Our Chariot awaits us for a 1.5 hour tour of the Upper Antelope Canyon. I should have labeled my post yesterday Lower Antelope Canyon but didn't think of it. It wasn't until this am that I decided to pay the $40 tour fee and $8.00 Navajo Nation $8.00 fee to see the other canyon.
I figured since yesterday was so good I would try the Upper Canyon. The entrance is the crack in the canyon wall.
Being a single attendee I got to sit in the cab of the truck with our tour guide. "B" a Navajo woman in her 50's who has been driving tours for 12 years. Before this job she left an administrative job at the hospital that was to constructive for her personally. She finds this much more satisfying and since she doesn't always like to wear shoes she now has the ability to do her own thing. She is the one in orange. She is wearing shoes today. It was 35 deg this am.
So what's the difference between the Upper and Lower Antelope Canyons?
The Upper differs in that it is deeper and darker and if you plan it right on time of year and time of day you get a treat.
Remember my photos are in Chrome setting on my IPhone.
We walked through the canyon and no surprise. The water cut a grove through the rock canyon wall. Every few years they get a big rain and up to 5' of sand will be washed out of the canyon basin. Then for the next few years smaller rain deposits the sand back.
Our tour was at 10:00 and it lasts 1.5 hours so on the way back the sun was high enough for the surprise.
The Rays of sun shine all the way down the 120' jagged walls and it picks up the dust to give you a beam of light.
It was getting crowded in the canyon after this with a number of companies and tours backing up at the beams of light.
I got the history of the Antelope Canyons. A photographer had taken pictures back in the 1980's and it was kept a secret for years where the photos were taken and once it got out the Navajo Nation saw the business opportunity and started tours in 1997. Before this the Navajo's didn't think of it with the importance it has today.
So this is a relatively young attraction. I guess this is why I had not known of it and hadn't been here before.
If I could only pick one to go to I would pick the lower canyon for the greater colors caused by more light getting in.
Brent
macaloney@hotmail.com
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