The Navajo Indians completely run this operation and you cannot get into the upper slot canyon on your own. I've heard you can get into the lower slot canyon (which requires climbing down some ladders) with a 2 hour pass that the Navajo Indians have to give you. I'll have to try that one of these days.
Anyway, I booked my tour with Chief Tosie tours. There are a total of 6 tour companies, all of which are owned and operated by Navajo Indians. I usually go with Roger Ekis tour company, but he was full. BTW, don't worry about making reservations. You can simply go to the entrance off AZ-89 and there are people waiting to take you on a tour, but there are also the 6 tour companies. This is both good and bad. You'll see why shortly.
I arrived for my appointment at 1 PM. Not my preferred time, but we didn't know when we were getting into Page, AZ, so instead of the 10:30 AM tour, I played it safe with the 1 AM tour. The 10:30 AM tour was more about the sunbeams which would be there around noon time. The 1 PM tour was more about colors and textures. This was my 3rd time back, I already had pictures of sunbeams, I was more fascinated anyway by the colors and textures. I heard if you go on their 5 PM tour our 8 AM tour, the colors are even deeper.
Anyway, I arrived on time for my tour, but our guide was about 15 min late, and to top it off, we were waiting on 2 people who were late. Timeliness is important when you paid good money for a tour to start on time. Everyone needs to be there on time. I was going to complain about this later. Anyway, we had a really nice guide and fellow photographer, Josh.
The drive to the entrance of the slot canyon was plenty eventful. First off, some idiot who was either texting on his cell or staring at the scenery, crossed the center line and nearly had a head-on collision with us, but Josh swerved in time and the other guy get back into his lane. So far the tour start was looking like a disaster.
Once we arrived at the park lot, Josh put the truck into 4WD and we headed out. This was one of those places you truly need 4WD as there was deep sand. The ride was super bumpy and at one point the people sitting in the back of the truck hit their head on the roof. I felt sorry for them. Josh apologized too as he said under his breath that they put too much air in the tires, over and over again.
We finally go to the slot canyon entrance and Josh told us all the directions and angles to shoot the photos. This was great in the beginning as I could adjust my tripod and take my time, but then the hordes of people came from different tours. Most of them were Japanese tourists arrive in 2 large tour buses. This pretty much made it impossible for me to setup my shots and take my time. I had other tour guides yelling at me, people in the way of my photos, and where I wanted to setup. I eventually had to ditch the tripod and resort to bracing myself against the canyon walls in the hopes that I could get the picture I wanted.
Needless to say, I was annoyed, because I spent a lot of money for the tour and I didn't expect how commercialized the whole operation had become. I asked Josh how many people they get in a day in the summer. He said 5000 a day. Wow.
He said the tour companies don't tell you that sort of thing when you book the tour, but he suggest coming in early April or early October to get good photos without the crowds, or do the 6 AM tour. I had no idea there was a 6 AM tour. It wasn't listed on the website.
Anyway, the crowds became overwhelming and the tour, which was suppose to be 2.5 hours, was cut short by an entire hour. Needless to say, I was pissed, but I knew an extra hour would be useless with the insane crowds of people.
We got back in the truck and headed out but at one point, Josh had gotten the truck stuck in the sand (or what seemed like it). He was good though, you can tell he knew how to get out of it as he rocked the truck and turned the wheels side to side, we finally managed to get out of the hole he made. Whew.
When we got back to the tour company's headquarters, one of the employees instantly gave me a partial refund without me asking for it, which I thought I was the proper way to handle these sorts of manners. I left happier knowing that I got a partial refund, and some good pics. I will note that I will never come back in the summer to this place for serious photography work, unless I can a 6 AM tour.
It was off to the RV park and it's swimming pool to cool off from the 100+ degree day.
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