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Water Holes Slot Canyon:

Water Holes Slot Canyon is located just a few miles south of Page, is easily accessible by car and a short climb and offers a slot canyon experience to even the most novice hiker to those with experience with rappelling. Water Holes canyon is acsessible as an "at large" hiking area, however both lower and upper Antelope Canyons are more regulated and costly. Water holes requires a hiking permit which can be purchased at the Lechee-e Chapter Navajo Nation permit office, the office is a little tricky to locate as you must drive past a few buildings to find the permit office which is located in something resembling a portable office or double wide. A nice new building is under construction next to it and may be the future home of the permit office. The permit costs $6 per person per day. In about 4 hours you can see all the of the Water Holes Slot Canyon that does not require rappelling.

Both Lower and Upper Antelope Canyon are more expensive and more crowded however, the fee for Lower Antelope Canyon is $21 per person for one hour and a Similar fee exists for the upper Canyon. I can only surmise that there is a penalty if you were to stay in the lower canyon for more than one hour, there is a photographers permit availible for unlimited time, however I did not inquire as to the cost. The names of Upper and Lower are something of a misnomer, the Lower Canyon is located to the North, and the Upper to the South. To visit the Upper canyon you pay your fee, park in the parking lot, and then are driven in by Jeep to the Lower Canyon, I do not know of the time limit imposed there. The lower canyon parking lot is just on the other side of the road, you pay your fee and then are allowed to hike freely in the Canyon, however there is a guide down in the canyon to provide assistance, or in other words, to keep you honest down there.

The parking lot for Water Holes Canyon is on the North-East side of the bridge crossing the canyon. There is an entrance through the fence that leads to a marked path that decends into the canyon. The path from the lot to the rim of the canyon is little more than a walking trail, but the descent requires some routefinding and careful footing but is relativily short. From where the path reaches the bottom of the canyon you can go either east or west. Heading east will take you through a short section of slot canyon and then into a wider open canyon. If you continue on east for 10-15 minutes of hike time you will reach the "Good Narrows" this is one of the more interesting parts of the canyon that is accessible by foot and does not require climbing gear, eventually you will reach a large fall that you will be unable to climb without equipment. During my visit a group had descended from further up the canyon with the assistance of a rappel rope, they had hiked further east overland and then entered the canyon.

Now if you head west from the slot canyon enterance you will need to descend 2 large obsticles, The first being a sandstone dropoff about 8 feet high, and the second being an unidentiful car wedged into the slot at abouout 10-12 feet higher than the canyon floor below. Both are possible to traverse without any climbing equipment bit with a little skill and sure footing, as is typical both are easyer to climb back up, so if you make it down you should have less trouble getting back up. After you get over these two obsticles you will go a short distance through a fairly tight slot untill the canyon opens up and there is a large drop-off into a tight slot canyon that is about 15 feet deep. You will need climbing gear to pass this point or to enter the canyon via an overland route and then descend into the canyon further west.

All of the waypoints shown on the following map are only approximate since all of the locations are very easy to identify from the main paved road.