towards down making it difficult to walk in some places. We had to squeeze ourselves and our
bags to cross those narrow bends. The tour was scheduled for one hour but our guide was too
polite to tell the crowd to move forward. Even we let the next tour to pass us and took our own
time inside the canyon to enjoy every drop of the wonder. After one and half hour we came out
with only words like ‘wow’, ‘superb’, ‘amazing’, ‘spectacular’, ‘mesmerizing’,’ heavenly’ and
so on.
After lower antelope, we went back to Lake Powell for the second time. This time we went to the
beach area with some snacks and drinks. The water was pristine blue, sunlight reflecting on the
Glen Canyon walls – a wonderful day for picnicking. Many people were in the water swimming,
boating, jet skiing. Lake Powell is known for its water sports. One can spend the entire day in the
water, but unfortunately we did not have that much time, so we returned to Upper Antelope at
11.30 AM.
Upper Antelope was much more crowded than the lower because of its easy accessibility, wide
walking path inside the canyon and the famous sun beams. The entrance of the canyon is 3.5
miles from the gate, another bumpy ride on the tour company truck. There were 12 tourists
including us in one car and in a batch there were total 6 cars. The driver was the guide. After 20
minutes of dusty and bumpy ride we arrived at the entry point. There is no paved road and the
car was just going on the sand leaving a mini sand storm behind. Our guide told us some stories
and history of the canyon and then took us inside. The Upper Antelope is so different from the
lower. Here the canyon is narrower on the top which creates small cracks and holes to let the
sunlight come through, creating the beams. Our guide was throwing the sand into the light to
make the beams more visible and easier to capture. He told that it’s difficult to take bad picture
in the Antelope Canyon and that was 100% true. With every few minutes the sunlight was
changing its direction and different walls were lightning up to unfold another world of nature’s
own creation. The tour guides here are much more efficient in managing the crowd and we
reached the end point with no delay as per schedule. We took the same route to come back and
with much surprise we noticed that the sun beams were all gone and in some places the canyon
turned really dark. The prime time tours were at 10 AM, 11 AM and 12 PM. We took the 12 PM
slot and got the sunbeams in one way. The next tour did not get it; nature maintains its rules so
efficiently. Inside the canyon there were formations like George Washington, a heart, owl, fire
on the wall, Monument Valley at sunset, bear, several mountain peaks in a row and so on.
‘breathtaking’ wou ld be an understatement for Antelope Canyon.
We returned to our car with a layer of dust all over our bodies, but the satisfaction could not be
described. We were all super hungry after all the treks in two canyons and found an Indian
restaurant to calm down our stomach. Phoenix is 283 miles from Page. We started around 3 PM
and took US 89. After 23 miles the road was completely blocked by land slide and we had to
detour via Bia 6210. This was another hell of an experience. The 10-mile road can give close
competition to the Monument Valley drive for its bumpiness. It was just a gravel road going
through the local villages and not a single car was seen in the entire journey. We grew concerned
about the time it would take for us to reach the airport but fortunately, we were on time. Our
flight to Dallas was at 9.40 PM. We flew in the sky leaving a wonderland behind us and taking
back the memories that cannot be priced.