In shortBesides Upper and Lower Antelope, the Arizona slot canyons around Page include Rattlesnake, Cardiac, Mountain Sheep, Owl, Antelope Canyon X and the Waterholes canyons. All of them sit on Navajo Nation land, all are entered only with a Navajo guide through a licensed operator, and Taadidiin Tours holds both Antelope Canyon X and Cardiac Canyon, which Navajo Parks rates intermediate to advanced.
$15tribal park entry, per entry
8+minimum age, Rattlesnake tours
21+side-canyon photography tours
1.5 hoursWaterhole Canyon hiking tour
Arizona slot canyons around Page, section by section
The famous two are simply the two with the most infrastructure. Navajo Parks & Recreation lists six licensed operators for Upper Antelope and only two for Lower, and the side canyons in the same sandstone country around Page carry a fraction of that traffic: Rattlesnake, Cardiac, Mountain Sheep, Owl, the two passages of Antelope Canyon X, and the Waterholes canyons south of town off US-89.
What the park publishes about each one varies a lot. For Antelope Canyon X and the Waterholes tours there are stated walking distances and durations. For Rattlesnake, Cardiac, Mountain Sheep and Owl, the official pages confirm who is licensed and what permit is needed, without a length in feet or a published timetable, so treat the length of your visit as something to confirm when you book.
| Canyon | Terrain and effort | How long a visit takes | Crowds |
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| Upper Antelope | Level sand, walked in one direction, with 150 steps back up to the vehicles at the end | Roughly an hour in the slot; a two-hour limit on time inside has applied since 1 May 2011 | Heaviest of all; six licensed operators |
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| Lower Antelope | Five flights of stairs, then ladders with handrails bolted into the rock; Navajo Parks warns it is narrow and steep | About 1.1 miles round trip, 60 to 90 minutes | Heavy; peak window March to November |
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| Antelope Canyon X | Two separate passages, sandy floor, no ropes or ladders, one railroad-tie staircase about 200 feet long | About 1.5 hours on the hiking tour, check-in 30 minutes before | Noticeably lighter than Upper or Lower |
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| Rattlesnake | Guided slot canyon walk; children aged 0 to 7 are not accepted | Not published by the park | Light; also sold combined with Upper Antelope |
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| Cardiac | Rated intermediate to advanced; needs a guide plus a backcountry permit | Not published by the park | Lightest of the named canyons |
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| Mountain Sheep and Owl | Guided access only; no terrain detail published by Navajo Parks | Not published by the park | Little visited |
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| Waterhole and East Waterholes | Hiking route reached from US-89; tours stop when the air temperature reaches 95 °F | About 1.5 hours over 2 miles, or about an hour over 1 mile on the shorter route | Light |
|---|
Everything here is guided, and all of it is tribal land
Licensed operators and Navajo guides are the only way in. A guide is required at every Antelope Canyon location, and the full Lake Powell tribal park area is entered on guided tours booked with an operator that holds a licence. That applies to the quiet canyons exactly as it applies to the two famous ones. Walking into a side canyon on your own because nobody is watching is not an option available to you.
The $15 tribal park fee reaches the quiet canyons too: it is charged per person on each entry, and the park keeps it apart from the cost of the guided tour. None of this country sits inside Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, which is why an America the Beautiful or Glen Canyon pass does nothing for you at the gate. Among the tours listed on this site, the 14 to 15 hour Lower Antelope and Horseshoe Bend day tour names the Navajo Nation Permit Fee among its inclusions, and the Upper Antelope Canyon Tour-AACT quotes a price with all fees and taxes inside it.
The same park rules run across all of it: no drones, no dogs, no rock climbing, no littering, and no alcohol anywhere on the Navajo Nation. Closures at short notice because of bad weather are flagged in capital letters by Navajo Nation Parks, which matters most between 15 June and 30 September, the National Weather Service dates for the Arizona monsoon. The moisture usually gets this far north in the first week of July, and roughly 40 to 50 percent of the region's yearly rain falls across those weeks. Take the earliest departure your canyon offers in July, August and September, and leave half a day free elsewhere in the trip in case the park shuts.
- Summer hours at the tribal park: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., according to the official park page; check on the day, since no winter hours are published
- Four days a year nothing runs at all: Thanksgiving Day, Navajo Nation Family Day the following day, Christmas Day and New Year's Day
- Every departure time quoted here is Arizona time, Mountain Standard with no daylight saving; the Navajo Nation around the park does change its clocks, so check which time your phone has picked up
- Two entries in one day, Upper and Lower: hold on to the tribal fee receipt and the $15 should not be taken a second time
Rattlesnake Canyon, Page AZ, and the Upper combination
Rattlesnake is the easiest of the side canyons to slot into a Page itinerary, because the operator that runs it, Adventurous Antelope Canyon Tours, is one of the six licensed Upper Antelope operators on the Navajo Parks list. It sells Rattlesnake on its own and also sells a combined tour that takes in Upper Antelope plus Rattlesnake in one booking, which is the pairing most readers of this page are really after: the beam section, then a passage with almost nobody in it.
The age rule is firm. Children aged 0 to 7 are not accepted on these canyon tours, and reservations are made online rather than at a desk. Expect sand underfoot and the usual narrow sandstone walls; the park publishes no length or timetable for Rattlesnake, so ask what the slot time covers before you fix the rest of your morning around it.
If the Upper section itself is your priority and you would rather keep the day simple, the Upper Antelope tour listed on this site is the shortest route into that canyon: 1 hour 20 minutes, free parking where you meet the guide, and a 30-minute check-in.
The Upper section, in 1 hour 20 minutes
If your quiet canyon is the add-on and Upper Antelope is the anchor of the day, this is the tour on this site that walks you into the beam section, from $119 with all fees and taxes included and free parking at the meeting point.
★ 4.7/5 · 2,140 reviews
The harder and quieter sections east and south of town
Cardiac Canyon is the one to think hard about. Navajo Parks rates it for intermediate to advanced hikers, requires both a guide and a backcountry permit, and names Taadidiin Tours as the operator for it. The same company holds Antelope Canyon X, which makes it the obvious contact point for anyone whose plan involves either canyon.
Antelope Canyon X is the gentlest of the quiet options. The standard walk covers two separate slot passages, lasts about 1.5 hours, takes all ages, and uses one railroad-tie staircase roughly 200 feet long for both entry and exit, with no ropes and no ladders on the route. The floor is sand and you must be able to walk unassisted on uneven ground. Check-in is at Milepost 308 on Highway AZ-98, farther east of Page than either of the other two entrances, so allow more road time than you would for Upper, whose park gate sits about three miles out of town on Highway 98, or for Lower on Indian Route 222.
Mountain Sheep and Owl belong in the same bracket as Cardiac: guided access only, on tribal land, with no published length, difficulty rating or duration from Navajo Parks. Treat any figure you see for them elsewhere as unverified.
South of Page the Waterholes system is the other option. Upper East Waterholes is open by guided tour only, while Lower East Waterholes needs a backcountry permit and lies off Highway 89 at milepost 542. Guided walks there run about 1.5 hours over 2 miles, with a shorter route of about 60 minutes over 1 mile.
- Waterhole Canyon closes and tours end once the air temperature reaches 95 °F, and July at Page averages a daily maximum near 96.0 °F, so a summer afternoon booking there is a coin toss
- Cooler months read very differently: April averages about 69.1 °F, May 79.1 °F, September 84.3 °F and October 71.0 °F
- The Antelope Canyon X hiking tour accepts no bags at all, hydration packs included; carry water and a phone or camera in your hands
- Closed-toe walking shoes and a light layer: sandstone holds the cool even on a hot day
Where the photography departures still run
Permits explain why the photography market around Page has moved sideways into the side canyons. Navajo Parks & Recreation has stopped issuing photography and filming permits for Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon on crowding and safety grounds, and applications for Antelope Canyon X are not being accepted either. That single decision is why the dedicated photo departures you find on sale around Page now sit in the side canyons.
Adventurous Antelope Canyon Tours sells a Night Photography Tour and a 3-Canyon Photography Tour, both restricted to ages 21 and over. Taadidiin Tours runs an Antelope Canyon X photography tour of about 3 hours for ages 8 and older, and photo-tour guests there may carry one camera bag each, which no other visitor on that route may do. In the two famous sections, tripods and monopods are not permitted and handheld cameras and phones are what you work with.
Light timing differs by canyon. In Upper Antelope, beams appear mainly from April through September and only on clear, sunny days, and of the published departures the 11:20 a.m. tour is identified as the best chance. The beam season in Antelope Canyon X is shorter by the operator's own account, May through early August and clear skies only, and the busiest light hours there fall between 10:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.
Pairing a quiet canyon with a main-section tour
Pick your main section first and build the quiet canyon around it. If light beams are the reason you came, that means Upper Antelope at midday between April and September, and the Upper Antelope Canyon Tour-AACT listed here runs 1 hour 20 minutes from $119, rated 4.7 ★ (2140 reviews), with all fees and taxes included and free cancellation up to 24 hours before. If corridor length matters more, Lower gives you about 1,335 feet of passage and 60 to 90 minutes of walking, with stairs and ladders to earn it.
Then add the side canyon on the same day or the following morning. Antelope Canyon X at about 1.5 hours is the easy pairing for anyone who wants quiet without a backcountry permit; Rattlesnake works well for ages 8 and up and comes packaged with Upper; Cardiac is for hikers who actively want the intermediate-to-advanced grade. Allow road time, since the X check-in at Milepost 308 and the Waterholes offices near milepost 541.5 on US-89 pull you in opposite directions.
With no car in Page, the full-day tour listed here handles the driving and the admissions in one booking: 14 to 15 hours from $160, rated 4.9 ★ (8468 reviews), with pick-up from select hotels and the return, the Navajo Nation Permit Fee, Lower Antelope admission and its guided walk, Horseshoe Bend admission, a deli lunch and Wi-Fi in the vehicle. Gratuities are not included. March to November is the peak window and slots go early, so book while the date is still loose and cancel free up to 24 hours ahead if plans move.
Questions people ask
Can I hike a slot canyon near Page without a guide?
No. Every Antelope Canyon location requires a Navajo guide, and access to the Lake Powell tribal park area as a whole runs through licensed operators only. That covers the quiet side canyons as well as Upper and Lower. Cardiac and Lower East Waterholes add a backcountry permit on top of the guide requirement.
Which quiet canyon suits someone who cannot manage ladders?
Antelope Canyon X is the gentlest of the lesser-known options: a sandy floor, no ropes and no ladders, and a single railroad-tie staircase about 200 feet long for getting in and out. You still have to walk unassisted on uneven ground. If stairs of any kind are out, skip the slot canyons and look at the Horseshoe Bend element of the long day tour, a hardened, ADA-accessible 1.5 mile round trip.
Is Cardiac Canyon suitable for a first slot canyon visit?
Not really. Navajo Parks rates it for intermediate to advanced hikers and requires a guide plus a backcountry permit, booked through Taadidiin Tours, the same licensed operator that holds Antelope Canyon X. For a first visit, Antelope Canyon X or one of the main sections gives you the same sandstone with far less commitment.
What are the minimum ages in the side canyons?
Children aged 0 to 7 are not accepted on the Rattlesnake and Upper tours run by Adventurous Antelope Canyon Tours, so effectively ages 8 and up. Its Night Photography Tour and 3-Canyon Photography Tour are both restricted to ages 21 and over. The Antelope Canyon X hiking tour takes all ages, while the Antelope Canyon X photography tour is for ages 8 and older.
Do the quiet canyons sell out like Upper and Lower?
They carry less traffic, but March to November is the busy window across the whole area and tours in it go early. The side canyons generally have more spare capacity than the two famous sections, which is the practical reason to look at them when your preferred dates are already full. Cancellation on the tours listed here is free up to 24 hours before departure, so holding a slot early carries no real risk.
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