Fifty shades of red in the Antelope Canyon

The underground canyon of Antelope – close to the small city of Page in Arizona – truly is mesmerizing to behold. It’s a place of beauty and elegance, which has in contrast been created through violent storms and torrential flooding. Each ridge in the canyon is different and light fills the walls with incredible colours.

If you have the chance, it’s best to go early in the morning, when golden hour warms the first pieces of the canyon. Oh and by the way – just so you know – you can’t go on your own. The site is situated on Navajo land, so you need a tour with the Navajo Tribe and you most likely have to book it (quite a bit) in advance.

Beams of light enter the canyon as you are descending the steep staircase, along with your guide. Once on your way, some parts are so narrow – as you might see on the pictures-, that you have to make a bit of an effort to get through them. That’s less scary as it sounds and it actually has some benefits too. Even when there are a lot of tourists (as was in our case), due to those narrow corridors it feels as if you’re walking around on your own from time to time.

Here are 24 pictures of an hour of wandering around in the canyon. Especially have a look at the last picture, where you can see how difficult it is to spot the underground canyon from above. But, as Leonard Cohen sings in Anthem: “There’s a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in”.