Visiting Antelope Canyon is some­thing I have wanted to do for at least 15 years, ever since I saw my first picture of it and was mesmerized by the flow of the rock and the colours found there.

It is a nonde­script (from the outside) slot canyon about 20 minutes from Page, Arizona. You can only get to it via a guided tour, so we opted for 2 hours inside and it was defi­nitely not enough (although Christine may disagree…for me it went by like a gunshot).

We jumped into the back of a pickup truck for the ride to the entrance.

It was so beau­tiful inside I thought my chest might burst. There were a few other photog­ra­phers there as well (three of whom I know…how coin­ci­dental is that!) and we were all buzzin with the same energy…it was a lot of fun.

A lot of these images look like abstracts, but what you are looking at is the rock itself, lit from above and reflected through to the ground. Absolutely breathtaking.

One of the really cool things about this canyon is that, if you go at the right time of day (and we did, although totally by accident — 11am for the record), then single beams of light fall into the canyon through the twists of rock overhead, lighting up the interior with reflected light.

It was every­thing I had hoped it would be, and more. I’m already wanting to go back! Absolutely the high­light of the trip. I can’t wait to get some of these printed up huge for our living room!

…Mike

Our last evening at the Grand Canyon was spent at the eastern edge of the south rim.

…Mike

When we got to our turn-around point on the Kaibab trail, there were a few condors hanging out. I was able to get pretty close to #74, as you can see:

On the way back up the trail, we saw him (or her) buzzin around with some buds.

…Mike

There is a trail that goes down into the canyon itself, and we decided to give it a go.

The trail itself goes right to the river’s edge, but it is a two or three day hike. So we went about 1/3 of the way down. Took about two hours.

The park management makes no bones about how dangerous the hike is, due both to the trail’s lack of safety rail and to the heat. One of the signs make it very clear:

The heat wasn’t a big concern…it was about 10 degrees on the rim…although it got hotter the further down we got. Here are some of the photos from the trip down and back up again.

Colour vs. infrared

…Mike

I generally don’t like getting up early, but for the Grand Canyon I made an exception. It was very cold…I had to wear every­thing I brought with me or I’m sure I would have snapped in half! To whit:

This is when the sun just made it over the horizon and caught the edge of the cliff.

And some colour and IR photos as the morning sun got higher in the sky

One of my faves

Christine waiting patiently for me to come back from the edge of the cliff

Me on the edge of the cliff

I have to say that I am really glad for the reliance on common sense and the absence of chain link fences all over place!
…Mike