This week’s Daily Post Challenge of Narrow made me immediately think of slot canyons. The most famous (and photographed) one is Antelope Canyon, and you can find thousands of shots from inside the canyon, but have you ever wondered what it looked like from outside? This is lower Antelope Canyon (above), and that narrow crack in the earth is about 50 to 60 feet deeper than what you can see at this spot. Water has worn it smooth all the way, so think of this as the bathtub drain if there’s a thunderstorm nearby.
Not far from Antelope Canyon, even deeper and equally claustrophobic is Paria Canyon, with the branch known as Buckskin Gulch. Once you’ve entered, it remains this narrow for miles, with few escape routes. The drainage continues upcanyon for many miles, and there are logs jammed in a couple spots high above your head to remind you that this is a sunny day hike. If it has flooded recently, you will find this impassible due to quicksand.
A much tighter series of canyons exist in Cathedral Gorge State Park in eastern Nevada. No chance of being caught in a flood here, because these don’t travel very far. In some spots you will have to walk sideways to get through. Without some object providing a sense of scale, this may be difficult to obtain perspective, but I can’t walk through this canyon with my feet side by side.
One place that I find quite unique is this series of canyons at the base of Mount Charleston, Nevada. The canyons themselves are not that narrow or deep, but there is this narrow passage from one canyon to the next one.
July 31, 2016 at 10:49 am
Beautiful, but claustrophobic, for sure!
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July 31, 2016 at 11:35 am
Thank you, Eliza! Yes, these are not places to visit if you feel boxed in easily. 🙂
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July 31, 2016 at 1:08 pm
Yep, you’ll never find me there 😉 (although I admire those brave enough to venture forth).
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July 31, 2016 at 10:20 pm
You can actually hike very briefly into any of these spots to get a feel for what they are about. After that, however, it would seem a shame to just turn around and head out.
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July 31, 2016 at 11:12 am
There are still so many canyons for me to see!
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July 31, 2016 at 11:33 am
Even though we don’t receive a harsh winter in the southwest, snow and ice linger in the canyons, making travel unsafe. Many of the slot canyons have pools of water that must be crossed, and even in late May these can be too frigid to wade in. Thunderstorms reduce the number of days for safe travel in mid-summer. So many canyons, so little time!
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July 31, 2016 at 6:17 pm
I love this hike. In fact, when I saw that narrow was the prompt I thought of my photos from there.
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July 31, 2016 at 10:17 pm
Since lower Antelope isn’t much of a hike, I’m guessing you are referring to Paria/Buckskin. If someone only has time to hike one canyon in the region, that is one I would put to the top of the list. Can’t wait to see what you have from there, Mary.
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August 1, 2016 at 3:55 pm
The artist: Running Water and The Canvas: Grounded Stone meet here. Gorgeous!
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August 4, 2016 at 11:31 am
Water has done so much to shape the canyons around here, that it would be hard to imagine what these places would look like without it.
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August 1, 2016 at 4:32 pm
…Master “PEACE”….;D
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August 4, 2016 at 11:31 am
🙂
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August 17, 2016 at 7:03 pm
I do believe I am the only photographer in the world who has not been to antelope canyon. Someday. 🙂
Nice shots!
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August 17, 2016 at 10:39 pm
Judging by the number of pics that come up on a Google Image Search, there may be some truth to that, lol. I hope you make it someday.
Thank You!
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