Our scheduled departure dates for 2010 are as follows:

TOUR INFORMATION AND ITINERARY:

DAY ONE:

Group is picked up at the Stratosphere Hotel’s Tour Lobby at 8:00AM and we head for St. George, Utah, two hours away.

Once we arrive in St. George, we pick up a gourmet lunch and head for remote Toroweap, located on the Arizona Strip. Toroweap is called the “ends of the earth” by local Piaute bands as once you arrive at the edge of the Grand Canyon; the Colorado River is 3,000 feet below.

This is the location where a photographers love to come as one can see the two sides of the Grand Canyon are less than a mile apart and the Colorado River flows down below.

We travel to Kanab, Utah, for a welcome dinner and lodging.

DAY TWO:

After breakfast, we enter into the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. Created in 1995, this near two million acre monument is located in a pristine, remote part of Utah.

We travel over the Cottonwood Road and stop at Cottonwood Narrows slot Canyon and enjoy a hike through the narrows. We have lunch in this remote part of the Monument and then continue our journey to Gosvenor’s Arch, one of the largest arches in the whole Monument.

From that point, we continue on to a part of Bryce National Park that most are unaware of for a beautiful hike to Mossy Cave and waterfall.

We will spend the night at the famous Ruby’s Inn.

DAY THREE:

We experience the rising sun in Bryce and then take a two-hour hike down inside of one of America’s most favorite national parks.

We then drive about ten miles to Willis Creek Slot Canyon for a hike in a very beautiful slot canyon. Prepare possibly to have wet feet, as we will frequently cross Willis Creek during our adventure.

We will have lunch near the trailhead and then drive to Kodachrome Basin State Park. One of Utah’s most beautiful state parks with some very unique rock formations. We hike one of the parks trails and then return back to Ruby’s Inn at the end of the day for dinner and lodging.

DAY FOUR:

We head along one of America’s most beautiful roads, Highway 12, towards Escalante, Utah. Once there, we drive down the Hole in the Rock road, made famous by an early group of pioneers who blazed a trail through the area eventually blasting a hole in a cliff to be able to cross the Escalante River. We stop at a very interesting rock formation called the Devil’s Garden. After we have a chance to tour the area, we head further down the road to a spot called Little Egypt. Another really different rock formation to explore and enjoy.

After we have lunch in Escalante, we continue to the remote Escalante River, the last river to be named in the lower 40 states. We enjoy a hike along the river and the beautiful scenery that is found there.

Later, we hike three miles in and back out to Lower Calf Creek falls. This is one of Utah’s favorite hikes as we follow Calf Creek to the falls. We may want to swim in the large pool by the falls if the weather permits.

Dinner and lodging will be in the tiny remote town of Boulder, Utah.

DAY FIVE:

We want to take a morning walk in the nearby area and then drive part way down the Burr Trail. Used by ranchers in the past to move cattle into remote grazing areas, this is really a very pretty drive and especially so as we cross the Water Pocket Fold. This monocline is one of several in Utah where the Earth’s crust is sharply uplifted in a very dramatic way.

We follow the fold all the way into Capital Reef National Park. We want to hike to Hickman Natural Arch and then drive into Cathedral Valley.

Cathedral Valley is a scenic backcountry area in Capitol Reef National Park. It is a remote, stark desert characterized by amazingly beautiful sandstone monoliths that some say resemble cathedrals. Many of the valleys structures have interesting, highly descriptive names: Temple of the Sun, Temple of the Moon, The Walls of Jericho, among others.

Once complete, we will drive back over Boulder Mountain, a portion of Highway 12, to Boulder for dinner and lodging.

DAY SIX:

We drive the entire length of the Burr trail all the way to Bullfrog Marina on Lake Powell for lunch. We then drive through some beautiful country to the very end of Lake Powell where the Colorado River enters the lake.

From there, we visit Natural Arches National Monument for a short hike and then we head to the Moki Parkway. This road will get your attention as we drive down the face of a very steep, large, land formation.

We will want to drive through the Valley of the Gods, sometimes compared to a smaller version of Monument Valley. Check out the Goose Necks of the San Juan River and then tour Mystery Valley to see some Anazasi petroqlyphs and arches that most who visit the area never get to see.

Dinner and lodging will be Kayenta, Arizona.

DAY SEVEN:

Today we head for Page, Arizona, where we want to hike the Lower Antelope Canyon, where most visitors to the area don’t venture. We then will take a boat on Lake Powell to the magnificent Rainbow Bridge, a holy site to the Navajos. You will love this boat ride, as the lake and Bridge are really a beautiful place to visit. Lodging and dinner will be in Page, Az.

DAY EIGHT:

After breakfast, we drive through Zion National Park. We plan to have lunch near there and then stop in St. George for some shopping at a wholesale Indian Jewelry outlet and then on to Las Vegas, arriving around 5:00 PM.

TOUR DETAILS AND PRICING:

Our cost to you is $2,399 per person, double occupancy. 

We require a 20% deposit at the time of the reservation and full payment 30 days before the tour departs.  We accept Visa and Master charge.   We do accept American Express credit cards as well, however, we charge an additional 2% handling fee for this particular credit card.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.