Lower Antelope Canyon

by Chih Kwan Chen, Nov. 5, 2009

Antelope canyon is located along Arizona Route 98, slightly west of Navojo Power Plan with three huge chimneys. Most visitors take US-89 South from Page, Arizona, drive a few miles, and make a left turn into Route 98 East. Follow Route 98, pass a trafic light and keep drive toward three big chimneys. At a cross road, a sign says right into the parking lot of Upper Antelope Canyon and left to Antelope Point and Lower Antelope Canyon. Turning left toward Antelope Point, a short drive takes one to the entrance of Lower Antelope Canyon at the left hand side of the road. This was our second trip to Lower Antelope Canyon. The first trip was made at late Noveember and this trip was around the middle of October. In the first trip we entered the canyon around 2 pm and in this trip we entered the canyon around noon. Inside the canyon the illumination was better this time than the last visit. The light was too dim for my Panasonic SDR-S7P/PC camcorder last time, but this time the illumination was sufficient for the still picture mode of the camcorder to operate properly. The ordinary tour enters the canyon through a narrow crack and exits the canyon by a high steel staircase. Then one must walk up a long slope back to the parking lot. Photographer's tour takes the opposite direction, that is, enter via the staircase and comes out from the narrow crack. The prerequisite to join a photographer's tour is to have a tripod at hand. Of course, the fee for a photographer's tour is higher and the tour lasts longer. Our last trip was very late in the season so there was no guided tour. We entered the canyon by ourselves. Since not knowing that there is a staircase at the end the canyon, we turned back and retraced our own footsteps before reaching the end of the canyon. We agreed that the views at the return trip was better than the scenes of way in. That probably is the reason why photographer's tour goes counter clockwise wherease ordinary tours go at the clockwise direction. If enter a normal tour, it is advisable to turn back frequently to take pictures.

Antelope Canyons are prone to flood danger. In the fall of 1997 more than 10 photographers perished at Lower Antelope Canyon. A plaque near the entrance of the canyon memorizes those perished in the flood. Presently if there is the danger of rain, Antelope Canyons will be closed, and if in the middle of a tour, tourists will be immediately called back.

The narrow crack that serves as the entrance for the ordinary tour and the exit for photographer's tour. To enter, one needs to put one foot at a time from the tip of the crack and goes down step by step. When sees a short steel staircase, it is the assurance that one is going at the right direction.

A slightly darker view than shown in the picture is what naked human eyes will see inside the canyon. One may ask, if so, why is the fame of Antelope Canyons. The magic starts when one looks through a camera lens. That is why Antelope Canyons are called the paradise of photographers. The reason of this magic is due to the polarization of light after reflected from tightly packed layers of rocks. Human eyes are poor recepters to distingusih light polarization, but camera lens systems are not. Depending on the mechanism and the material of the lens system, each camera will produce somewhat different colors and hues even pictures are taken at the same position and at the same time. It is warned by guides not to use flash when take pictures inside the canyon, otherwise unpolarized light of the flash will get in the camera and the magic ruined. Now let the magic show begin!

A wood debris lodged between canyon walls, the left over from the last big flood. This shows how high the flood water can go inside the canyon.

The exit of normal tour and the entrance of photographer's tour.