We have always balked at tours that we deemed "pricey" or that make you jump through too many hoops to book (The Wave). Once we knew Page, AZ, was our next destination, Joani checked to see if an Antelope Canyon tour was possible. She found it a challenge to book on such short notice (and too extravagant for non-vacationing full-timers). After a few days in our Wahweap campsite taking in the magnificent scenery, we started to doubt the wisdom of our frugality.
Joani decided we should look into it again, so we checked with a couple tour offices, starting with the one that had the best reviews (Antelope Canyon Tours by Roger Ekis). They were booked but the office said we could check for cancellations online since it operated in real time. Ten minutes after arriving back at the coach, Joani had us booked on the 8 am slot for the following day. It took ten minutes because she felt the need to research whether the 8 am slot would be worth it (it was).
We found the tour to be amazing! The lighting far exceeded our expectations and we found we had one of the best guides. Below we included some, OK, a lot, of our favorites from more than 500 pictures.
I usually mix our photos together, but not this time. David's Sony Alpha 77 camera captured color better than mine and I didn't want to diminish their impact, so mine will follow below.
According to Ricky B, this feature was photographed (we can't remember what year)
and featured in a magazine (we cannot remember which one) and it caused the popularity of the canyon to skyrocket.
This was the end of the tour. We went back in and rushed through (no stopping for more photos) maneuvering to avoid the crush of people that had entered behind us from many different tour companies.
Ok, we cheated and snapped a few when we arrived back at the entrance and noticed that the lighting had changed in the hour since we were here last.
David managed to catch the entrance sans people, which is amazing...
...since you can see how many truckloads of people were inside the very narrow quarter mile canyon.
Joani separated our pictures but I think it was clear the subject matter looked great no matter what camera was used. Ricky B showed everyone how to get the most out of their cameras whether it was a digital SLR or an iPhone. Joani had a pocket camera, a little Sony DSC-HX50 that, you can see below, did a great job in the canyon.
Lichen was only seen on the walls at the entrance.
Can you see the candle?
Our guide, Ricky B, told us the colors change throughout the day. We noticed that they can change before your eyes.
The light beams you see in the iconic 6.5 million dollar photo (Phantom by Peter Lik) can only be seen between 11:30 and 12:30 (March thru October) on a clear day. That time slot is booked up 6 months in advance.
We lucked into the next best time slot, 8am. The sun was high enough for great colors and the crowds were at their lowest for the day.
It looks like David's camera has burst into flames.
Ricky B knew the best spots for portraits and took the time to snap a picture for each in our group of 14.
I see a kiss! Can you see it? (man on the left)
So happy we were able to make the Antelope Canyon tour but what to do with the rest of our day? How about a hike to the Horseshoe Canyon overlook. Pictures just do not do this magnificent sight justice because you cannot properly assess the scale. The panoramic shot below skewed that scale even more. In the picture, to the right, you can see the wake of an inflatable tour raft headed upstream. It probably holds around 20 passengers so it was not very small.
I cringed anytime I saw someone too near the edge and Joani only made me growl at her a couple of times. The overlook was a nice round one thousand feet above the river.
We tried to wait out the clouds so we could capture the scene in some sunlight but other than a few fleeting glimpses of the sun it was not to happen. In fact, it started to sprinkle on us several times before we finally decided to head home for the day - I think we were pretty worn out after a long day of playing tourists.
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