Slot Canyons - President's Day Weekend

I posted this on NPC also:

I'm thinking about heading down to the Page, Az area and exploring some slot canyons. I'm looking at a 3.5-4 day weekend the President's day weekend, Fed 16-19. May leave Friday morning or afternoon (depending on schedules if a group forms) and come back Monday.

I've spoken with a few tour operators and I sounds like you can get extra time in Upper antelope canyon by talking with the Navajo gate keepers. Also a tour probably isn't needed at Antelope. I don't know if lower is open yet. I also found a site for a tour operator who purports to have exclusive access to Canyon 'X' (or Rita's canyon) which they say is similar to Antelope. Also there are several other good canyons in the area that you can just hike into. Coyote Buttes is an option too. This will be my first trip so if someone who has been there is up for a trip - great!

I know this isn't peak season for light in some of the slots but the crowds should be light.

If you have time that weekend and you're interested in getting together for a trip reply to this thread (or on NPC) and we'll get something going!

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BTW, great get together Saturday night! This is a really incredible group. Thanks again to Rick and Brent!

I would really recommend that you wait at least until the end of March, I was there once in April and it was good, May was even better, and July was excellent as well. You need sunlight, and the higher the sun is in the sky, the better your results, and the longer you'll be able to shoot. Even in April and May, the window of opportunity for sunbeams reaching the floor was about 2 hours, as the earth rotated, the sunbeams appeared in different spots through the canyon. The winter months are light in terms of visitors because of the quality of the experience. Hope for a cloudless day or the sun won't be strong enough to light up the walls with reflected light.

Don

Kalin

I would agree with Don about the light in the canyons. I’ve been to Canyon X and I didn’t think it was worth the cost. I enjoyed Upper and Lower Antelope canyon much more. You should go to Lower first thing in the morning and go to the lower end and walk back to the entrance for the best photography. In the middle of the morning you should go over to Upper Antelope. In the afternoon you should go back to Lower Antelope and photograph from the entrance to the exit. Water Holes Canyon is just outside Page and offers some nice photo opportunities but it gets a bit technical. You can get a permit for Water Holes at Upper Antelope.

Good hiking.


Philip Schwarz
E2311 530th Ave
Menomonie, WI 54751
e-mail: schwarzp@uwstout.edu
web: [/url] http://www.photo.net/photos/philipschwarz [/url]
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I think you should go to Antelope regardless of light. They are beautiful canyons, whether you get any images or not (and you will). After that I'll recommend heading to Coyote Buttes (see if you can get walk-in permits for the Wave). It will give you much greater variety of scenery and a great hike to boot. Also plan to head to Horseshoe Bend for sunrise one morning. It's a fairly quick hike so plan to start hiking 45-60 minutes before sunrise so you get there in time to set up and enjoy the show. There's a lot more to see in the area than just slots.

Guy

If you can't get the permits for Coyote Buttes, I highly recommend Buckskin Gulch. It has the same trailhead as Coyote Buttes. Just go as far into Buckskin as time permits, then retrace your steps. As far as I know, it is still considered to be the longest slot canyon in the world.

Thanks for the tips! I appreciate them. I agree with Guy, even though the light may not yeild the best opportunities, at least I'll get to see some of the canyons and know the lay of the land next time I get the chance to go down. I've been all over most of the rest of the plateau, except for Escalante (really want to get down there for a week or two also), but never near Page.
Thanks again!

I'm actually in Page right now. The conditions are good. It's been so cold lately that there's ice layering the bottom of a couple of the slot canyons I visited...makes for some interesting photos, not to mention an interesting slip-sliding adventure through the canyon. I was at Lower Antelope this time last year and it actually gets pretty good light mid-day. No light beams, but nice glowing walls. And you may have the canyon all to yourself on a weekday. And, as Guy said, there's plenty of other things beside slots to photograph. I'll try to post some pics later.

A short note on Buckskin: The pools you have to wade through were about 45 deg. in mid-summer. I'd hate to wade through them in the winter.

Warren,
For an in and out day hike at Buckskin, especially with stops for photography, you don't make it far enough to encounter any pools that need to be waded.

Also in the winter there is generally less water in the canyon compared to spring/summer when it's fed by melting snow.

Do be careful of trudging through ice though. Here's the story of one epic in Buckskin:

http://climb-utah.com/Escalante/buckskinice.htm

Guy