Managed to slot this one in.

We stayed the night in Page. Page is a pretty young town, being founded in 1957. The Walmart was one of the smallest we’ve seen in contrast to the previous. This one had at least 9 RVs parked up for the night. We were here to go to the Antelope Canyons. This isn’t really a hugely famous attraction but it definitely should be based on it’s beauty.

We started at the tourist information centre which told us it would set us back $32. We were here with the intention of parking up and going for a hike through it, we were pretty wrong. We drove to the site and paid $6 per person to park or enter ‘Navajo’ land as they put it. A tour was leaving in twenty minutes so we put our boots on and went to pay $25 each for the tour. We were piled onto the back of an open truck which had a bench lining each side. Next came a bumpy 3 mile ride along the dry sandy bed of a river to the mouth of the canyon. This was fun with the wind blowing through our hair but the truck which pulled up after us had a guy hanging onto the back which I think would have been even better.

The slot canyon is created and shaped by flash floods coming down from the mountains. It varies in wide in places. For the most part you can stretch your arms out and touch both sides. It’s full of swirling, rhythmic shapes and magical colours as it is lit from above. There are two parts open to the public, the upper and lower sections. We chose the upper which is about ¼ mile long and took us over an hour to walk through. It is such a natural feeling being in there. There is nothing man made about this cathedral. I’m sure in England we would have to of worn hard hats and walked inside a roped off area but we were free to stroke the ridged walls and explore at whatever pace we liked. We do have to be accompanied by a guide but they were quite genuine and seemed to like her job. When the flash floods come she still comes and sits above the canyon and watches the water make it’s way through.

There were about five groups of twelve in the canyon but we were the first for a little while so the whole stretch of canyon in front of us was free to explore and take people free pictures. You really can’t move for great shots. I think it would be hard to point your camera in any direction without taking a brilliant picture. It makes photography look easy but did make me wish I had a better camera to take the pictures with. The sand gently flows down into the canyon as the wind blows across the top creating beams of light in certain places but we were at the wrong time of year for the really spectacular ones. The light is always changing and provided us with different shots on our return trip once reaching the other end.

The sand that builds up on the rocks is so fine. It trickles down like water over all the surfaces. We were met with perfect blue sky when we exited with small clumps of white cloud floating through it. My camera was bleating that the battery was low for the whole walk but it held out and finally died when we exited as if it knew. I’d recommend going to the slot canyon to anyone and everyone especially those with a love for photography. Three members of our group with really great quality equipment were lagging behind and we passed them on the way back. They were only about a hundred meters into it and were going to take the truck back in a few hours. You could visit several times throughout the year and at different times of the day and get a completely different view each time. Again, $32 well spent.

I'll sieve through all the photos, pick the best out and upload them when we reach the internet again.

J.