This last weekend we took the first of many planned roadtrips to check out our new part of the world. We drove up to Page on Friday night, and spent the next two days creeping around and exploring.
It’s about a four hour drive, but I downloaded season one of the Serial podcast to listen to on the drive up, and the whole thing pretty much flew by.
We were up early on Saturday, and our first stop was the Lower Antelope Canyon. I have a charming (probably) tendency to see something, or read about something, and then want to go off and do it right away, without doing a ton of (or any) research, which is usually fine, but sometimes it means we end up stranded in the Sydney airport, or spending 3 days in Mataram for no reason.
In this case, it means we drove up to Page, and then I started reading about the Antelope Canyon, and how maybe if you are claustrophobic, you shouldn’t go in there. Errrrr. Also, it said the best time to go is March to October because that’s when the famous “light beams” are most prevalent.
I read from a bunch of places that Lower Antelope is better, and less crowded, and also read that Ken’s Tours was the best company to go with for Lower Antelope (you have to go with a guide), so that’s what we did.
The tour was $28/ person, and lasted about an hour and a half. It’s only about a half mile total, so not super strenuous, but definitely wear running shoes because the stairs to get down are kind of steep, and it’s a bit narrow in places.
It was seriously worth the drive and the price, it was so amazingly beautiful in there. I took about 1000 pictures, I couldn’t get enough of it. Our guide was really nice, and she showed us different places to take pictures right up against the rocks to get a certain image with names like “Rocky Mountain Sunset” and “Sand Wave”.
Also it turned out that the best time to visit Upper Antelope is in the summer, but the best time to visit Lower Antelope is actually in the winter, so we did get to see some light beams. I told you it usually works out fine.
If you are going to visit, make sure to check the weather forecast (I never do) but if it rains the canyons are closed because they fill up with water quickly and it can be very dangerous.
Also, bring a light jacket, because it gets chilly down there. By the end of the tour I couldn’t unclench my hands. And maybe don’t wear shorts. I will never learn, apparently.
At the end of the tour, you climb out of a little slot in the rock (watch your head) and when you turn around and look behind you, you almost can’t even tell there is anything there, it just looks like rocks and desert.
