The Antelope Canyon Delemma - Beauty and Disaster

On Friday, July 30, 2010 the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office received a report that a 4½ foot wall of water had trapped 8 individuals on a ledge in the South End of Upper Antelope Canyon near Page, Arizona . It was also reported that a child had possibly been swept away in the flood waters. The child was located a short time later in good condition. NAZ Today, Northern Arizona's Live TV News.What is noteworthy about this incident, which never made it out of the local news, was that this was the same canyon complex where 11 people drowned in 1997. Although this report is from Upper Antelope Canyon and the 1997 incident occurred in Lower Antelope Canyon, they are in the same wash and only a few short miles apart.

At the time of the 1997 disaster, the regular tours were not running. Quoting from an article in the Lake Powell Chronicle of August 22, 2002, "Most of the French tourists in the canyon at the time belonged to a tour group with the outfitter Trek America, based in California. The group had already toured the canyon, but six wanted to go back and use up the rest of their film — they planned to hike to a hole in the rock known as "Eye of the Eagle" arch." From the same article, "At 3:30 p.m. on Aug. 12, 1997, officers with the Arizona of Public Safety responded to reports of a washout on Route 98 near the 306 mile marker. The water flowed for some time, and officers stood watch to make sure no one would attempt to cross it. Meanwhile, the storm responsible for dumping the rain moved to Le Chee Rock, about 15 miles away from the narrow Antelope slot canyons. It unleashed rain onto the slick rock below, and the water funneled into the wash that runs through Antelope Canyon."

The force of the water left only one survivor who was stripped of his clothes and temporarily blinded by the silt under his eyelids.

Since the 1997 disaster, a warning system has been put in place. But Antelope Canyon is not a public park. It is a private concession on the Navajo Nation Reservation and entry into the Canyon is restricted to guided tours led by authorized guides.

Pictures of Antelope Canyon have become iconic. You cannot walk through an airport or tourist area in Arizona or Utah without seeing pictures of one or the other of the two canyons.  The picture above was taken on a sunny day in Lower Antelope Canyon. It is almost like hiking in a cave.