I had been looking forward to our visit to the Upper Antelope Canyon all week. The images I had seen on numerous sites were amazing with exotic, fluid shapes and warm colors that seemed surreal. The photography would be challenging. Bright daylight filters down through openings at the top of the slot canyon and it could be fairly dark at the bottom. The dynamic range of light could easily overwhelm the camera sensor. I set things up the best I could guess and we set off. 

The Slot Canyon is only about two-hundred yards long and I took over two-hundred images.

We had arranged our tour with a company that offered deluxe vans.  They were comfortable and outfitted with four wheel drive and off-road tires and wheels. It turned out to be a good choice. After we left the highway it was a good couple of miles of rough sandy wash before we got to the entrance. Many tours offered seating in the back of open pick-ups, strapped to benches on both sides. That would have been a rough ride.

There were thirteen of us in our van. This would be the group we would stick with, the driver being our guide and shepherd. The groups went through in a steady stream one at a time with just enough space in between to separate the groups. Here's a collection of images from our tour.

Susie approaching the entrance

Our guide took this for us. 

It took some real horsepower from Photoshop to bring these to life. And, because the ISO was so high, everything went through a de-noise filter. But the slot was pretty spectacular.

Coming out the other side, we had to go back over the top of what we had just passed through. This gave us a good glimpse of the desert. 

Our guide told us the pock marks in the rocks were from shots fired at Indians hiding in the slot canyon.

This is the wash above the slot canyon. Flash floods would fill this with a torrent of water, all of which went through the slot. These flood carved the canyon.

Looking down on the exit from above

Metal stairs took us to the top and we walked across a sandy trail back to the vehicles.

Looking back at the wash above the canyon

This is the wash below the slot canyon. You can just see one of the vehicles heading back at the end.

And we're back at our vans. We were in the pretty ones.

This marked the end of our trip in terms of planned events. The car was already loaded---we had checked out of our motel before the tour---so we grabbed lunch and headed back to Flagstaff for an uneventful flight home the next morning.

It was a whirlwind trip but worth every minute of it. 

Let me leave you with this reminder. The video is set in a different biosphere but the words of the old hymn performed by the Getty's still speak to our experience:

This Is My Father's World