Some more landscapes from the Arizona trip. After finishing my backpack trip at in the Grand Canyon, I headed to north Arizona. On this trip I’d managed to work in a side trip I’d not had time for back in June, some time to photograph slot canyons near Page, AZ along with nearby Horseshoe Bend. The canyons I visited are on the Navajo Nation and I booked a guide through Adventurous Antelope Canyon Photo Tours and was very happy with the results. My guide Nate was an experienced photographer and helped me avoid a lot of the trial and error I’d otherwise needed to find good settings for the light. He also provided good guidance on angles and formations which again saved some time, especially important in the Upper Antelope Canyon which had a steady crowd of other visitors even in the off season.
A slot canyon is a narrow canyon formed by the erosion of water through rock. The key feature being the canyon is very narrow, especially compared to its height. The erosion often leaves winding and banded formations of rock which combined with the coloration of the rock can be simply beautiful. We started with Rattlesnake Canyon, thankfully named for its winding shape and not any inhabitants that day. This is near the better known Upper Antelope Canyon, but is a different experience. While you walk through Upper Antelope Canyon on rather flat ground, Rattlesnake Canyon is more an experience of climbing and twisting. There were spots narrow enough that I had to take off my pack to navigate. It also involved more climbing than the easier to walk Upper Antelope. The best feature though was the emptiness. There was no crowd and time to not only photograph, but also look around and enjoy the views, feel the rocks, and experience the location. 
Overall I enjoyed this first canyon and would recommend the trip even though it’s not as colorful as Upper Antelope Canyon. Still I found the narrower canyon to be very photogenic with some interesting formations that made a nice contrast to the nearby and more photographed canyon. This also isn’t a casual walking trip as going through the canyon requires climbing ladders and squeezing through narrow passages. This is a short canyon and didn’t require a lengthy stay. After finishing here and working back out we then headed toward the much better known Upper Antelope Canyon a little further into the wash from the main road.
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