What to Expect in Antelope Canyon Arizona
Expect to be amazed at the beauty of Antelope Canyon in Arizona! With its stunning colors and mysterious formations Antelope Canyon is truly awe-inspiring. It can provide photographers with fascinating and colorful images like nothing you have seen before. The slot canyon is located on Navajo land near Page, Arizona, and it’s the most visited and most photographed slot canyon in the American Southwest.
What is Antelope Canyon?
Antelope Canyon is in two parts, Upper Antelope Canyon and Lower Antelope Canyon are they are both slot canyons. A slot canyon is a deep, narrow canyon that has been formed mainly by water and wind rushing through the rock or sandstone. This eroding action on the sandstone created a long, winding passageway throughout the canyon. The canyons name comes from the pronghorn antelope that roamed freely in and around the area years ago.
Where is Upper Antelope Canyon?
Upper Antelope Canyon, also known as “The Crack” is located on Navajo Nation land near Page, Arizona. A ticket booth located at the park entrance can be reached along AZ 98 at milepost 299. Limited access is allowed, so if you’d like to hike the canyons you must park your car, pay a fee to the Navajo Nation and have an authorized guide take you to the canyon entrance. There’s a two hour limit in each canyon. Photo tours are also available for an additional fee allowing a longer time in the canyon.
Upper Antelope Canyon is the most popular of the two canyons mainly because the conditions are ideal here. You enter the canyon on a flat, level surface with no climbing required and the passageway inside the canyon is wide and easy to navigate. The canyon is a ¼ mile long with walls rising 130 feet above you.
Light beams can be seen piercing through the canyon around mid-day between March 15th and October 7th. When the light beams are visible your guide may toss a handful of sand in the air making the shafts of light more visible in your photos.
More Places to Explore in Arizona, Utah & Colorado!
Swirling colors and amazing light in the canyon will capture your imagination. It’s almost like being in a fantasy land but it’s real.
Where is Lower Antelope Canyon?
Lower Antelope Canyon, also known as “The Corkscrew” can be reached along RT 222, a flat dessert road off of AZ 98. The upper and lower canyons are separated by only a few miles.
The canyon has some amazing and colorful formations like this one known as Windswept Woman. The canyon is a ½ mile long, with walls approximately 150 feet high.
Take your time exploring the canyon, you may be surprised at what you find. We were surprised to hear birds singing and see them perched high above us on the canyon walls. We stumbled upon this fragile birds nest lined with pale blue feathers. The nest must have fallen from a cliff high above the canyon floor. It looked so out of place deep inside the canyon.
Antelope Canyon is a place hard to put into words; you need to experience it yourself to truly appreciate its mystifying beauty.
Where to Stay When Visiting Antelope Canyon?
We love to stay in the town of Page, Arizona when we travel to the Antelope Canyon area. Page is the perfect base camp for visiting Antelope Canyon as well as many other amazing attractions such as Glen Canyon Dam, Lake Powell, Horseshoe Bend and river rafting down the Colorado River. Page has all the conveniences of lodging, restaurants and shopping. You’ll also find tour guides, outfitters and house boat rentals as well. You can find lodging deals for any season in Page on Booking.com.
Visit the Navajo Tribal Parks website here for Hours and Fee information https://navajonationparks.org/tribal-parks/lake-powell/
We’d like to hear from you!
Have you been to Antelope Canyon or are you planning a trip there? Give us your thoughts in the comments below, we love hearing from you!
Hi! We are going to be in Page Arizona the end of March, we will be there for one day and would love to see both the Upper and Lower slot canyons in Antelope Canyon, along with Horseshoe Bend. We will be coming from Kanab Ut.
Do you have a good itinerary for us as far as times go? Should we do the Lower or the Upper first and do we need reservations for the Lower? We will be spending the night in Page. Great places to eat for lunch and dinner would be appreciated also! We have 6 adults in our group. Ages 46, 44, 22, 20, 17 & 15.
Thank you for your help and for sharing your expertise(:
Hi Ashley, Coming from Kanab you should only be about and hour from Page. I would suggest being at the Upper Antelope Canyon for the noon hour if you can. That’s usually the best time to witness the sunbeams and light shafts that shine into the canyon. You could do Lower Antelope Canyon either before or after that. You don’t need reservations, just show up. You may have to wait depending on the amount of people but it wasn’t a long wait for us. We got a discount on our tickets when we told them at the Upper Canyon ticket counter that we would be visiting the Lower Canyon after our visit there. I’m not sure if that is still offered but you can ask. We visited Horseshoe Bend early in the morning before we visited both of the Antelope Canyons. It was beautiful but not the best for photography. Shadows from the early morning sun covered part of the canyon. The best time to visit Horseshoe Bend for photography would be in the afternoon. Hopefully you are spending the night in Page after your sightseeing. That way you should be able to visit all 3 sights. There is a great Mexican restaurant in Page called Fiesta Mexicana, we ate there and we loved it, it gets great reviews too. Have a wonderful time!
Hi!
My family is planning an impromptu trip to Antelope Canyon over the Thanksgiving weekend, which includes three small dogs. Any suggestions for boarding? Also wondering if authorized guides will be available over the weekend for tourists wishing to go sightsee the area? Any help or suggestions are appreciated. Thank you! JoAnn
Hi JoAnn,
I don’t have any info on boarding your pets or guides available over the Thanksgiving holiday but I think the link below for the town of Page, AZ Chamber of Commerce would be helpful to you. Have a safe and happy Holiday!
http://pagechamber.com/
Hello,
my family and i are planning on visiting the Lower Antelope Canyon in Spring/April 2017. When is the best time of day to go to avoid the crowds but still get good pics from the sunbeams???
Hi Bonnie,
Unfortunately, along with the beautiful sunbeams or light shafts also come the crowds. The sunbeams are at their best around midday so I would plan on being at the canyon during that time. Crowds and all both Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon are something you won’t want to miss. Just be patient, your guide will usually help point out the best spots for photographing in the Upper Canyon. When we visited the Lower Canyon we entered the canyon without a guide. The Lower Canyon was not as crowed as the Upper Canyon was when we visited. Have fun!
HI,
Would it be a good time to visit in late Aug in terms of weather and all???
Thank you.
Hi Tami,
As far as weather, lighting and crowds, there are definitely times that are better for each. Summer months bring more rain and winter months can bring snow. The summer months are the best for lighting and mid-day during summer months is when you will see the best light beams in the canyon. As far as crowds, summer months when school is out, are very crowded with mid-day generally bringing the largest crowds. As I wrote in my previous reply below, don’t worry, Antelope Canyon is still one of the most magical destinations no matter when you visit.
Hello can you please tell me if mid February would be good time to visit in term of weather and sunlight? Thank you
Hi Tram – February is not the best time to visit Antelope Canyon in reference to weather (it’s still winter in Northern Arizona), and the weather can be unpredictable. Also, in February the sun will be low in the sky not providing the best of lighting. You will probably still be able to visit Antelope Canyon it just won’t be one of the better times for weather and lighting. Summer months around mid-day usually provide the best lighting but when dealing with weather and light nothing is guaranteed. But don’t worry, Antelope Canyon is still one of the most magical destinations no matter when you visit.
We are writing on behalf of a small group (three senior couples) of retired teachers who will be visiting Page, AZ as part of a 12-day trip to the western Grand Circle in Sep-Oct.
We will be spending three days in Page – however, one will involve taking the boat cruise to Rainbow Bridge NM and another a float trip down the Colorado) and would like to visit Upper or Lower Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend and Lone Rock Beach and end the day with a stop at Wahweap Overlook for sunset (Any suggestions for dinner for folks who are not aficionados of Mexican or any other spicy food for that matter – its not that we don’t like it, it doesn’t like us!
Our group members range in age from 65-75 and some have physical limitations, beside old age.
One of our group is a serious ,but not professional, photographer who has a slot canyon on his trip “bucket list.”
We’ll be visiting in late Sep, 2015.
If you could chose only one of the tours using the above criterion, which one would you choose?
How is the canyon lighting at that time of the year? When would be the best time of day to visit (What order, Upper or Lower Antelope Canyon of Horseshoe Bend first (BTW. We are very excited about seeing Horseshoe Bend from above and later from the river).
Thank you for your time and cooperation in this matter. We welcome any suggestions, recommendations or online links that might help us in making this difficult decision.
Les & Jill
Group Trip Planners (be default! Lol)
Hi Les & Jill,
I was so happy to read your comment. First, your itinerary sounds like great fun and secondly it’s also adventurous which will only add to the fun!
I’m not able to help with dinner suggestions as spicy food , particularly Mexican food, is one of our favorites which we always try to enjoy when in the Page, AZ area.
As for my suggestions on tours, hands down my first choice, do not miss tour would be Antelope Canyon. Following your criteria I would most certainly choose Upper Antelope Canyon for all of the reasons I mentioned in this post. If no one in your group has been to a slot canyon before you are all in for an astonishing treat. Lighting should be good for you at the time of year you mentioned, noon being the best time of day to be in the canyon to spot the light shafts filtering through the cracks above the canyon walls. We always drive to the sight of Upper Antelope Canyon ourselves in our rental car (or Lower Antelope Canyon) and purchase our tour tickets there. When they are ready to drive your group to the entrance of the Canyon you will be loaded up into their pickup trucks and driven down the dirt road to the canyon entrance. If you don’t have your own transportation there are several tour companies in Page that you could look into on line. I would suggest doing a little research on their reviews and so forth before booking.
Horseshoe Bend is an amazing sight from above. It is a bit of a hike in the open heat to arrive at the overlook point so be sure to carry water and wear a hat. Shadows don’t clear the bend till a little later in the morning which is a little difficult for photography but if you have the time to sit and admire the view till the sun clears the bend you can hike early in the morning and wait to get some awesome photographs. Especially thoughtful of the serious photographer in your group.
Sunset at the Wahweap Overlook is stunning, another great photo op for everyone. Just sit back and enjoy. And don’t forget to take a walk along the dam bridge for some spectacular views of the river and canyon below.
I hope this bit of information will be helpful in planning your trip. Have a wonderful time and please come back and let us know about your adventure to the Grand Circle!