Antelope Canyon Questions (Cottonwood, Page, Parks: live, price, vehicle)

[eddie cantrell]

We have a little bit of time near Page on the way back to Durango, Co. What do you think about Antelope Canyon? And, if we are going to do this, would you suggest Lower or Upper? Also, it will probably need to be around 9-10 Am, any suggested tour operators, the only one I have found for the Lower is Ken's, while it seems like there are many for the upper.
Thanks for any and all help

[kdog]

Lower. Way less crowded. Reason you don't find a lot of tour operators for lower is that you don't need one. It's walk-in.

[eddie cantrell]

kdog thanks alot. I looked at many pics from Page area and we are going to scale back our driving, we were going up to Cap Reef but we are going back to Page to spend a least 1/2 day there, and I know from the pics that will not do it justice.
Do you know if you can travel from Page up to Bryce on the road, I guess it appears on my map to be dirt or gravel, that goes past Grosvenor Arch and Cottonwood Canyon, and Kodachrome Basin State Park.
Thanks for the help and if you can help

[MinuteMan]

I haven't been to the lower but have to the upper a couple of summers ago while touring southern Utah. I noticed many operator signs in Page so I asked for directions to the upper. Its a lower price since you pay the Navajos directly. There's a general tour and photographers tour price, went with the general were it lasted a good hour or so. From the lot they drive you in an open bed turbo-charged safari truck up the sandy bed stream to the slot. Once at the slot, you walk through with a guide. I heard the best time to visit is late May and early June where at mid-day, the sun's beams shine in. Samples .... antelope canyon - Google Images


Cottonwood Canyon Rd. is a graded scenic byway well worth the ride only in dry conditions. If you have the Google Earth program, take a look at the colors half way up the road.

[kdog]

Originally Posted by MinuteMan

I noticed many operator signs in Page so I asked for directions to the upper. Its a lower price since you pay the Navajos directly.

All the slots are on Indian land. Lower Antelope is cheaper because you don't have to pay the tour operator. It was around $22 when I went a year ago.

[MinuteMan]

Originally Posted by kdog

All the slots are on Indian land. Lower Antelope is cheaper because you don't have to pay the tour operator. It was around $22 when I went a year ago.

This site says both upper and lower are guided only. When I went, the upper was with a native Navajo. A portion of your admission and parking fee is given to the guide and driver. Can you keep a secret? They also do personal tours to other little known slots.

Navajo Parks & Recreation - Antelope Canyon

[kdog]

Originally Posted by MinuteMan

This site says both upper and lower are guided only. When I went, the upper was with a native Navajo. A portion of your admission and parking fee is given to the guide and driver. Can you keep a secret? They also do personal tours to other little known slots.

Navajo Parks & Recreation - Antelope Canyon

Wow, it does say that. Huh. Not sure what to say. Either they changed it, or the website is wrong. They let us self-guide when we went there.

So you've been with Ken's Tours? We did upper antelope with Overland Adventure Tours, run by Jackson Bridges, a professional Landscape Photographer who lives in Page. We also went with them to Canyon X, for which they have the exclusive contract with the Navajos. That was cool. They take only 5 people a day into the canyon so you get all the time in the world to shoot with nobody getting in your way.

[Vagabond2]

We have done both and preferred the upper canyon tour.

We drove ourselves to both.

For the lower canyon tour, a man led us through without any talking.

For the upper tour, a knowledgeable Native American gave us the history and philosophy and helped us to get awesome photos.

[azdr0710]

Cottonwood Canyon can be a bit rough in areas, but is driven by lots as a short cut to Bryce....allow 2.5 - 3 hours pavement to pavement....it's occasionally washed out after heavy rains....don't drive it if it's wet!....

have driven both CC Road and the pavement thru Kanab....both routes take about the same time to Bryce, if that's your destination....pavement fast, dirt sorta slow....

[rich67]

What kind of vehicle do you need to make it thru Cottonwood Canyon? I know a lot of reccomendations stipulate "high clearance vehicle"...I am heading back out there in June, and want to drive it this time-I took the paved route previously. I will be using either my 2wd Nissan Frontier or my g/f's 2wd Escalade.... don't want either of them to get beaten up too bad...
Cottonwood is supposed to have some cool scenery as well- I figure it would be a cool drive.