The Lower Antelope Canyon, Arizona, USA

*WS57 – the Lower Antelope Canyon, Arizona, USA*

The Antelope Canyon is a kind of slot canyon, it is significantly deeper than it is wide. 

Antelope Canyon is located near the town of Page in the state of Arizona. It was formed by erosion of the sandstone, primarily due to flash flooding and wind. Storm water from the upper basin picks up speed and sand as it rushes into the narrow passageways. The power of erosion is tremendous. Over time the passageways gets eroded away, making the corridors deeper and smoothing hard edges in such a way as to form characteristic "flowing" shapes in the rock. Strong wind has a similar effect as rushing water. 

The Antelope Canyon is gated by the Navajo tribe and entry is restricted to guided tours led by authorized tour guides. Entrance fee is US$ 55. We were here in 2019. The corridor is about 410 m long. The walk on the canyon floor lasted slightly over an hour. The entry down to the canyon is through several flights of metal staircases shown in the 1st photo and the exit is via a narrow passage shown in the last photo.

The corridor varies in width. The narrowest sections could be just a metre wide. Thus different amount of sunlight comes into the canyon. The rock faces show spectacular shades of colour due to the difference in light intensity reflected onto the rock, as well as whimsical shape framed by the eroded rocks. And this is the scene tourists come to see. 

The place was crowded with too many tourists. We had to walk mostly single file and there was no time to really stop to admire the rock structure or compose a good photo. The guide was constantly uttering "go go" to coax his herd to move on faster. A great show of nature nonetheless.