PAGE-ANTELOPE CANYON

May 18th:
I woke up extremely early due to the heat that was permeating my tent-the sun was in full force by 7am, and I was baked.
I had set up a trip to Antelope Canyon this morning, at 11:30. I headed over to my car and tried to charge my cell phone...nothing. I plugged in the DC adapter and the phone would do NOTHING. As I pulled out the adapter from my phone, the male end fell apart..and I noticed that the charging port in the phone itself was loose and was pushed way into the phone. Shit. I had no phone. Not only that, I had no service on my laptop at all, since this area is basically in the middle of nowhere. I headed out into Page and sat in the Wal Mart parking lot to find out where the nearest Verizon wireless center was. I NEEDED A STINKIN PHONE! The closest one? In Flagstaff. About a 1.5-2 hour drive each way from Page. Well, that's it then. As soon as I'm done with my tour, I'm going to Flagstaff.


I met up at Antelope Canyon tours headquarters, and loaded up on a large Chevy 4x4 with a sitting area in back. Everyone on my tour truck-from France. They didn't speak a lick of english. To top that off, two of 'em were also deaf. Fun fun fun!
I forgot all about that on the ride out to the canyon. What a hoot! We snaked through town then out onto the Navajo Indian reservation and into a dry creek bed that leads up to the canyon entrance. There are two entrances, the upper and lower Antelope Canyon; we were headed to the upper for today. Although more crowded than the lower canyon, the upper has some better sunbeams and scenery, allegedly. The creek bed ride was a blast- poor traction and high speed=fishtailing 4x4 and dust! Good stuff.

We arrived at the entrance to the canyon in about 20 minutes. There were a lot of other tours there also, and it was crowded inside the tight canyon. But, regardless of this, the canyon is amazing. During certain times of the day, the sun filters through the top portion of the canyon and shines down in shafts of light to the sandy floor. Words don't do this justice, you have to see the pictures. We traversed the whole canyon, and then emerged on the other end, which is another creek bed where the water flows down into the canyon we just emerged from. When the rains are heavy, this canyon can flood and pretty much kill anyone who is inside. The water level can reach over 20 feet overhead in some spots.
After spending an hour and a half at the canyon, we headed back to the jumping off spot. I tipped the driver, and thanked her for a good tour.
I then drove out to Flag and picked up a new phone and charger, and then drove alllll the way back. Fun. NOT.
This night, the wind picked up considerably. A large dust cloud loomed on the horizion and blocked out Navajo Mountain. It was gonna be a windy, dry, and dusty night!