Tag: Antelope Canyon

National Parks May 24-31, 2017

Antelope Canyon

A visit to Antelope Canyon in Page, Arizona was part of an 8-day bus trip through the major U.S. national parks that catered to Chinese tourists.  The bus had 55 seats and 52 were taken, so it was rather cramped and some parts of the drive were lengthy; we were not allowed to use the toilet on the bus and invariably arrived at the hotels after 8 p.m. so we could not enjoy hotel amenities such as the pool, gym, or onsite restaurants.

Nature made up for any inconvenience and Antelope Canyon turned us all into awestruck and appreciative photographers.  The beautiful underground canyons were formed by millions of years of rainwater erosion of Navajo sandstone.  It was easy to imagine the Indians chasing antelope into the canyons to trap their next meal.  Flash flooding has taken lives over the years and one of the worst instances occurred in 1997 when 12 hikers were trapped in rain water that was funneled into the canyon.  The flood waters rose to 11 feet in that particular part of the canyon and was started by a cloudburst that occurred 15 miles away.  A woman’s body was recovered and a guide survived but the other 10 hikers’ bodies were never found.  The guide had been bounced around the narrow canyon and was able to grab a ledge.  His shoes and all of his clothes had been ripped off his body by the force of the water.

I was thankful that steel ladders and stairs were installed to give us access to this wondrous place.  After I returned home, I learned that Peter Lik, an Australian born photographer who now resides in Las Vegas, sold a black and white print of a photo he took in the upper canyon of Antelope Canyon for $6.5 million!

Lower Antelope Canyon

 

Antelope Canyon in Utah, U.S.A.

A Japanese expat once told me that when Japanese tourists come to Las Vegas, they like to visit the Strip and Antelope Canyon.  I had never heard of Antelope Canyon.  Yellowstone National Park had been on my bucket list for quite some time and when I noticed a bus tour that included Antelope Canyon and Yellowstone National Park, I signed up.

The canyon is popular with hikers, photo enthusiasts, and tourists but now the tours have to be led by guides because of some unfortunate accidents in the past and the danger of flash flooding.  Our guide told us that there were five flights of stairs to descend and the third and fifth were like ladders.  Although I am 71 and not so limber, it was easy to follow the person ahead of me and we were rewarded by the beautiful rainbow lines and colors in orange, yellow, purple, and gray that were formed by rainwater erosion of the Navajo sandstone over millions of years.

After returning home, I read more about Antelope Canyon and discovered that a well-known landscape photographer, Peter Lik, had sold his black and white photo taken in the Upper Antelope Canyon where light does magical things with the sandstone and dust, for $6.5 million.

I feel that a message was sent to me by the Japanese tourists who have witnessed this gift from Mother Nature to say that an awesome place is in my own backyard.