Itinerary

Friday             
Arrive in Sedona by 3pm and your tour leader will meet you at the shuttle drop-off point (Super 8). Drive to our motel, check in and change into hiking clothes. Tour Sedona including a visit to a vortex and a hike among the red rocks to Devil's Bridge. Before dinner at Cheryl's home we'll be sure and dip our feet in Oak Creek beneath Cathedral Rock and Red Rock Crossing.

Saturday        
Breakfast early and depart Sedona by 7am and drive up onto the Colorado Plateau where we’ll spend the whole vacation.  We just can’t go past Winslow without stopping at “the corner” that the Eagles made famous!  Visit Little Painted Desert, an unbelievable photo opportunity.  Drive to Hopi Cultural Center for lunch.  Visit the Hopi villages on First Mesa where we’ll visit an artisan’s home and this is a great opportunity to purchase a kachina doll or some pottery direct from the artist.  Drive to Chinle.  All aboard a jeep for a great ride into Canyon de Chelly including a visit to famous White House ruins.  Camp the night beside Antelope ruins where you’ll be entertained around the campfire by our Navajo storyteller.

Sunday           
After a pancake breakfast we’ll jeep back out of the canyon with a stop at the Ute raid panel.  Load our van and drive along the rim looking down into the great views of the canyon. It’s a short walk to enchanting Spider Rock where spider woman lives.  Navajo legend claims she taught them to weave.  Drive north to Kayenta where we’ll see a small exhibit describing the importance of the Navajo Code Talkers during WWII.  On our way to Page we’ll visit Betatakin ruins at the Navajo National Monument.  In Page we’ll climb onto a truck for a trip to Antelope Slot Canyon, the most famous of the slot canyons.  Dinner and lodging in Page.

Monday          
In the cool morning air we’ll hike to an amazing overlook at Horseshoe Bend as the Colorado River snakes it’s way south to the Grand Canyon.  Then we’ll board our vessel for our afternoon on Lake Powell.  Our destination is the fabulous Rainbow Bridge. Lake Powell is one of the most wonderful places in the West to get away from it all. Dinner and lodging in Page.

Tuesday         
It’s fun to get out of your tent and dive straight into the warm water before breakfast in camp.  We’ll motor back to the marina and load our van.   Drive across to Zion National Park.  The trip down into the canyon is nothing short of spectacular.   Board the eco bus and enjoy a ranger narration on our way to Sinawava Temple.  From there we’ll walk the one mile river walk and spend a couple of hours hiking and sloshing through the Virgin River in the Narrows – some even float back on the return.  Great fun to be a kid again!  We’ll lunch at Zion Lodge.  Late afternoon will find us heading north to Bryce Canyon with a stop at unbelievably beautiful Red Canyon en route.  Check into our motel outside the National Park.  After dinner we sit on the rim and watch the sun set on the hoodoos – or if you have energy left, we can hike down and back up the zig-zag Navajo Trail to see Wall St where ponderosa pines brush canyon walls as they reach for the sky.

Wednesday    
Dress today in riding clothes and after breakfast, saddle-up for an incredible three-hour mule-ride through Bryce Canyon on the Peek-a–Boo Loop Trail.  We think this is the most stunningly scenic park in the US.  Photograph unforgettable views from your horseback vantage point.  Take a break half way through the trip - it’s great to dismount and stretch your legs.   After lunch we’ll drive through the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument and over a 9600’ pass through alpine meadows of aspens.  Enjoy great views of Waterpocket Fold on our way into Capitol Reef National Park.  There’ll be plenty of photo stops within this scenic park and we’ll explore the old community of Fruita and see Fremont Anasazi pictographs on ancient walls.  Late in the afternoon we’ll drive across to Dead Horse Point State Park.  Here we’ll see the famous Goosenecks section of the Colorado River – a truly “wow” view.  In Moab, check into our motel and eat at the local brewery.  The shops stay open late and it’s a fun town to shop in.

Thursday        
It’s an early start this morning to enjoy the cool morning air.  After a quick stop for breakfast-to-go we drive into Arches National Park.  Hike up to Delicate Arch one of the most beautiful formations in the West.  It’s extra special to enjoy this vista before the crowds.  On the way out we’ll take time to walk through the Windows section of the park.  Your guide will drive you to more amazing roadside pictographs and we’ll have time for shopping at the fun stores before assembling for our river trip.  Spend the afternoon on a float trip on the Colorado River in rafts and inflatable kayaks.  This often involves relaxing in the river, floating along in our lifejackets.  A picnic lunch is served riverside on a beach. Late in the afternoon we head up towards the La Sal mountains and stay at a wonderful country B&B.  On the way we stop at Hole in the Rock, a unique home. There is no place in North America quite like this so we indulge in a short tour.  We can relax before dinner in our luxurious cabins where deer often come close to graze.

Friday             
After a delicious home cooked breakfast we head south and turn into Canyonlands National Park to see the ancient pictographs at Newspaper Rock.  We’ll pass famous Mexican Hat on our way to Monument Valley.  The views here bring back wonderful memories of watching cowboy movies as kids.   We capture the quintessential photo of the left and right hand mitten buttes at the Navajo Tribal Park and it’s on to lunch at historic Gouldings Trading Post.  Further south we’ll make a quick stop so you can see 40,000 year-old dinosaur tracks left in the desert.  Take a break at historic Cameron Trading Post to shop and view the museum.   We’ll finish our journey fittingly at the Grandest of all Canyons enjoying the splendor from Desert View.  Drive down Oak Creek Canyon into Sedona and check into our motel.  Farewell pizza dinner in Sedona on Cheryl’s patio.  Watch a slide show of our eight-day adventure and you’ll agree this trip is very appropriately named.

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