I had never heard of slot canyons until Kristin told me about them. They’re basically just really narrow canyons. James Franco (who I am so in love with) played the guy who got stuck in a slot canyon and had to amputate his arm. (I just found out that canyon is near Canyonlands National Park, so I think Nancy and I may be doing a hike here on our road trip.) Chances are, if you Google “slot canyons,” the pictures you see will be from Upper Antelope Canyon near Page, which is the first one we went to. It’s the most photographed slot canyon in the world, supposedly.
You have to go with a tour group which ended up being really cool. Our guide was this hilarious Navajo lady, Vera. (By the way, I heard on NPR the other day that there are 70,000 people in the Navajo Nation living without running water. Ridiculous, right? Also, did you know the Navajo have no gender words in their language? So you‘ll hear older people say, “This is my daugheter, he is a doctor.”) The ride there and back involved going through sand dunes in an SUV. I took a video on the way back to try to show how bumpy it was, but it’s not that exciting.
Vera took us through the canyon, helping us take good pictures (although I was pretty hopeless). She took this one for Kristin, where the canyon walls are heart-shaped:
At one point, Vera stopped to play her flute for us to provide an authentic Navajo experience. It was gorgeous, and she said she liked that spot specifically because of the acoustics. When she asked for a volunteer to sing, Kristin shoved me forward and suggested that I sing the Sound of Music stuff. I couldn’t say no, so I sang a little. It was so funny because someone joined in and did the background notes, and then people from other tours came by and asked where Julie Andrews was. Vera insisted that I sing one more time on the way back, and I knew what I had to sing. I made sure that Vera wouldn’t be offended, and then I sang “Colors of the Wind” from Pocahontas. Because really, what else are you going to sing in a sacred canyon on Navajo land? This song is kind of a family joke, but the other people didn’t know that, so they probably thought I was a huge weirdo, but who cares?
I don’t have the videos of my performances, but Vera said she’d send them to me, so hopefully I can post them soon.
Vera also sold these gorgeous necklaces that her mom makes out of seeds.
Before leaving, we quizzed her about Buckskin Gulch, our next stop and the longest slot canyon in the world. The description of the canyon warned against flash floods and quicksand. We wondered how to identify quicksand, since we’ve only seen it in movies. “You know it’s quicksand if you start sinking,” Vera informed us. We then wondered if we should go buy some rope, but Vera said if you get stuck in quicksand, fall backwards, then army-crawl out. And besides, I don’t think me and Kristin would have know what to do with the rope anyway.
The canyon was in a wilderness area. We brought both cars and parked one at each trailhead. Unfortunately, we did not research this hike as carefully as we should have. We started at the Buckskin Gulch trailhead, which required a few miles of hiking before entering the slot canyon. It was 103 degrees with no shade, and we were hiking through sand. I almost passed out.
This is when we thought we were at the slot canyon, but actually weren't:
But the payoff was great. We went through about 2 miles of this amazing slot canyon before reaching the turnoff for Wire Pass trailhead, where the car was (although there was another 2 miles of hiking to get to the car). Next time, I think we’d start at Wire Pass trailhead and do a there-and-back hike.
Anyway, the canyon was unbelievable. The walls must have been 200 feet high in some places, and there were really crazy rock formations. Every time you turned a corner, there was something new and amazing. We took about a million pictures.
You can see how tiny we are compared to how high the walls were, and how narrow they got in some places.
The only thing that was slightly disappointing was that the river was completely dry. I was glad we didn’t have to swim, but a little water would’ve been nice. That meant there was no quicksand, either. And there was very little scrambling; most of that must have been further into the canyon. But this is my new favorite thing, and I’m sad to be leaving the southwest, which is where most of these canyons are.
You have to go with a tour group which ended up being really cool. Our guide was this hilarious Navajo lady, Vera. (By the way, I heard on NPR the other day that there are 70,000 people in the Navajo Nation living without running water. Ridiculous, right? Also, did you know the Navajo have no gender words in their language? So you‘ll hear older people say, “This is my daugheter, he is a doctor.”) The ride there and back involved going through sand dunes in an SUV. I took a video on the way back to try to show how bumpy it was, but it’s not that exciting.
Vera took us through the canyon, helping us take good pictures (although I was pretty hopeless). She took this one for Kristin, where the canyon walls are heart-shaped:
At one point, Vera stopped to play her flute for us to provide an authentic Navajo experience. It was gorgeous, and she said she liked that spot specifically because of the acoustics. When she asked for a volunteer to sing, Kristin shoved me forward and suggested that I sing the Sound of Music stuff. I couldn’t say no, so I sang a little. It was so funny because someone joined in and did the background notes, and then people from other tours came by and asked where Julie Andrews was. Vera insisted that I sing one more time on the way back, and I knew what I had to sing. I made sure that Vera wouldn’t be offended, and then I sang “Colors of the Wind” from Pocahontas. Because really, what else are you going to sing in a sacred canyon on Navajo land? This song is kind of a family joke, but the other people didn’t know that, so they probably thought I was a huge weirdo, but who cares? I don’t have the videos of my performances, but Vera said she’d send them to me, so hopefully I can post them soon.
Vera also sold these gorgeous necklaces that her mom makes out of seeds.
Before leaving, we quizzed her about Buckskin Gulch, our next stop and the longest slot canyon in the world. The description of the canyon warned against flash floods and quicksand. We wondered how to identify quicksand, since we’ve only seen it in movies. “You know it’s quicksand if you start sinking,” Vera informed us. We then wondered if we should go buy some rope, but Vera said if you get stuck in quicksand, fall backwards, then army-crawl out. And besides, I don’t think me and Kristin would have know what to do with the rope anyway.
The canyon was in a wilderness area. We brought both cars and parked one at each trailhead. Unfortunately, we did not research this hike as carefully as we should have. We started at the Buckskin Gulch trailhead, which required a few miles of hiking before entering the slot canyon. It was 103 degrees with no shade, and we were hiking through sand. I almost passed out.
This is when we thought we were at the slot canyon, but actually weren't:
But the payoff was great. We went through about 2 miles of this amazing slot canyon before reaching the turnoff for Wire Pass trailhead, where the car was (although there was another 2 miles of hiking to get to the car). Next time, I think we’d start at Wire Pass trailhead and do a there-and-back hike.
Anyway, the canyon was unbelievable. The walls must have been 200 feet high in some places, and there were really crazy rock formations. Every time you turned a corner, there was something new and amazing. We took about a million pictures.
You can see how tiny we are compared to how high the walls were, and how narrow they got in some places.
The only thing that was slightly disappointing was that the river was completely dry. I was glad we didn’t have to swim, but a little water would’ve been nice. That meant there was no quicksand, either. And there was very little scrambling; most of that must have been further into the canyon. But this is my new favorite thing, and I’m sad to be leaving the southwest, which is where most of these canyons are.
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