CraigBILL

A vintage image of my first hike into the Spooky Slot Canyon of Grand Staircase Escalante.

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Blasted naturally out of Navajo sandstone, these slot canyons are made by thunderstorms. It may seem strange that such a dry and beautiful place in the North Arizona desert was created this way. In fact, the rushing flash flood waters from these thunderstorms can start many miles away before they carve through these canyons up to seventy miles per hour. Meanwhile, the sky is almost totally cloud free and blue above.

Slot canyons like these were one of my top choices for creating images. Because the light plays on the sandstone in ways that change wildly from hour to hour, it is easy to believe why the Navajo regarded these unusual natural areas to have great spiritual significance.