We’ve been leading adventurous travelers on hiking and backpacking tours through the canyons and mountains of the Southwest since 1999. Grand Canyon Hiking Tours have definitely been a focus over the years and the Grand Canyon is still our most popular destination. And with countless options for incredible backcountry hiking adventures in the southwest, Grand Canyon hiking never fails to satisfy that thirst for wildness, solitude and world-class scenery. But one of the funnest parts of our job is discovering new destinations to lead trips, figuring out the logistics and implementing the trip into our ever-growing list of adventures. Our guides love to have some variety throughout the season and our many returning guests enjoy the opportunity to discover wonderful destinations that they may have never heard of before. And our more recent investigative work has turned up two incredible new destinations that we are excited to be offering this year: Grand Canyon’s Kanab Creek Wilderness & Utah’s famous Canyon Country near Moab.
Kanab Creek
The Kanab Creek Wilderness encompasses 75,000 acres of incredible canyon country bordering Grand Canyon National Park. This remote and desolate region offers outstanding opportunities for solitude and world-class hiking through red sandstone plateaus and gorgeous limestone canyons over 2000 feet deep. This seldom-visited wilderness was once home to the ancient puebloan tribes and you can still see evidence of their occupation in the form of pictographs drawn on the canyon walls and the occasional stone structures they built as dwellings and food storage cavities. This area has long been a favorite destination of our guides due to its incredible scenery, remote location and endless possibilities for exploration. Fresh water springs are relatively numerous here, making it even more desirable in this otherwise arid region. With everything there is to see in Kanab Creek, you can spend anywhere from 3 to 8 days out here. It’s a truly fascinating and beautiful wilderness that we are very excited to share with our guests.
Explore some of the best limestone narrows in the Grand Canyon region! These exciting canyons feature towering walls of smooth, polished limestone, waterfalls and inviting pools. Don’t expect to see too many other folks out here. It takes a hearty hiker to reach these places but the effort is well worth the reward. For those folks not looking for quite as strenuous an experience, you might consider a 3 or 4 day backpack to Mountain Sheep Spring where we’ll setup a base camp and spend our time exploring without carrying everything with us each day. There is plenty to see around here, including the amazing Jumpup Canyon with its 3 mile stretch of continuous limestone narrows often no more than 20 feet wide! You have to see it to believe it.
As with most Grand Canyon destinations, the best times to visit are late April to early June and mid-September through late October.
Moab Multisport Adventure
This view from the Needles District of Canyonlands NP highlights the amazing dichotomy of beautiful sandstone formations resting beneath the lofty, snow-capped peaks of the La Sal Mountains. The slickrock hiking is a real treat and tons of fun! Then a day in Arches NP visits the largest concentration of sandstone arches in the world. Enjoy an afternoon in the labyrinth of rock fins known as the Fiery Furnace! You’ll appreciate having a guide lead you through this confusing maze of narrow corridors while you marvel at the unique formations at every turn.
This is a wonderful trip that is great for everyone from hardy, veteran hikers to families and novice Southwest explorers. Our guides are very excited to share this one-of-a-kind landscape with you!
