Upper Antelope Canyon

Upper Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon cut into Navajo Sandstone on Navajo Nation land in the LeChee Chapter, just outside Page. Its Navajo name is Tse'bighanilini, which the tribe translates as 'the place where water runs through rocks'. Flash floods formed it. Rain falling on the wide basin above the slot rushes into the narrow passage, carrying sand that scours the walls into smooth, curving shapes.

It belongs to Lake Powell Navajo Tribal Park, run by Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation, and the rules are strict. All Antelope Canyon locations can only be entered with a guide. You book a tour with one of the Navajo operators the tribe lists, and you pay the tribe's entry fee of $15 per person, per canyon, per day, on top of the tour price. Since May 1, 2011, visits inside Upper Antelope have been limited to two hours. The tribe does not issue photography or filming permits for Upper or Lower Antelope, and it was not accepting applications when this guide was checked. Dogs are banned at all Navajo tribal park sites.

Upper Antelope is the easier of the two main canyons to walk. The tribe describes it as shaped like an 'A', wider at the bottom than at the top, so there is more room to move. It sits at about 4,000 feet, and Wikipedia gives its length as about 660 feet. Lower Antelope, by contrast, is a narrow 'V' with stairs.

The canyons are dangerous in storms. Rain miles away can send a flood through the slot with little warning. Lower Antelope's 1997 flood killed 11 tourists, and in 2010 two floods in Upper Antelope stranded visitors on a ledge. Flash floods are most likely during the monsoon, which the Navajo Nation puts at July through September, but they can happen at any time of year. The tribe warns that closures are possible in bad weather.

The canyon is closed on Thanksgiving, on Navajo Nation Family Day (the day after), and on Christmas and New Year's Day. Page stays on Arizona time all year, while the Navajo Nation uses daylight saving time from March to November. In those months, confirm which time your tour departure uses. Remember that this is a place the Navajo regard with respect. The tribe says older Navajo would pause before going in, as they would on entering a cathedral.