Slot Canyon #3 - Antelope Canyon (Almost Cave of Wonders)
We first found out about Antelope Canyon by looking in the window of a shop when we were in Page in 1997. We had just got into Page and were looking for a place to stay and a place to eat after a long day on the road. Both DH and I could not believe the photograph we were looking at and we knew immediately it was someplace that we needed to visit the very next day. In 1997, we were visiting during winter and our timing was not quite right for us to fully experience the Almost Cave of Wonders. And whilst DH had taken a decent shot of it, we knew we had unfinished business with the place. We had always planned to go back; it just never got to the top of the bucket list until this year.
Antelope Canyon IS the most photographed slot canyon that I know of in the US. It has literally taken off in the last 7 years and I see images of it in practically every US travel book or photographer’s blog. It is a very easy canyon to visit. The tour companies can drive almost right up to the entrance and the walk in; and it is pretty much walking through on flat sandy ground.
Walk right into this crack in the wall and welcome to the Almost Cave of Wonders.
Some sections inside open up to a wide'ish area. I think one of these wide spaces is known as the Cathedral; it might be this one but I’m not sure. But take a look at the illuminated opening. It makes a light shape against the solid wall like a Candlestick.
Don’t be fooled by the pictures I've taken. It really is a zoo inside here. We had hit it at peak hour and there was a ton of people in here; all jostling for the right position to take pictures.
Nate pointed out the appropriate shapes as he navigated our way through the long slot. This one is obviously the Heart; and I wasn't in the right position to take the perfect shape but you can see what he means.
The colours are just mind-blowing, aren't they? Can you spot the feature?
I expect this might make it clearer. They call this Monument Valley.
Without a doubt, this canyon was the Almost Cave of Wonders for accessibility, beauty and colour.
I did not like the crowds in here. There were a number of features that Nate kept telling his group to "Take this; take that" on the walk in. But I was usually out of position and kept being pushed through by the tide of humanity. There were way too many people and way too much jostling. Thankfully, it didn't take us long to walk the 200 feet or so to get to the other end of the canyon.
Imagine a wall of water coming down that and forcing its way into the narrow entry of Antelope Canyon. I'd hate to be caught in there!
Once outside, Nate told us that we were going to head back in to grab some more pictures. He also told us to set the camera and tripods up; for anyone that had them. The photographers were going to be given the opportunity to play!
There were a number of photography tour groups here and the Navajo guides of each group all knew each other.
And it was on the return walk that I realised the benefit of being on one of these tours; rather than the standard tour. Nate had advised us to set our cameras up; especially with tripod, if we wanted to take longer exposures. It seemed the other tour guides were telling their groups the same thing. Once inside, the guides worked together to block off key passages, holding up traffic, on either end to allow their groups to have the best opportunity to take pictures.
The herding of humans is a fascinating experiment in futility. Have you ever tried it before? I came to the realisation that it is easier to herd cats. This experiment was conducted in situ in a tight confined canyon....and it is an experiment designed to bring out the jostling, shoving and pushing nature of humans. In a number of instances, I was sure that the individual jostler would come to fisticuffs with the guides. I almost felt sorry for the guides as one particular person started a verbal war with them. He wasn't nice at all! A number of other people just flatly refused to be stopped and pushed their way past and then took their time in walking through. Two people even glared at us and yelled obscenities at us. And then there was this one particular ghost. The three photography groups that were waiting patiently for him to move past were pushed to the point of intolerance by this particular guy as he just stayed around the light beam and in the end, three of the other photographers escorted him off-frame.
But by and large, the guides did a great job in keeping people out of our shots.
And that is how our unfinished business with Antelope Canyon got finished. One of the major benefits of paying for a photography tour is the perk of having chief herders. That......and the fact that only people on the photography tours are allowed to bring in tripods to Antelope Canyon.
That picture that we stared in disbelief all those years ago was a picture of a shaft of light in Antelope Canyon. The light beams hit the canyon from about mid March to early October when the sun is in the right position in the sky and at the peak of the season there might be some 20 individual light beams in the slot. We were at the tail end of the season; but there were still 3 or 4 light beams to capture. The guides knew their times down to the minute.
In some instances, they used a spade and/or bucket to throw sand into the beam so that the photographers could easily capture the beam.
I might have been capturing the light beam here but there was a double feature to this picture. Every so often, the shapes created by the water and wind over millions of years resemble faces. Eerie faces that look like they are out of this world.
I’m sure our group looked a lot like this one here.
The dynamic range in here was a wonder to behold. Especially when we looked up to see the slots in the top where the sun was streaming through.
You have to admit those beams are soul-soothing. It really is an Almost Cave of Wonders!
It’s taken us 16 years to achieve it but we've finally made it back here to see the light beams and to capture our rememberances of it for ourselves. The bonus of the return has also been to capture the amazing 50 Shades of Red that the walls of Antelope Canyon glow when the sun hit the walls at the right time. We do have a previous picture on the wall in our home of Antelope Canyon that DH took. It will be joined by at least one of these pictures that I took from this day.
Nate, our guide, told us that there would only be another week or so left of the sun hitting the canyon in the right position. The season for the light beams was nearly over. Our timing had been good this time round.
In the end, the pushing and shoving......a dim memory. It had turned out to be an almost Cave of Wonders for me but it really was a zoo in Antelope Canyon. DH and I were really glad to have had a second opportunity to come and see Antelope Canyon in all it's glory.
(Continued in Next Post)
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Merry Christmas, Paula. Hope you're having a great one.
