Back in 2015, while we still lived in USA, we took a family road trip around Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. We stopped at many beautiful and interesting places but one of them really stuck in my mind ... Antelope Canyon.
I really didn't have any expectations, I've seen some pictures so I put it in our trip as a stop between Earthship village in Taos, New Mexico and Zion National Park, Utah. We got to Page,AZ, the town near by the canyon, and had to choose our tour guides. Since a deadly incident in 1997, visits are not allowed without guide. The canyon is part of Navajo Tribal Park, so only Navajo tribe have the authority to organize tours. There were a lot of options to choose from as far as tour guides. There were different options to travel to the Upper Antelope Canyon - with bus that was top half open, cars like Suburbans and others. Since it was windy and we were with 1 year old kid we chose one of the Suburbans. And then we heard the price 😯 total - $180 ($80 per adult and $20 for our kid)....wait a minute ...Grand Canyon was like $25 per vehicle...I thought right away. But then we were both like we drove all the way here, we planned to see this place and we ain't coming back here soon so let's do it... I am glad we did it!
The entrance
Our guide, she was very sweet...(and my hubby caring our baby girl🤗):
And then I was surprised how many people there were inside, we had to stop at places so another group can pass.
But I was still able to make pictures:
It is just amazing, the colors were amazing, the light, the shadows, the texture...it's just incredible! Everywhere I looked I saw something. The Navajo have names for some of the rocks like the Lion head, the Bear, but for me almost every rock looked like something.The light and the shadows just really played with my imagination.
Do you know why Antelope Canyon looks like this - flash floods!
Antelope Canyon was formed by the erosion of Navajo Sandstone due to flash flooding and other sub-aerial processes. Rainwater, especially during monsoon season, runs into the extensive basin above the slot canyon sections, picking up speed and sand as it rushes into the narrow passageways. Over time the passageways eroded away, deepening the corridors and smoothing hard edges to form characteristic "flowing" shapes. Source: Wikipedia
Well sometimes destruction uncovers the gems!
At the end we were met by some not so happy photographers 😁 They wanted the exit clear from people, which is almost impossible, so when I got out and I was still struck by the awesomeness of this place someone shouted at me "move over". Gotta move 😁😁😁
Did you know that one of the most expensive photos was taken in this canyon? A picture taken from Peter Lik, was sold for $6,5 million dollars....yep $6 500 000. Not bad for a picture, I guess that's why the photographers were so anxious 😊 His picture was black and white, so I tried it on one of my images.
And that is how the other side looks like:
These were the anxious guys at the end😉
I really loved this place! ❤️ I wish we could stay longer and see how the change of the daylight changes everything in the canyon. Well, we cannot (safety issues), but I am very happy we saw it even for an hour. If you have the chance to experience this, do it!
Thank you for stopping by!
LOVE ❤️ PEACE ☮️ and #HIVE on!
[//]:# (!pinmapple 36.900261 lat -111.408888 long The amazing Antelope Canyon d3scr)
