With the help of my trusty chauffeur/travel partner and our rental 4WD Jeep, we were off for another day of desert and canyon adventures!

We started out by earning a check on my bucket list for an activity that has been there for a verrrry long time: hike Antelope Canyon. This slot canyon in northern Arizona is a part of the Navajo lands here, so tours are only available if you have an approved Navajo guide. There are several sections you can tour separately, and we chose the Lower Antelope Canyon tour through Dixie’s Tours.

Another Bucketlist ✅: Amazing Antelope Canyon Tour

We checked out of our hotel in Page this morning and drove about 15 minutes just out of the town to the tour center. It was a short 10 minute walk through the desert to the opening of the canyon, headed by our Navajo guide, Armando. It was “only” in the high 80s but the sun and wind were packing a punch. There were big wind gusts today that sent swirls of sand into our eyes, ears, noses, and all over the tourists hiking the canyon as we walked. We were pretty grimy humans by the time we ended this tour! As you walk through the desert it is almost impossible to tell that you are walking over or next to the slot canyons below. Navajos used these canyons as a place to hide during the wars. Armando told us some fascinating stories about Navajo life in the desert, their uses of desert plants, and he gave us a very cool demonstration of how the slot canyons were formed by sand, wind, sun, and water.

From the entrance in the desert, we descended 75 feet down along several steep flights of stairs that took us into the first part of the canyon, which they call the “Lions Den.” Hopefully you can see from the photos why call it that!

Parts of our path were very narrow or very small and we had to duck and wind our way through, which made it even more fun, imo. Our hike took about 90 minutes, but for much of that we were shaded below the desert. Views of the incredible sandstone walls shifted and changed colors depending on the light from above. Our guide also encouraged us to use some cool filters on our photos. I don’t typically use filters on my photos, being a big believer in the natural state of things, but after I saw a few of his pictures, I couldn’t argue. They were amazing!!

A few more of the “shape formations” our guide told us about. Can you see them?

Such an incredible experience, and I was definitely overexcited in my picture taking! It was sooo hard to choose from our 100+ pictures we took of this canyon, but #sorrynotsorry.

After our hike, we had a quick lunch and hit the road. Our next hotel (Airbnb) is in Sedona, but we decided we CANNOT be this close to the Grand Canyon and not go there, so we took a 3 hour detour to go back and see the Eastern and Southern parts of the canyon. It was an EXCELLENT idea. This was our second visit here, and hopefully not our last.

Side Trip to the GC

Wildlife

One of the joys of our visit to the Grand Canyon park was seeing a huge herd of elk grazing near the park entrance. We also saw some rock squirrels, lizards, and a HUGE raven.

Sedona at Last

We stopped for dinner at brewpub (Lumberyard Brewing Company) in Flagstaff and enjoyed a good dinner and some very good beers.

We made it in to our cute little Airbnb just after 9 p.m. We are staying in a octagon the backyard of our hosts, who lit the walkway to the cottage with little white fairy lights and had cute welcome signs. They also left us drinks and snacks plus lots of provisions, so we should be very comfy here! This is our second trip to Sedona, and we are looking forward to exploring more of this beautiful city tomorrow. Thanks for adventuring with us!