When I discovered that Antelope Canyon was only a few hours away from the Grand Canyon, I told my husband we need to visit there while we were in Arizona. We did!
There are two different canyons which offer tours - Upper Antelope Canyon and Lower Antelope Canyon. They are both on Navajo land. To the Navajo people, entering the canyon is like entering a cathedral. The canyons are named "Antelope" because this area is a place where antelope used to graze in the winter.
We chose "Ken's Tours". Vance chatted with our tour guide, Thurman, as we walked over the sandstone with our group of only 12 people toward the opening of the canyon.
To enter the canyon, it was necessary
to descend a series of steep metal staircases.
It was already so cool!
The Antelope canyons are "slot" canyons.
Slot canyons are formed by the erosion
of soft sandstone by flash flooding,
sculpting natural corridors in the stone.
The sunlight, shining through the openings in the canyon,
illuminated the rock formations in truly magical ways.
I couldn't help but think
that beauty like this
can't happen by accident.
I understand why the Navajo see this like a cathedral.
God is so wonderfully creative and imaginative!
Vance liked it :)
Thurman pointed out rock formations, like this one of an Indian chief.
Whenever we rounded a corner, we were in awe.
It kept getting more and more beautiful!
All shades of orange, yellow, red, pink and purple
could be seen in the swirls of sandstone.
It took about an hour and 15 minutes to go through the canyon.
There were times we needed to climb stairs to different levels.
At the end of the tour, there were quite a few steps to climb.
Stepping out into the sunlight, we were literally
walking out of a crack in the stone!
This was almost unbelievable!
This is what the landscape near the exit looked like.
You would never know that such a remarkable place
exists below all of this barrenness!
This dreamy, magical canyon
- though small in size -
was very grand.
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