Antelope Canyon - Page - STR-2021-17

Monday, 12 July

"Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers" from the song "Unanswered Prayers" by Garth Brooks

Our push yesterday was to get to Page so we we would have more time to do the many activities on our list, which included items from "Best Things to do in Page, AZ" (https://www.travelawaits.com/2658923/best-things-to-do-page-az/). And from an Instagram post, we had added kayaking Antelope Canyon.

We started our effort to arrange a kayak tour with Kayak Lake Powell (https://www.kayakpowell.com) once we were sure what days we would be in Page (recall the Three Stooges appearance on Saturday). We first called Saturday wanting to ask a few questions. As it was after the office closed at 3:30pm, we just got an answering machine. We tried again yesterday several times, again only got the answering machine.

With our activity list and temperatures expected to reach almost 110 degrees, we decided we really wanted to paddle first thing this morning. Unable to reach them by phone and unable to reserve online for our desired Monday morning half-day trip, we decided to just drive over to the shop first thing in the morning, all of three blocks away, and see if we could get on.

We were at the Kayak Lake Powell office at 7:15, and when Erin showed up to work, we asked about being able to do their 8:15 guided kayak tour to Antelope Canyon (https://www.kayakpowell.com/lake-powell-kayak-tours/antelope-canyon-tour). Unfortunately, the trip was full. Erin did offer for us to rent a tandem sit-on-top kayak (same kayak as used in their tours) for $49.

"Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers"

Our research for other kayak rentals found prices of $80 plus $60 to deliver to the launching ramp at Antelope Point. And as the guided tour was $99/person plus taxes and fees, $49 was a bargain. IF. If we could figure out a way to carry a kayak in or on Sprinty.

After a few minutes of visualizing, we decided to give it a try. With some rearranging, we were able to get the kayak inside Sprinty.

Just as we would have done with the guided kayak tour, we drove to the Antelope Point Lunching Ramp, which is closed to launching boats due to the lake level being so low. But the launching area was open to paddle sports. As it is part of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, the use fee was $30/vehicle. And free with the Senior Pass.

When we arrived at the launching ramp, the water was a long way from the top of the ramp.

Fortunately, they let you drive to the end of the ramp unload/load. Darrell paced off the length of the ramp - it was over 330 yards.

After carrying/dragging our kayak over the sand and rocks to the water (making us appreciate our lighter, wooden kayaks), we were off. It was about 92 degrees at 8:30 am, forecast to get to 108 later. Kris got some good info about the paddle from a lady while Darrell was parking Sprinty.

We hugged the left shoreline (as recommended) and paddled to the opening of Antelope Canyon. It was pretty lumpy from the motorboat waves - both directly and the waves bouncing off the rock walls.

We reflected in the last time we had paddled a tandem kayak. Likely it was 1999, over 26 years ago. It took some getting used to synchronizing our paddling to keep from clanking paddles. Despite the passage of time, we did pretty well.

We arrived at the opening for Antelope Canyon is about 23 minutes (the lady at the launch ramp said it would take about 45 minutes).

We paddled up the canyon, enjoying the beautiful rock canyon walls. We later learned the lake level is 160 feet below full pool. A positive is that the canyon was deeper and narrower than if the lake level had been higher.

After about 30 minutes (the lady at the launch ramp said it would take about 45 minutes), we arrived at the end of the water.

We pulled our kayak out and placed it with a couple dozen others.

This is where the day went from amazing to epic. The kayak tour we had tried to get on would likely have only allowed a short time to hike back into Antelope Canyon. A different kayak tour operator offered kayaking and a hike for $125/person. Being on our own, we could take our time, hike as far as we wanted, and not be constrained by being part of a tour group.

"Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers"

As we started off hiking up Antelope Canyon, the canyon was breathtaking.

The further up we walked, the more amazing it became.

Downey Thornapple

After 1.25 miles, we reached an amazing section that required ducking and weaving to navigate.

This section was so epic, still photos can not do it justice. For a short (34 second) video clip of the walk through of this section, check out:

As the canyon started to open back up after this epic section (at least as far as we could see) and temperatures had climbed to over 100 degrees as the sun filled the canyon, we made this the turn around point and hiked back to the kayaks.

The paddle back was hotter and lumpier with the motorboat traffic. Especially with the waves bouncing off the rock walls than made up the shoreline.

After getting back, we carried the kayak up the steep sand and rock embankment to the concrete ramp to load back in Sprinty. Sprinty then took the kayak back to the shop to turn in.

By now, it was almost 110 degrees. We decided to limit our activities for the rest of the day. We stopped by the Glen Canyon Conservancy Flagship Store/Official State of Arizona & City of Page Visitor Center. The staff was very helpful. They had a very large relief model of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, extending from below the Glen Canyon Dam and Page, AZ (Grand Canyon NP) to The Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands National Park near Moab.

The terrain relief model of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and vicinity can only be described as precisely accurate. The model shows in precise topographic detail an area of 10,000 square miles. Carving time was 1,952 hours, and painting was 698 hours. It was built at a cost of $24,000 in 1967. Today this model would likely cost well over $250,000.

If you ever visit Page, AZ/Lake Powell/Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, we highly recommend a stop at the Glen Canyon Conservancy if only to check out the relief map.

We finished the day in early afternoon with a drive to the Glen Canyon Dam viewing areas.

And checking out Wahweap Overlook. After almost 2 hours of paddling and 2.5 miles of hiking, temperatures around 110 degrees, we called it a day and headed back to the campground where we enjoyed the water-electric site for a second night.

A truly epic day that turned out way better than our original plan. The kayak trip was so much more than we expected at less than 1/4th the cost we expected. And Sprinty had a first - carrying a kayak. In the hopes we might do some kayaking this summer, we packed PFDs, paddles, gloves and dry bags for this trip. If we don't get to paddle again, the extra space and effort to bring kayak gear has been totally worth it.

BTW, a measure of how epic our kayak paddle and hike to Antelope Canyon was, Darrell took over 60 pictures. Way more than Sprinty allowed in today's blog. The day left us wondering how we could top today's adventure - the bar has been raised.