Because it is freakin’ hot and it’s a fully exposed walk from the carpark all the way to the viewpoint, with only one small shaded area (a little hut) towards the end.

Joyce and I borrowed the umbrella from our Airbnb host in Page. We did contemplate the idea for a good few minutes and it went something like:

“Hmm do we REALLY need it?”

“It’ll help so much not to be in the direct sunlight.. it’s 43 degrees out there”

“But then it’s mostly just a flat walk how hard can it be”

“But think of how much TORTUROUS it could be! Remember Angel’s Landing??”

“We might look stupid.. who hikes with an umbrella”

“Ok who cares if we look stupid”

In the end we thought it was better just to have it – after all the only thing we had to do was chuck it into our car.

When we arrived at the Horseshoe Bend parking lot, opened the doors and felt the weight of the hot air on our faces, we immediately knew that bringing the umbrella was A GOOD IDEA.

We took turns holding it. Turned out to be quite the arm workout in those temperatures.

Along the way we of course passed loads of other people, fully exposed to the sun and mostly sweating and dying.. looking at us with envy. Oh how they wished they had an umbrella! I can’t say that we didn’t feel just a BIT smug.

Looking back I don’t know how we would’ve survived without our umbrella. It totally saved us from a lot of suffering and allowed us to spend a bit more time dangling our legs over the edge and taking photos. The rocks were super rough, though, and made holes in the skin of our thighs/bums.

We later bumped into a park ranger, who eagerly came over to talk to us and stayed more than a couple of minutes, enjoying our umbrella shade. Haha!

There was a boat going by at one point, and we caught sight of tiny people looking like crawling insects down there.

We LOVED Horseshoe Bend. It was a spectacular view. It somehow reminded me of the Great Valley in one of my favourite childhood animated movies, ‘The Land Before Time‘. Definitely one of the highlights of our Arizona/Utah road trip.

So if you happen to go during the summer season – BRING AN UMBRELLA! You won’t regret it 😉

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Joyce and I had the opportunity to do a road trip through Utah and Arizona in June after attending Electric Daisy Carnival in Vegas – and all we had to pay for was car hire (a convertible of course). We do lead such charmed lives; it all still seems surreal!

One of the highlights of the trip was our visit to Antelope Canyon during our stay in Page (I LOVED Page by the way), which I’d never really even heard about until I did some research on what to see in Arizona (although I knew I had seen pictures of it before). So of course I wasn’t aware that you had to choose between UPPER Antelope Canyon and LOWER Antelope Canyon, and argh it was so hard to decide..

I learnt that Upper was where the most dramatic photos are captured – these were the ones you would’ve seen on the web when searching for ‘Antelope Canyon’.. or in National Geographic magazines. But the downside was that because it’s so popular it’s always full of people. It’s also rather more expensive. Lower Antelope Canyon was less popular and slightly less accessible than Upper (only because you’d have to climb down some steep ladders to get down into the canyon at the beginning).

After some careful consideration, we decided on Lower because we had some grand plans for what kind of photos we wanted to take down there (you’ll see..) and we much preferred to have a bit more space instead of get stuck in a crowd. Plus the money we’ll save could go to more food 🙂

As of June 2015, when we visited, there seemed to be only two obviously visible operators running tours to Lower Antelope Canyon. We chose Ken’s Tours. There was no need to book even though it was peak season (another reason we preferred Lower to Upper).

It cost $28 per person including the mandatory Navajo Park Permit of $8. By the way, you’re not allowed to enter on your own, so you’d have to sign up for one of these guided tours.

We went for a 10.50am tour. If you’ve looked online, you’ll know that there’s a huge discussion/debate about what is the best time to go for the ‘best light’. We weren’t super fussed but I learnt that between 10am and 2pm is meant to be ‘ideal’, although the tour guides will tell you that it’s beautiful no matter what time of day it is (not untrue!).

We had about 20 or so people in our group, which to me was not small, so imagine what being at Upper Antelope Canyon would’ve been like! Anyway, once we descended into the ground, our eyes enjoyed a big feast. It was stunning..

Top: Mileti Swimwear | Sandals: Saltwater

Our guide, Buddy, explained how the canyons were formed and pointed out some interesting angles and perspectives for photography.

We tried to wear our animal masks (courtesy of Joyce) as often as we could.. possibly annoying some of the group but I’m pretty sure amusing most of them! We even flapped around and made chicken sounds. We thought.. everyone’s gonna have the SAME PICTURE, so why  not make ours a bit different?

I love our photos and I love the idea of us prancing around in rubber animal masks and floral headbands in a beautiful, well-known tourist attraction (not a novel situation though – examples here and here).

The tour lasted less than 1.5 hours from start to finish, which means we were in the canyon for about 45 minutes, I think. I do wish we could’ve stayed longer for more pictures, but there were always other tour groups coming up behind us and so our stops were time-limited. I did always feel hurried despite Buddy being super accommodating and patient with us (he really was great).

Overall, I LOVED Antelope Canyon and if you’re ever driving through Arizona and stopping by Page, definitely spare a couple of hours to visit.

More info about the tour here.

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