Lower Antelope Canyon (by kayak)- Page, Arizona

by ctravel, posted in Uncategorized

 

There are two Antelope Canyons in Page, Arizona: the Upper and the Lower. The Upper Canyon is narrower at the top than the base, which is what produces the ethereal light beams casting down onto the floor. The Lower Canyon is wider at the top and has less of the magical light beams, but isn’t as crowded, partly because one must descend down a ladder into it.

After having enjoyed the Upper Antelope Canyon, we went on to explore the Lower Antelope Canyon, only not in the way most people see it. Most people take the required Indian tour, but our Arizona friends had explored the Lower Antelope Canyon from the back “entrance”, by kayak. It sounded so intriguing, we were eager to do the same.

On the left, you can see the sinuous bends of Lake Powell, essentially a fattened river created by the Glen Canyon Dam. “Ken’s Tours of Lower Antelope Canyon” starts outside of Page at the southern end. In the close-up in the photo on the right, you can see how the branch off of Lake Powell goes into Antelope Canyon, allowing kayaks to paddle into the Canyon with every-narrowing cliff walls, until the water stops, kayaks get beached and the nearly private land exploration of the slot canyon begins!

We rented our double kayaks from Lake Powell Paddleboards and Kayaks. I had thought we needed to rent a special carrier for the kayaks, but they simply tied them onto our friends’ existing car rack, using swim noodles as padding to protect the car. The workers, whom I could tell had loaded kayaks a few thousand times, were friendly, efficient and instructive on how to tie them on safely-which was hugely important to remember later on when we ended up tying them back on in the pitch dark! Off we went, to Lake Powell to put in at Antelope Point Launch Ramp.

Note the lack of any lighting to preserve the International Dark Sky Reserve status of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.

Setting off, there is only small wave action and we enjoy trying to time our paddle strokes together. Of course being married we are totally in sync at all times! (Not, but like anything we steadily improved).

The sun is bright, the sky is the definition of pure sky-blue and we’re in sync!

We enter the Antelope Canyon and the water becomes even calmer, except when a few jet skiis go by. There is a no-wake policy which some obey; some do not. The canyon walls seems to amplify their engine noise as well as the waves from their wake.

The canyon walls narrow as we press further in, the quiet descends and the water stills. It takes us a little over an hour to reach the end of the Canyon.

  • The end of the kayaking- we encountered only a couple of others just leaving.

The last few yards before landing is thick, decayed, sewage-smelling mud. We try everything we can to shimmy our kayaks up to the beach with body english to avoid wading in it. Sorry I’m not able to include the smell with the photo.

We quickly head in on dry ground and away from the offending mud. At points the path narrows, but it’s easy to follow. No getting lost here!

The canyon deepens, an interesting mix of high canyon walls and sinewy slot canyon remnants.
Can you see the face in the rocks? (And Jen’s face photobombing in the background)

The rocks swirl back and forth, keeping us going and going, drawing us in- until we realize how late in the day it is and we need to turn back.

Heading back to the dock, the water is still and we are the only ones in the canyon.

The water was incredibly calm and peaceful. We float and stroke gently, trying to not make a sound and disturb the tranquility. Nature’s stillness is only broken by the humming of a dragonfly and the whistling sound of bird wings. This was one of the most amazing moments of our trip.

We were so enjoying the tranquility, we didn’t realize the light was fading until the sun started to set. The rest of the journey we didn’t take pictures because we barely made it back to the dock as the sun went down.

We struggle to get our kayaks on top of the roof of the car as darkness descended. We have our phones out shining light on the ropes and consulting photos we had taken of how to tie the kayaks on. To celebrate the completion, we went out on the dock and laid down to view the Milky Way. The Dark Sky Preserve may have made it hard to tie down our kayaks, but it allows us to peacefully gaze at the wonder of our galaxy unveiled without being concealed by the normally ubiquitous light pollution.

What a peaceful way to finish a great day.

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