“Whatever you do, don’t miss Antelope Canyon!” Randy advised.
He and Julie had been out West a few years earlier, and they thought Antelope Canyon in Arizona was possibly the highlight of their entire trip.
I’d never even heard of Antelope Canyon, but after their advice, I looked into it.
Antelope Canyon is just a couple of hours from the Grand Canyon’s south rim.
Antelope Canyon belongs to the Navajo Nation.
You can only visit if you make an advance reservation.
And reservations are very expensive.
No one is allowed to roam free.
However, the guides are very knowledgable and personable, so they’re worth their hire!
They also keep you safe, which isn’t something you’d think you need, but you do!
On the surface above the canyon, everything looks dry as a bone.
You’d never guess there are wondrous caves underneath!
How does it happen?
Antelope Canyon is one of several very unique “slot” canyons.
There are holes or “slots” on the floor of the desert where light can filter down inside.
This allows the most astounding play of colors and shading.
This is all well and good, unless there’s a torrential downpour, which does occur on rare occasions.
Because the desert floor is mostly sandstone here, the water can’t penetrate.
So, it runs downhill looking for a crack or crevice and picking up sand and debris along the way.
(The passageway is at the bottom center of this photo.)
The result is a flash flood of water swirling through tiny passageways.
Over time, the raging waters carve out intricate passageways.
The grit and sand caught in the flood actually serve to smooth and polish the surfaces of the rocks until they look like exquisite pieces of pottery!
There are two tours available.
The Upper Canyon has a mostly level pathway with more beams of light shining directly into the canyon.
The Lower Canyon is a more difficult hike, requiring climbing up and down 5 flights of “stairs” (ladders).
In some places the passageways are very narrow with no level footing. (Note pathway here in middle.)
However, Lower Antelope Canyon is over twice as long and in some places 120″ deep, so there are many more opportunities for spectacular views!
(In the middle is the pathway with shoe prints. It’s hard to stay oriented!)
Also, if you just go by the names, the Navajo People call Upper Canyon Tsé bighánílíní, “the place where water runs through rocks.”
They call the Lower Canyon Hazdistazí, or “spiral rock arches.”
Alan and I chose the Lower Canyon, and we were overwhelmed by the subterranean beauty—unlike anything we’d ever seen above ground on Earth!
Beginning our descent into Lower Antelope Canyon
(All the photos on this blog are from our trip in 2022 to Lower Antelope Canyon.)
(Note the uneven surfaces!)
So, what’s with all the rainbow colors underground?
Land forms above the area of Antelope Canyon
I don’t have a definitive answer for that question.
In this unfiltered photo (which I took above ground), you can see most of the rainbow colors are present within the mineral composition of the rocks.
I think much of the effect is from brilliant sunlight casting light and shadows on the rocks.
This is basically the same photo, but in this one I used the “enhance” option (on my i-photo, free-with-computer program). This intensifies the colors, but it doesn’t actually change them.
In this image, I opened up the light setting (on my same, no-upgrade app), which allows us to see more texture with a slightly less intense color experience.
In this photo, I’ve enhanced both the amount of light and the color intensity. BUT, I didn’t change the colors. They were already there!
Here’s a photo taken from outside (note the grass that can grow here). The camera picked up the walls of the cave (which whited out the deep blue sky), so the colors aren’t so intense, but they’re still there.
I’m convinced that most of the variation in color comes directly from the intensity of the light shining on each surface.
With bright sunlight shining directly on the surface, most of this particular area is very similar in color.
From deep inside the cave looking up, the light makes some areas a brilliant yellow but lower folds in the rock are pink and even checkered with maroon and green at the bottom.
We may not often examine people the way we do rocks, but each person is like a sandstone sculpture!
The colors are all there, but they change in brilliance depending on the dance between Sonshine and shadows in our lives.
We are carved by countless flash floods coursing through the corridors of our hearts.
We are smoothed by the very grit that drives us crazy!
We’re tossed and turned until sometimes we can’t tell up from down!
My son Jonathan says God takes all our dreams and turns them upside down to make a tossed salad!
But, I’m okay with that! The Bible says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).
I trust Jesus to use all the storms and pain to cleanse and smooth me so I’m “a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work” (2 Timothy 2:21, ESV).
Why do I trust Him? Because He has always been faithful and kind to me. What King David wrote in the Psalms is still true today: “The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works” (Psalm 145:9).
Finally, I want to discuss our need for shelter and safety.
About twenty-five years ago, an international tour group was caught by a flash flood.
Although there wasn’t much rain at Antelope Canyon, there had been a thunderstorm seven miles slightly uphill.
Eleven tourists were trapped and drowned in a raging flash flood.
Since that time, more security measures have been added.
The tour agency is extremely careful to cancel tours if there’s any possibility of a flash flood.
But, as with most of life’s adventures, there are always risks.
We can try to play it safe, but Jesus warned us, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it” (Mark 8:35).
If you haven’t already, will you please give your life to Jesus and see what He does?
There’s a whole world of spiritual beauty you’ll never find if you try to “play it safe.”
Please, please take good advice, study the Bible, and explore the depths of God’s love!
I promise you’ll be okay, even if He turns your world upside down! I can promise with confidence, because Jesus promised, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5.)
Just as He has done for every person who repents from their sins and asks Jesus to be their Lord and Savior, He does just that!
He makes a way for us.
He is the Good Shepherd, who leads us all the way and protects us on our journey.
We can share Paul’s confidence “that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).
And that—at the end of our pilgrimage—“We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8).
And all the way, He hides our souls in the cleft of “the Rock”—which is Himself (1 Corinthians 10:4).
Psalm 61:1-4 (NKJV)—
Hear my cry, O God;
Attend to my prayer.
From the end of the earth I will cry to You,
When my heart is overwhelmed;
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
For You have been a shelter for me,
A strong tower from the enemy.
I will abide in Your tabernacle forever;
I will trust in the shelter of Your wings.
Summer Setting 