Today is the day. The day to visit the most photographed canyons in the USA possibly after Grand Canyon. Antelope Canyons in Page, AZ is basically a holy chapel of all things mystical about nature. It’s a dreamland for nature photographers to geek out on National Geographic quality photo ops!

The day started in Page, AZ, where Lower and Upper Antelope Canyons both open their gorgeous crevices. Yes, these are two separate canyon sites. Since season and lighting condition all come to play in taking good photography, for a starter who just want to take best pictures possible with limited time I would say visiting Lower Antelope Canyons is probably the best option. Here’s few key points that brought me to this conclusion (based on my visit on October 10th, 2016):

• Lower Antelope is V-shaped and hence less available light is better for good snaps; whereas Upper Antelope is A-shaped and therefore the sun literally has to be above the canyon’s opening in order to take any decent photos.
• During the fall season such as month of October, the famous “beam of light” effect at Upper Antelope is too feeble to see which makes it very difficult to take satisfying photos in Upper Antelope in the fall.
• Because we only had early morning available, visiting Lower Antelope was better choice since not much light was splashing inside the canyon and the light was bouncing off the canyon walls to create a perfect ambiance lighting for photography; recommended aperture/shutter speed calibration is f 5.6-6.3 at 1/15-1/30. Use tripod and you will not be sorry!
• Lastly, photographers tour option at Ken’s Tour was on the spot. It does not only allowed me to set up tripod but also gave me flexibility for framing by controlling the relentless flow of tourist crowds inside the narrow canyon.

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We drove to Ken’s Tour located inside Navajo tribal land ($8/person entrance fee is required. CASH ONLY) and signed in at the reception for 8:30am tour that I have booked in advance. It is crucial to book your tour in advance. I joined the photo guided tour which costs $42 and the rest of my group joined the regular tour which costs $20/person. I am absolutely happy with my experience with the tour and cannot recommend more for anyone interested in taking some epic photographs that would last for lifetime!

I will try not to waste my breath on describing how amazing the canyon was. I hope these photos will do some sort of justice explaining. I just want to share you few tips on setting up your camera in the narrow canyon path.

First of all, you do not want to join the regular tour since you are not allowed to set up tripod. Also, by joining the photo guided tour (at least Ken’s Tour) you are allowed to climb up on some rock platform to get clearer shots of canyon. My tour guide at Ken’s Tour also actively coordinated with the other tour guides to control the tourist traffic to let us snap very clean canyon shots. Awesome team work!  Bottom line is: if you are serious about taking great photos in Lower Antelope Canyon by all means choose the photo guided tour. Secondarily, Calibrate your camera to shutter speed 1/15-1/30 second and aperture setting to f 5.6-6.3 and toggle around this range to accommodate for changing lights; I found this setting the most comfortable exposure range in the morning before the sun start to spill into the canyon interior.

Photo guided tour lasted about 2 hours but it really felt like 30 minutes. Antelope Canyon was gorgeous to say the least. The place is magical and it swallows your soul when you are out there. Purely transcendent experience. I cannot thank enough to our tour guide Sitting Buffalo for taking us to his spiritual ground to share its beauty.

Exiting the canyon to face the sunlight. I reunited with the group to head to the next destination: Horseshoe Bend.

Horseshoe Bend

Horseshoe Bend is another very popular landmark in Page, AZ that is a grandiose meander and rock formation carved by flowing water of Colorado River. Even the widest lineup of camera lens will give you hard time capturing the full extent of this massive place.

Look out point is located about 0.5 mile from the parking area. It is not a big haul to reach the look out, but there is a hill to go up in the beginning part of the trail. Bring water and wear sunblock as the whole trail is exposed to the burning sun! Be prepared to make the way around tourist crowds to take the best shots of the bend. Bring the widest lens you have for the camera!

Once we got satisfactory amount of jumping photos like the one above, we headed west on Route-89 passing through Paria Canyon in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and Kanab onto Road-9 for Zion National Park.

Zion National Park

I must confess that Zion National Park is my spiritual garden and my absolute favorite National Park in the country. I was here last year on the New Years for impromptu hiking to Angel’s Landing and that trip has permanently turn me into high mountain hike demon. Although we only had few hours until sunset to spend in Zion this time around, any opportunity to return to this beautiful park is blessing and makes me happy.

One of my goals on this road trip was to collect all the park patches at visitors center. I have yet to decide what to do with the patches, but it is something in my mind for future projects (maybe I’ll come up with some big banner with all the patches and use it for National Park themed parties). We stopped at visitor’s center where we were welcomed by baby deer and gift shops for souvenirs. At the shop’s register, a girl told us there is a nice hiking trail called Canyon Overlook Trail (here’s great trail summary) for sunset view of Zion Canyon. We nodded in unison: “Why not?” So we spent another hour shopping and headed to the east side of park for sunset hike.

Canyon Overlook Trail

Trailhead to Canyon Overlook is located by the exit of second tunnel (counting from west as you are driving up from Visitors Center toward east entrance). There is a parking area across the street from trailhead but the space is quite limited. We drove on Road-9 for another 1/4 mile to find a reasonable turnout to park. As we parked the car, a family of mountain goats sprinted out from the bush to welcome us to their home.

Canyon Overlook Trail is 1 mile out and back trail that consists mostly of incline through the mountain ridge. If you are hiking on this trail close to sundown, make sure to bring head lamps and maybe hiking sticks if you have them. Moon was out this day and once we reached the summit the canyon was ready to melt into pastel colors of dissipating daylight.

If you have limited time in Zion National Park and only have time for one activity, I will definitely recommend Canyon Overlook Trail. A view from the summit is simply breathtaking and gives you full perspective of this spectacular national park. I love Zion, and I shall come back again soon for more outdoor activities here.

We exited the park from the east entrance and drove north to Panguitch, UT for the night’s lodge. Next, we will visit Bryce Canyon National Park.

(to be continued)

★JUMP TO PART 1 :: ARCHES & CANYONLANDS NPS!★

★JUMP TO PART 2 :: ROAD TO MONUMENT VALLEY!★

★JUMP TO PART 4 :: BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK!★

★JUMP TO PART 5 :: CAPITOL REEF NATIONAL PARK AND BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS!★

★JUMP TO PART 6 :: YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK!★

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Useful Links:

Ken’s Tour (Tour company I used for Lower Antelope Canyon)

Some fun fact about Horseshoe Bend

Comprehensive guide for hiking in Zion National Park

Most epic hike in Zion NP: Angels Landing (If you dare!)