swirling rocks and sand floor. The sunlight coming in is spectacular changing the colors of the rock into purples, oranges, gold, yellows. It's so peaceful and spiritual. Ken has owned this for 10 years and has built some well-needed steel stairs in some parts for easy access. You must be somewhat fit to be able to climb down the narrow steep stairs and fit inbetween the crevaces. You can take as long as you want and then turn around and walk back through it again to get out or simply take the last stairway out to reach the ground above again. It took us about an hour and we (group of 3) were the only ones with another small group which made it so nice. A lady in the other group played Amazing Grace on an Indian flute for her group. We had to stop around the corner from them to hear the song in this surrounding. It was so moving, it brought tears to my eyes. Go in the off season - we went in January. A bit chilly, but not too bad. Take lots of pictures. It is absolutely beautiful - highly recommend this self-guided tour!
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