Lower Antelope Canyon is just as beautiful in person as in all the pictures. Walking through the canyon, you experience the natural shapes of the canyon walls reflect light to create golden, orange, red, and violet hues. Looking toward the sky, the high canyon walls also create shapes with the opening. It is a natural wonder created by flash floods and soft sandstone. To see the beauty, a timed ticketed guided tour is necessary. The popularity of the site and ticketing system makes it so you will not be alone in the canyon. However, with the narrow walls, guests follow the group ahead of them single file and you can find a corner to yourself. Although it might not be a solitary experience with nature, Lower Antelope Canyon is still stunning and worth the effort.
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What is Lower Antelope Canyon?
Carved by flash floods, Antelope Canyon is considered a slot canyon, which is narrow and winding canyon with high smooth walls. You’ve definitely seen images of this place and it’s a photographers dream to visit. With such high and narrow canyon walls, the light dissipates into beautiful orange, red, and purple hues. There are two parts that you can visit with a tour group – Upper and Lower. Lower Antelope Canyon is actually further north than the upper canyon, which makes sense if the water is flowing toward Lake Powell. Upper Antelope is wider with more sunbeams in the middle of the day , designated photography times, and is more expensive to take a tour and visit. Based on ticking availability, we opted for Lower Antelope Canyon.
HOW TO SEE LOWER ANTELOPE CANYON
Tickets sell out very quickly, so if you will want to purchase your tickets as far in advance as possible. Buy tickets online with one of two outfitters: Dixie’s Lower Antelope Canyon Tours or Ken’s Tours. We went with Ken’s Tours of Lower Antelope Canyon as there were still tickets available for the day and time that was possible for us. The companies seem relatively equal in terms of quality. I think how much you like a tour will depend on your guide. There were probably about 50 people for our designated time slot for visiting the canyon, which they broke into groups around 10-15 people. The group we ended up in had a guide who was petite and spunky. We LOVED her information, was gentle about pushing us along, took pictures in scenic places. The guide behind us was somewhat aggressive.
The very first thing to note when visiting Lower Antelope Canyon it is that is on Reservation time and not Arizona Time. Arizona does not do daylight savings, so depending on when you visit, doublecheck the timing because you will not want to wait around in the middle of summer or miss your tour. You’ll want to get there early to check in and confirm at least 24 hours in advance. From the parking lot, there is one primary building where you check in and wait for your tour. There is a gift shop, which supports local artisans. In front of the main building is a shave ice vendor, which only costs $1 if you get only ice – cool tip if you’re trying to avoid neon food coloring.
At a Glance:
- Rating: 3 (out of 4) stars, would definitely go again, but would like to explore other slot canyons
- Intensity: Stable shoes, cute clothes
- Location: Northwest Arizona, near Lake Powell
- Cost: $40/per person, plus tax and Navajo Permit Fee – more like $100 for two people
- Restrooms: Non-flushing toilets available outside in the heat. Yes, they are gross.
- Timing: 1.5 hours
Highlights:
- Explore an absolutely stunning slot canyon
- Admire natural beauty created by flash flooding
Lowlights:
- Is extremely busy with tours running every 15 minutes
What the Tour is Like
Once the groups are somewhat chaotically broken into smaller groups, the guide will lead you on a sandy path for about 10 minutes toward an awning. Here you wait to go down a series of metal stairs to the bottom of the canyon. From the point you reach the top of the stairs to the end of the tour, you will be sandwiched between different tour groups. Eventually the groups do spread out, but you will never be that far from the group in front or behind you.
From the moment you reach the bottom of the stairs, the canyon is absolutely beautiful, awe-inspiring, and ridiculously photogenic. Any time the tour guide asks someone for your phone, I recommend volunteering your phone because ours knew the exact settings and angles to make the canyon walls really pop without post-editing (I edited the photos in this post to be more consistent). They really do not want you taking pictures on the stairs, which I think is more of a safety hazard and speed inhibitor more than anything else.
As you go along the tour, you walk along a sandy bottom, slowly winding your way through the canyon. Around each corner is more beautiful shapes intricate patterns. Your guide will point out where the rocks look like animals or other items. You climb a series of mini-stairs further and further up the canyon, until you actually pop-up from the ground near the starting building. I wish I had better words to describe what it was like in the canyon. It was a little claustrophobic with people, but the beauty of the canyon completely overwhelmed all senses of frustration with the amount of people.
Upper vs. Lower Antelope Canyon
We didn’t end up going to Upper Antelope Canyon, but I would absolutely go to both if time and money allowed. I gather that Upper Antelope Canyon has more space between the canyon walls, which allows more light and sunbeams. Mixed with a little dust in the air, the sunbeams make for an excellent photograph. Apparently it is best to go in the middle of the day for the biggest potential of sunbeams. Our tour was one of the last of the day in Lower Antelope and we got one sunbeam reaching the ground, which was magical. So don’t eliminate Lower Antelope!
The other thing that Upper Antelope offers is photography tours. These tours are more expensive, but allow for more time with less people in the canyon. I am not sure if the people going on these tours are intense photographers, but it seems like a nice and slower way to experience these slot canyons. Fun Fact – at the time of writing this, the highest price a photograph has ever been sold was a picture taken in Upper Antelope Canyon.
Getting There
We drove to Lower Antelope Canyon using googlemaps. However, there is also signage to get to the main tour building. It is pretty obvious with large parkinglots of where to go. The parkinglot and part of the road is a dirt/gravel road, but it is very flat and small cars can easily navigate the area. For more directions, take a look at the tour company’s website. Here’s Ken’s Tours.
Wear this in Antelope Canyon!
Overall Thoughts: Lower Antelope Canyon
Antelope Canyon is so incredibly stunning that I can see why the tours sell out completely in the busy season. The two tour companies that run the tours schedule on opposite days, which is smart. Although there are a lot of people, the narrow canyon walls necessitates single file walking. With the smaller groups, it is somewhat less chaotic, but still felt busy. It is incredible to see how the Navajo reservation is able to accommodate so many people. I do worry about the health of the canyon with so many people going through every day, but the two companies seem keep an eye on every segment and maintain the walking paths and stairs after every single storm.
How do you feel about the ticketing touring systems that you’ve encountered? We were pretty lucky to get tickets during the busy season at the last minute. This was one of our most expensive activities on this road trip, so I do worry about people forgoing this activity because they cannot afford it. However, I also think that a ticketing system protects the environment and keeps people safe. It could also provide enough funds for the tour companies to properly maintain the canyon. What are your thoughts?
Happy Travels,
Hanna
