Welcome to the American Southwest! Page, AZ is a relatively new town. Founded in 1957, as a camp to support the people who were building Glen Canyon Dam. It wasn’t named a town until 1975, and now it has about 9,000 permanent residents. In recent years it has become a tourist destination for the social media crowd, intent on getting beautiful pictures of the slot canyons, Horseshoe Bend, Lake Powell, and the desert scenery.
The town is small, so it is easy to get to all of the major attractions in one day. Specifically, you want to get a tour in Antelope Slot Canyons, and you want to visit Horseshoe Bend. There are a few ways to get into Antelope Slot Canyons. All of them require that you purchase a ticket and have a guide because you are on Navajo land. Each of these options is only 1.5 hours long; it would be ambitious, but if you time it right, you could potentially get to all three of the sections of Antelope Slot Canyons in one day! Most people choose one of these options though. Make sure you buy your tickets early; they sell out quickly!
Upper Antelope Canyon
You’ll meet your guide in town, where you will get on a large off-roading vehicle. It requires a 10 minute ride to the site on paved roads, then another 10 minutes on a sandy dry wash to get to your destination. Your guide will be with you the whole way, to tell you about the geology, cultural history, and modern issues that face the Navajo Reservation. Once you’re there, you’ll walk on flat, deep sand through the canyon and then back again to the vehicle. Professional, aspiring, and amateur photographers will be blown away by the beautifully rich colors and light beams in the slot canyons. The best time for photographs is April to September, but any time of the year is still magical. As this is an our-and-back tour, the canyon can become crowded, but your guides are good at directing traffic and making sure that you get a chance for pictures.
Here are some places where you can go to book tickets:
- Page: Upper Antelope Canyon Entry Ticket and Guided Tour
- 1.5 hour guided tour
- Starting at $120 per person
Lower Antelope Canyon
You’ll drive yourself to the tour site. After checking in at the ticket counter, your guide will escort you on the 10 minute walk to the canyon’s edge. This canyon requires that you walk down some steep stairs, be sure to hand on to the railing! Once inside the canyon, you’ll be in awe of the beautifully saturated colors of the sandstone. You’ll get your new favorite selfie or family photo and several candids amidst the water-carved sandstone walls of the slot canyon. No two people will come out with the same photo; as the sun moves across the sky, light will filter into the canyon in different ways, creating a highly unique experience of color and shadow for each person. This is a through-hike, so you will exit in a different place from where you entered. This helps keep the canyon less crowded than Upper Antelope, but depending on the time of year that you go, there will still be a lot of people sharing the same space. Listen to your guide for the best way to get your pictures and to be respectful to the canyon and the people around you.
- Lower Antelope Canyon Tour
- Lower Price
- Has a more V shape than Upper Antelope
- 1.5 hours
- Prices start at $80
Canyon X
This is the newest section of Antelope Slot Canyons to be open to the public. With limited spots and timed entries, this is a quieter hike, and is less rushed than the other parts of the canyon. Named after the X-shaped ledge in the canyon, you’ll see elements of both Upper and Lower Antelope Canyons, including the beautifully saturated colors of the sandstone walls, and the light beams depending on the time of your tour. All of the Navajo guides are local to the area, and very knowledgeable about the geology of the canyon as well as the culture and history of the place, and they will help you and your group take remarkable pictures! Your ticket pays for the guided tour, but you will need to pay an $8 entrance fee per person to get into Navajo National Park.
- Canyon starts at the southeast corner of Lower Antelope Canyon
- Lower price than the other options, starting at $65
- 1.5 hours
Leave a Reply Cancel reply