Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon in the east of Page in Arizona, USA. It includes two separate, scenic slot canyon sections, the upper Antelope Canyon or the ‘Crack’ and the lower Antelope Canyon or the ‘Corkscrew’. Over the ages, Rain water rushed into the basin above the slot canyon sections, and surged into the narrow passageways. With time, the passageways eroded away, making the corridors deeper in such a way, as to form beautifully designed flowing shapes in the rock.
The Upper Antelope Canyon is in the shape of the letter "A" where the canyon has a narrow opening at the top and the walls widen toward the bottom. It is called by the locals as ‘the place where water runs through rocks’. The entrance is a narrow curved slit in the cliffs only a few feet wide. The temperature drops around 20º as one enters one of the most beautiful of all natural formations. The filtered sunlight on the curved sandstone walls makes the situation almost magical, as the patterns and shadows constantly change in many subtle shades of colour. This section of the canyon is unevenly lighted, while some parts are wide and bright, others are narrower, more cave-like, and gloomy, with no light reaching the sandy floor. The canyon becomes suddenly much shallower near the top of the plateau.
The lower canyon, called by the locals as ‘the spiral rock arches’, is longer and deeper than the upper section. This canyon has the shape of a ‘V’, with the canyon walls opening wider at the top of the canyon and tapering down at the ground. Prior to the days of installation of metal stairways, visiting the canyon required climbing along pre-installed ladders in certain areas.
Rain falling dozens of miles away upstream of the canyons can funnel into them with little prior notice. It was here that 11 people were drowned in a flash flood in August 1997.