Grand Circle day 10 Antelope Canyons

***Chinese Version at the bottom***

Antelope Canyons in Page Arizona is separated into two parts, Upper and Lower, owned by two different Navajo Indian families.

Upper Antelope Canyon Photo Tour
11:00 to 1:00 pm
Meet at the tour office. A group of 8 people . We board an open side pickup truck with a canopy top. The ride to the location is about 15 min through desert wilderness. I can feel the sand blowing all over us.

As we enter the canyon there are already other tour groups inside. At the office we already saw more tour groups will be on the way. So this is going to be crowded inside. It is very dark inside. Feels more like a cave. Every ten twenty feet or so the tour guide would pause and describe the features with some imaginative names. Tell us a bit of the background about geological formation, native indian culture, folklore. Tell us to look here, look there, look up, look sideways. The sun beams are showing up in the canyon. Since this is a photo tour, every one in our group has tripod. We try to get the best vantage point in the narrow passageway that is often only 3-6 feet wide.  The tour guide is nice to have us take turns at the best spots. He has it timed so we move through the canyon to catch the sunbeams coming down from different places. Several times he threw sand into the sun beam to catch the light. The sand glitter in the light like stardust. It was absolutely beautiful, almost magical. The tour lasted 2 hours and at the last spot the canyon opening looks like a lit candelabra in an absence imagery. Finally before we exit the canyon, I found a chance to take pictures of ourselves. The tour truck took us back to town. We ate a quick lunch at a pizzeria. 

Lower Antelope Canyon

Then we drove to the Lower Antelope Canyon. We paid the entry fee, waited about 15 minutes. There is just the two of us. So the tour guide took us down after another group came back up. Again we pause every ten, twenty feet. Snap away at every angle. I love this place so much that I was going very slowly. The tour guide was rushing us a bit. I noticed that the canyon seems deeper than last time we were here. So I asked the tour guide. He confirmed that the canyon's depth changes over time. He also told us he is the son of the owner. He said over time sand from the desert are blown over the top into the canyon. As the sand collects, the canyon becomes shallow. Then a rare thunderstorm happens causing a flash flood. The water will easily carry away a few feet of sand making the canyon deeper. The place feels familiar and yet a little different. There are rock formations that looks like an eagle, a dolphin, a joker face, a long hair girl and so on. Soon we reached the end where there is a metal ladder back to the top. The tour guide asked us if we want to return from the top or go back the same way we came. Of course, go back the same way. It is very sunny up top and not much to see. I would rather retrace our steps and take more photos. We go a lot faster on our way back. A one hour tour is over too quickly. If we each have a tripod and SLR camera, then they will consider us professional photographers and would allow us two hours and use the tripod inside. Unfortunately, we are sharing one tripod so we go in as regular tourist.

Today's itinerary is complete. We went back to hotel to rest. Ate dinner, watch sunset. Last night we had a late night skywatching. Tomorrow we have a 4 hour drive to Grand Canyon. We better rest early.

***Chinese Version below***

Upper Antelope Canyon Photo Tour
11:00 to 1:00 pm
去羚羊峽谷，上午十點去到旅遊公司集合，連我們共八人坐一輛帆布篷頂改裝觀光車，約十五分鐘後到達目的地，離開小鎮外就是沙漠風光，風吹起的沙已經落到身上，

當我們到達的時候已有不少遊人，而在上車前亦見還有不少人在集合處等待，所以今天裡面會頗擠擁，每隔十幾二十尺導遊就會停下來介紹一下，山洞峽谷如何形成，土人文化傳說，山石名稱，指出特別角度，叫我們望這𥚃，望那𥚃，看上面，看側面，陽光開始照進峽谷山縫之中，形成光柱，因為這是攝影團所以人人都帶腳架，我們都爭取最靚位置，峽窄的山縫大部分只有三至六尺寬，導遊叫我們輪流佔用最佳位置，導遊算準時間帶我們去山縫中不同地段，捕捉陽光映進來照射在山石上的玄妙光影，他不時抓一把地上的沙拋進光柱𥚃，沙粒飄盪下來閃耀得像星塵一樣，簡直美麗極了，甚至有點魔幻的感覺，這個團只有二小時，轉眼去到出口處，最後一個景點是山縫口的形狀像一個點亮了的燭台，最後才有機會影合照。回到鎮上，怱怱食個pizza。

Lower Antelope Canyon
2:30 to 4:00 pm
駕車去羚羊峽谷下段，交了入場費，等了十幾分鐘，只有我們二人，由導遊帶我們下去，依舊一樣，看看這，看看那，看看上面，側面，我太喜歡這個地方，行得太慢，導遊一直催，我卻不想錯過任何角落，有點故意慢吞吞，今次是第二次來此，我就覺得峽谷深了，比上次深了幾尺，一問之下，導遊說峽頂的沙會流瀉入峽谷裂縫，這樣峽谷變淺了，而一次暴雨數尺沙就輕易被沖刷走了，這樣峽谷變深了，所以谷的深淺不定，感覺上跟上一次有些不同，卻又似曾相識。不多久走到尾有鐵梯可以上去，導遊問我們由上面回去抑或由原路回去，當然是原路啦，上面太陽又晒又沒野睇，由下面回去可以繼續影相，不過回程就行快些，一小時怱怱而過，可惜我們二人只有一個腳架，如果我們每人各有腳架和SLR相機，就可算是專業攝影師就可逗留二小時。

今天節目很快又完了，回酒店休息食飯，看看日落，明天要四小時車程往大峽谷，昨晚又睇星睇得夜，早點休息好了。