Page, a small town in Cocconino County, AZ, was founded in 1957 to accommodate the many workers and their families during the construction of the Glen-Canyon Dam on the Colorado River. The dam holds back the enormous water masses of the Lake Powell Reservoir (surface ~280'586 km²) and houses a hydro-electrical plant with 1.3 MW capacity.
The 44 km² of land to pitch Page were obtained from the Navajo Nation (Diné clan) in a land exchange . Besides being the main hub for the Lake Powell Recreational area (i.e. water sports, house boating, tourist boat tours (-> Rainbow Bridge National Monument)) the town reached importance because of the many slot canyons in close vicinity.

Slot canyons are normally found in sand- or limestone rock areas. They are very narrow, tortuous and often quite deep crevices (20 to 30 m) which got carved and shaped over many thousands of years by wear of wind and water rushing through.

My previous visits to Page were always sunny and hot - not this time ... on my way from St. George (UT) via Zion National Park to Page on Tuesday I experienced some heavy rain showers, thunders, lightning and dark grey cloudy skies ...

Not sure what this means for my planed visit to picture the Lower Antelope canyon.

Slot canyons are fascinating nature made stone sculptures which are safe as long as the weather stays dry and stable in a perimeter of up to 100 km . If heavily rains deploy massive waters somewhere in this perimeter flash floods can suddenly develop and turning a beautiful canyon in a deadly trap.

After a good nights sleep the new day started windy and rainy again. The Lower Antelope canyon entry is along Hwy 98, about a 15 minutes car ride from Page to the east. Several tour companies run the Upper Antelope canyon which leads to an extremely busy situation. It is almost impossible to take photograph and catch good pictures because of the masses of tourists pumped through this canyon.

In contrast the Lower Antelope canyon (Spiral Rock Arches in Navajo language) is operated by just one company, Ken's Tours (keny@aztrail.com). Due to its unique geographical situation (not just a straight line) and the moving of the sun across the sky the views inside the canyon change constantly. The sun light bounces back and forth across the sandstone walls of the canyon creating ever changing patterns, colors hues and shadows .

When I arrived around noon the weather situation was still unpleasant, very windy and quickly changing. For safety reasons Ken's Tour offered only guided tours and no photographer passes. Which was disappointing but perfectly understandable. To really catch the beauty of this canyon you need to get a photo-pass which entitles you to move freely around for two hours on your own. I was told to try again around 2'o clock ... by then it was expected to get clear spells ...

... and indeed two hours later the weather was still windy but some what brighter with patches of blue skies and sunshine. Now photo-pass were sold which was cool. To stay on the safe side this day photographers were only allowed to enter the canyon with an experienced guide. Together with an Australian lady photographer, her husband (her personal Sherpa ...) and Chris, a guide from Ken's Tours we went off and tried our best ...

After our quite successful picture session in the beautiful Lower Antelope canyon I consulted all kinds of weather forecasts to guess what the next day would have in its pockets ... the forecast for tonight was alarming: very wet with heavy rainfall and some pretty good thunders and lightning ... but the next morning should be sunny after all, changing for the afternoon again to more cloudy and rainy weather ...

Well then, let's hope for tomorrow's miracle