Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon located in Page, AZ, about 3 hours north of the Grand Canyon. It’s one of the most photographed places in the world, and sits on Navajo land. The most popular areas of Antelope to visit are the Lower Canyon and the Upper Canyon. The Lower Canyon is where we visited – it’s much more popular and where almost all tours take place. Upper Canyon used to be a photographer’s haven, with specialized tours where you could bring a tripod and camera gear with you, but it’s since been closed to the public.
Antelope is also ONLY accessible via guided tour. This is because the canyon is at a high-risk for flash floods, and in 1997, eleven tourists were killed in the Lower Canyon due to a flash flood.
The lighting in the Lower area is supposedly best early morning, but those tour times go quickly. We booked through Dixie’s Tour Company and I highly recommend them. Our guide, Kevin, was super knowledgeable and friendly, and even had awesome photo tricks to show us in the canyon.
*PSA*
Arizona does not observe Daylight Savings, so make sure you’re mindful about what timezone you’ll be in depending on the time of year you travel. Kyle and I went in late September, so Arizona was still observing Pacific Standard Time. But if that already sounds complicated, Navajo Reservations DO observe Daylight Savings. So let’s say you’re visiting in November, after most of the world “falls back.” Arizona will now be observing Mountain Time, BUT the reservations will still be observing Pacific Time.
Even though I did extensive research to confirm that we should still be in Pacific Time no matter what (we were driving from Los Angeles), we were essentially zigzagging into Utah and Arizona, so our ETAs kept jumping forward and back an hour. We were so confused and even skipped lunch to figure this all out because we were either going to be late for our tour, or a full hour early (aka on time!). Luckily we indeed were still observing PST and ended up getting there a full hour early as originally planned. But we were so hungry and sleep deprived at this point, so we took a quick nap in the car while we waited for our tour time.
*TIPS*
Book your reservation in advance!! Reservations fill up very quickly and once they’re sold out, you’re out of luck.
And don’t forget to wear comfortable shoes. You don’t necessarily need to wear hiking boots because the walk through the canyon is mostly flat, but it is very sandy. You’ll also be climbing ladders along the way (don’t worry, nothing strenuous, but sometimes precarious), so don’t be that person wearing flip flops (you’d be surprised how many people we saw wearing them).
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