Two Lane Adventures: Day 4 of our 30-day Southwest Grand Circle Caravan

Day 4 of our 30 day Yankee RV Tour Caravan … and the adventure continues!

We had to be ready to go at 7:45 am this morning! We carpooled, or you could drive yourself to the rally point. We all rallied at the office of the Antelope Slot Canyon Tour office in downtown Page.

Before we boarded their transportation we were treated to a Traditional Navajo Hoop dance performed by Joseph. He is a young man that is full blooded Navajo and can still speak his native language. It was a great show of his skill as a hoop dancer. Here are a few pictures to prove that!

The funniest thing I found … was his “Under Armor” shorts under his Navajo attire …. Not very traditional!

This caravan group is mostly older adults … and our transportation to Antelope Canyon was covered benches in the back of full size pick-up trucks! They did provide us seat belts … two people per seat belt … so I hope everyone was sitting by their spouses! We left the office and headed on the main roads of Page. The drivers drove fast, but then in a business like this … time is money!

Once we got out of town, we turned off the main roads and into some very washboarded sand roads … I am not even sure you could call them roads! Our driver really had to gun it a few times to keep moving in this terrain. We all now understood what the seatbelts were for!

Driving in these washes, we were surrounded by large rock formations, I would not call them canyons, on each side. After about 5 minutes of traveling in this wash, we arrived at the Antelope Slot Canyon.

Our driver and tour guide, Irene, was a wealth of knowledge and very helpful! She is also full blooded Navajo and in public she speaks English, but at home she speaks Navajo. She wants to be sure her children and grandchildren learn their native language. Before we went into the Canyon, she took everyone’s phones or cameras and ensure the settings were correct for the best pictures inside the canyon.

The Candle, see the base and the flame.

Irene shared the history of the Canyon, its sacred beginning of her grandparents, and the weather events that helped shape the canyon. It was formed over hundreds of years of water running through sandstone. The Navajo name for Upper Antelope Canyon means “the place where water flows between the rocks.” Centuries ago, herds of pronghorn antelope roamed freely in Antelope Canyon, which explains the canyon’s English name. It is not known exactly when people first discovered Antelope Canyon. But the Antelope Canyon is both a sacred site for the Navajo and a favorite destination for tourists from all over the world.

The heart, where you remember the ones you love

Irene also shared with us her close encounters with the Canyon and water. Because flooding in the canyons can occur quickly during monsoon season, visitors are not allowed in Antelope Canyon without a guide. Even if it doesn’t rain directly or around the canyons, flash floods can occur when it rains several miles upstream. Irene told us of 7 French and German tourists that perished in a flash flood and only two bodies were recovered, the others remain missing. During the rains, the sand floors can rise or fall five to eight feet!