Horseshoe Bend and Antelope Canyon, both just outside of Page, Arizona in the very northern part of the state on the border with Utah, are “must see” spots – touted on top 10 lists and with beautiful photos included in the guide books. So of course we thought – we have to go see these stunning places! And stunning they are … gilded but not gold because of the crowds that taint the experience of gazing on such beautiful places.
On this trip, we have rarely seen a place that we didn’t think was worth the effort or that we wouldn’t recommend to someone – so much of the states that we’ve covered have been just spectacular. But there have been a few places, for various reasons, that fit this bill and among those are the tourist traps that are close to Page, Arizona. Horseshoe Bend is worth a quick stop, but I’d skip Antelope Canyon and rely instead on the beautiful photographs of the canyon taken by the professionals. Instead, spend your time in the many, many beautiful and off the beaten path spots that are so close to Antelope Canyon.
Horseshoe Bend is a beautiful example of an entrenched meander – it is where the Colorado River winds its way around a chunk of land and folds itself 270 degrees, making it a lovely horseshoe-shaped bend in the river.
The place for viewing the bend is perfect – high cliffs overlooking the winding river, facing west so that you can get a lovely view of the sun setting over such a beautiful part of the natural world. Unfortunately, Horseshoe Bend is also very close to the highway just outside of Page, Arizona. From the dirt parking lot just off the highway, it is only a 3/4 of a mile (roundtrip) stroll through the red dirt to get to the bend. Which means it is overwhelmed by tourists unloading from giant tour buses, complete with flip flops and selfie sticks. Best to get to the site well before sunset because otherwise you’ll never get a spot on the cliffs without someone standing in front of you.
It’s actually quite a dangerous spot – the unforgiving cliffs shoot straight down hundreds of feet. And people teeter on the edge, unaware that the stones beneath their feet are sandstone and could be loose and crumbling. We saw one girl with a shock of fire engine red hair and the shortest shorts I’ve seen in quite some time standing right on the edge of the cliffs – I mean, right on the edge. Her poor boyfriend was terrified and she insisted that he teeter on the edge with her for the perfect photo to be snapped by her pops. My goodness, I really thought we were going to witness someone going over the edge. Amazingly, the universe often takes care of such careless people – she must have saved up some good karma somewhere along the line.
Antelope Canyon is another wonder quite close to Page, Arizona. It is a lovely slot canyon where the sun’s rays sometimes float to the bottom and light up the striations in the rocks in the most beautiful way. Surely you’ve seen a photo of Antelope Canyon – it is a mecca for photographers.
Actually it seems to be a mecca for anyone and everyone in Northern Arizona. It’s a very small canyon – just 200 yards long, sometimes only a few feet wide. It’s located on the Navajo Reservation and they require that you hire a guide in order to visit the canyon.
And boy do they pack in as many people at once as they possibly can. The company that we went with was the only company with any spots available (apparently reserving these spots well in advance is a must). When I called, the woman on the phone was fabulously rude and impatient, and when we arrived on the day of our trip to Antelope Canyon and saw so many tourists milling about, I understood why she was so huffy, though I didn’t forgive it – you are a tour operator after all and the huge crowds of people milling about is because you are sending too many people into the canyon on any given half hour slot.
The tours cost at least $40 per person and sometimes more if you are on a “photographer’s” tour. Most tours last about 30 minutes. You pile into a truck with a Navajo guide – ours was Kerndale, a young, flippant but pleasant guy – and they drive you out over the sands in the Antelope Wash to the Canyon. Kerndale was a crazy driver, so the drive in and out of the wash was quite an adventure. Bumping and sliding and teetering around the sands in his very old, very beat up Suburban, I was sure that the older couple who was in the car with us was not prepared for this kind of a drive. But they survived and we arrived at the mouth of the Canyon. We pulled up beside at least 10 other trucks and that’s when I realized this was not going to be the peaceful, one-with-nature kind of tour that we’d hoped for.
Lots of trucks for lots of people.
We walked up in our group of 6 (7 with Kerndale) and entered the mouth of the canyon, only to be immediately screamed at by a woman who was guiding another tour that was trying to get a photo of the Canyon just around the corner – apparently we’d stepped in the frame of someone’s photo and she was NOT happy about it. Kerndale brushed this off and warned us about other nasty guides that we might encounter – apparently this is a pretty common occurrence. We wandered through the canyon slowly, waiting for the other groups to come through – both in front of us and those people who were coming back through the Canyon since they’d walked the entire way and were returning to their truck.
It’s not a one-way walk – you have to get through it and then turn around and walk back through the same way. While we were in Antelope Canyon, there must have been at least 75 other people in the canyon at the same time, all jostling for the photos as the few rays of sunlight came through. It was a cloudy day unfortunately, but the clouds opened up and blue skies peeked through for a few minutes, for which we were grateful.
If you don’t pay extra for the “photographer’s tour”, you cannot take any type of tripod or monopod with you to steady your camera. Because of the low sunlight in the canyon, without a tripod you really can’t get many good photos, they are all slightly blurry. I was at least thankful to have a DSLR with me – the people behind us with only an iPhone for a camera were never going to get any decent shots.
And while capturing the perfect photo certainly isn’t something that we need to do (we are not professionals after all), it is disappointing to come away from something so beautiful with blurry photos. Because of the crowds and the hurried manner in which everyone walks through this slot canyon, it’s also difficult to come away with any real memories of the experience.
I will say that our tour guide was quite knowledgeable about photographing the Canyon – he offered to change the settings on our cameras so that we could capture the photos as best we could, and in a few places he suggested photos for us – “if you put the camera here, resting on this part of the rock, and point it up you can get a lovely shot.” That was a nice surprise. He was also knowledgeable about how the canyon was formed and shared that with us, which I expect from a tour guide, but which I didn’t hear from some of the other guides.
In general, I was disappointed with Antelope Canyon – it cost over $100 for the two of us to do a tour that was very quick, very crowded and very underwhelming. I would suggest that you skip this one and rely instead on the lovely photos that professional photographers have been able to capture during prime conditions and a time when the canyon isn’t crammed with tourists. There are so many other absolutely beautiful and stunning places, including many slot canyons, in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and Glen Canyon Recreational Area, just outside of Page, and that’s where you should spend your time if you are in the area. As for Horseshoe Bend, it’s worth a stop to admire the lovely scenery, just try your best to ignore the selfie-stick-toting tourists teetering on the edge of the cliffs, just inches from their imminent demise.
BY Jackie
LOCATION Page, Arizona
