The Traditional Approach

• What: Antelope Canyon
• How much it costs: $31 per person to enter. Considerably more if you want to take photographs and sell them.
• Crowd Factor: Access only via tour group. Truckloads of tourists brought from nearby Page, Arizona.
• Level of Spectacular: World-renowned smooth sandstone walls with fascinating light.

The Pencil Approach

• What: Name-withheld slot canyon in Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument
• How much it costs: $0
• Crowd Factor: 0. From the appearance of the trail register it looks like about one set of people use the trail per day.
• Level of Spectacular: Life-altering. Requires some scrambling and minor climbing. Access via rope down 12- or 15-foot sheer wall, but most areas should be manageable by any reasonably-fit person. Do not do this one alone. Walls sometimes approach 100-to-150 feet high, much higher than Antelope Canyon. Rock formations are more varied, not as consistently smooth and red, but amazing nonetheless.
• Hint: Access via Road #400 (Cottonwood Canyon Road). Impassible when wet and had not been maintained since prior autumn on our visit.

After a stroll down (no, not up--it's backwards here) a wash, you access the slot via this knotted rope. Looks scarier than it in fact is. Take heart!

Parts of the canyon are of a massive scale. This is David in one of the sections.

There are some rockfalls to be surmounted, but with a sturdy partner and your own wherewithal, it's not so bad.

Log jams high up on the canyon wall show just how much you wouldn't want to be around here when it rains.

I am small compared to this place.