Best tent site ever for sleeping on a red sand pad at Page Lake Powell Campground. Lower Antelope Canyon, Arizona is a 1.1 mile long tour with an hour + walking. Due to flash flood casualties in years past, the only way to view the canyon is with a guide, who are members of the Navajo Nation. Our tour was with Dixie’s Lower Antelope Canyon Tour but Ken’s Lower Antelope Canyon Tour is equally fantastic or so we are told. Dixie and Ken are siblings with healthy sibling rivalry businesses next to one another. Our son and daughter related to the sibling rivalry competition concept...hee-hee!
Lower Antelope Canyon is a spectacular place, and we were blessed with an equally spectacular tour guide, Stacy. I cannot rave enough about this young woman’s skill re-counting the history of recent flash floods in the slot canyon, describing the intense effort of all staff to clear remaining water by hand with buckets and refill the footpath through the slot with sand, detailing the topography of Navajo land (FYI: the size of West Virginia), and eloquently educating us about Native Americans or First Nations people's diversity. Her nation, the Dine’ (pronounced Di Nay) or “the people”, is commonly known as Navajo. Growing up with her grandmother, a shepherdess in a matriarchal society on nearby land, she and her sister helped herd the flocks while learning native plants’ medicinal purposes essential to survival. They inhabited an 8 sided home called a hogan using sheep’s skin at night for warmth. Can you tell we LOVE hearing about people’s lives? What a gift!
Regarding the spectacular Lower Antelope Canyon site: Drew has been hoping to experience this place for years, and it was an incredible gift to be able to do so. The amazing water carves down to 74 feet but only 2 feet wide in places in the sandstone, leaving the slot smooth. The different hues of sandstone astound as light plays with the colors. The carving of the water to create undulating curves and swirls is a work art. The pictures were taken with iPhones displaying how truly dynamic the colors were. We'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Our tour began at 12:45 pm, but Stacy shared that the best time to explore is in the morning hours. However, we did not feel slighted in the least. Sharing these moments at Lower Antelope Canyon with our family, enhanced the experience Drew had been awaiting for years.
FYI-Page, Arizona has a Safeway for groceries as well as a Starbucks inside for all you green mermaid seekers!
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