Antelope Slot Canyon Outside Page Arizona

Tuesday April 23rd

Slot canyons are amazing.  There are two very famous and very extensively photographed slot canyons outside of Page.  I toured the lower canyon and did not have enough time to also see the upper canyon. A slot canyon is is a deeply incized crack in the sandstone rock cut by high velocity, intermittent water runoff.  The space between the walls is anywhere between 5 and 10 feet, with a depth generally of 20 to 30 feet - purely a guess.  Light therefore is dim, and bounces between the various water sculpted faces of the stone.  This is a photographer's delight.  It's all about the light.

The canyons are run by the Navajo as a paid tourist attraction.  Luckily there are two types of admission - a general tour which is guided, and a photographers which is not guided.  Both are the same price, but I had 2 hours and 10 minutes to wander slowly through the slot canyon looking for photo oportunities.  The general tour is likely through in about 30 minutes.  It was quite wonderful.  Sometimes I was all alone for up to 10 of 15 minutes.  Then a general tour would pass through, and again I would be alone.  They have monitors who walk the canyon making sure there are no straglers and that a photographer's photo pass had not expired.  The interesting method used to limit the number of people on a photo pass is that you have to have a digital SLR camera and a tripod to qualify.  It works.  There were a good number of serious photographers with serious equipment.

I really could have used another hour to reverse my way through the canyon.  Until you go through it once, you really don't know where the photo ops are, and which are likely going to yield the best results.  Plus, you really need to stop, look around, and think, think, think about what to shoot and how to do it.  Patience is critical - that's why two hours goes by so quickly.

Thanks to Jack Graham for prepping me for this side trip.  The official paid workshop ended yesterday.  He showed me a blog he produced on his blog site to assist people to be prepared for photographing the slot canyon, plus some personal pointers. Jack is a very generous guy.

It took three hours to drive back north and west to Page, and another 5 hours to drive south to Phoenix. I left Page about 1:15, made one stop south of Flagstaff at, yes, Strabucks, and ended up in Phoenix at the hotel around 7 pm.

The day today is Wednesday and I am just about ready to leave the hotel, return my car, and shuttle to the airport.  It's been an incredible trip, but I am looking forward to returning to Cathy and the family.  Hugs all around!!!