Spring 2024 Southwestern Swing, 4.01.24 - 5.06.24, Part 12, Upper Antelope Canyon, Wahweap Overlook
When trying to decide if we should choose Upper or Lower Antelope Canyon to visit, the obvious solution was “Why not do both”? Upper Antelope Canyon is the more popular of the two. This again is probably due to social media. In the middle part of the day when the sun is higher overhead, sun rays filter down onto the floor of Upper Antelope Canyon. A good guide will even throw a little of the fine sand up in the air. The rays of the sun make the glass in the sand sparkle and you can get fine light beams in your photos. Unfortunately, the day we did the tour, the same weather pattern that caused us to cancel our excursion to Blue Canyon was beginning to move in to the Page area. It wasn’t as severe, but enough that the cloud cover was just thick enough that we weren’t going to get any great beams of sunlight. It was still a very beautiful tour.
Unlike Lower Antelope Canyon, the gathering place for the upper canyon was in downtown Page and they trucked you up a dry wash to the trailhead in open air trucks. It also took us right to the entrance so there were no stairs to descend to get into the canyon.
The tour vehicles parked in the wash at the trailhead. Photo courtesy of Bridgit.
The entrance to Upper Antelope Canyon
The upper and lower canyons are actually quite different from each other. I think the upper canyon is deeper so it tends to be darker inside. The higher walls are impressive from the floor of the canyon. I’ve read that due to light in the lower canyon, photographers tend to like the lower canyon more but I found both to be quite interesting. The actual length of the narrow section of Upper Antelope Canyon is shorter than the lower canyon, only about a quarter mile long. But with frequent stops for photo ops, we were still in the canyon close to an hour so it felt like a longer canyon than it actually was.
Upper Antelope Canyon
Upper Antelope Canyon
Upper Antelope Canyon
Upper Antelope Canyon
Upper Antelope Canyon
Upper Antelope Canyon
The exit from the slot section of Upper Antelope Canyon
Shortly after we got back to our campground it started raining so we took a nap. By 2PM it had cleared up so we took a short hike. Just past the dam is a small campground called Beehive. It only holds six sites. Just across the road is the start of the Beehives Loop. The whole thing is on slickrock and it loops around a large rock. It’s an easy two mile loop and a good trail for beginners to be introduced to hiking on slickrock. The entire way is lined with stones so it is very easy to follow the route. Along the way we noticed that the desert cactus were in full bloom. We would see much more of this over the course of the next week.
The Beehive Loop
The Beehive Loop
The Beehive Loop
The Beehive Loop. Photo courtesy of Bridgit
By now it was time for dinner. I had read that the best fried chicken in the country could be found at a restaurant called The Bird House in Page. After eating dinner there, I might have to agree. Bridgit had buttermilk battered fried chicken and I had the super spicy fried chicken. They were both seriously good.
After dinner we took a sunset drive along Lakeshore Drive. It starts just above the dam and goes along the shoreline of Lake Powell. There were several pullouts and the light was just incredible at that time of day. From there we drove up to 89 and then up to the top of a bluff called Wahweap Overlook. This vantage point gave us a great view looking out over Lake Powell, the Wahweap Marina and Wahweap Bay below us and a full panorama of mesas and buttes in the distance. There were a lot of people up there waiting for sunset and it was pretty obvious this is the hot spot to go for sunset but by now the sun had disappeared behind a wall of clouds. However, and this has happened to me many times over the years, I could see a gap between the bottom of the cloud bank and the horizon. If it held, the sun would reappear just before sunset.
While everyone was hanging out at the overlook, I spotted a really nice bluff much lower overlooking Wahweap Bay so I hiked down the hill and over to the far edge of the bluff. My timing was perfect. The sun re-emerged from underneath the clouds and bathed the entire scene in rich golden light. This only lasted a few minutes and then the sun was gone for the day. But what a great spot to be for the sunset!
Along Lakeshore Drive. The dam is on the right.
A houseboat on Lake Powell
Sunset from Wahweap Overlook
Sunset from Wahweap Overlook
Sunset from Wahweap Overlook
Sunset from Wahweap Overlook