 |
(USA) 406 646 1118 x 12 • Email •
Two day trip: Salt Lake City to Monument Valley, Arches and Canyonlands
Itinerary
There is a new and much better version of this tour!
Day 1 - Salt Lake City to Moab - 234 mi / 376.51 km - About 4 1/2 hours
Map | This tour runs every Tuesday and Friday from mid May through September. You will be picked up at your downtown Salt Lake City shortly before 8 a.m. for the trip down Interstate 15 to south eastern Utah. To the south of Provo we head east over Spanish Fork Canyon - a spectacular mountain pass - before dropping down the other side to an area where the outlaw Jesse James and his gang used to operate.
There are comfort stops on the way.
At Moab there is a half hour break to enable you to stretch your legs and grab a bite to eat. |
Day 1 - Moab to Monument Valley - 146 mi / 234.91 km - About 2 1/2 hours
Map | There is great scenery on the road between Moab and Monument Valley, with any number of interesting rock formations, the best known of which is Mexican Hat.
On the way you will start to see the mesas and buttes for which the area is so well known. |
Day 1 - Monument Valley - 1 1/2 to 2 hours
| | Up next is a 1 1/2 to 2 hour tour of Monument Valley, conducted by a Navajo guide. Visitors love to see the buttes, mesas and other sandstone formations that are so prevalent in the Monument Valley area. Monument Valley is actually not really a valley at all, but a relatively flat plain surrounded by red cliffs, with the buttes, as well as the remnants of ancient volcanoes, towering from the earth.
For fans of old western movies, Monument Valley is the epicenter of the west, with many great cowboys and Indians films having been shot in the area. The familiar rock shapes can be seen from many miles away, with the really great scenery to be seen on the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, which straddles the Utah/Arizona border.
Amongst the sites that your tour will likely take in are Anasazi ruins, petroglyphs, movie locations, 1000 foot monoliths, rug weaving and Indian hogans. The famous monuments are visited. |
Day 1 - Monument Valley to Moab - 146 mi / 234.91 km - About 2 1/2 hours
| | After touring Monument Valley we return back to Moab. |
Day 1 - Moab - Rest of the evening.
| | The night is spent in Moab, Utah's outdoor adventure capital, at the River Canyon Lodge (http://www.rivercanyonlodge.com/). You are on your own for dinner. |
Day 2 - White water rafting or Canyonlands jeep tour?
| | This morning you have a choice of what to do - and what a choice it is! There are two optional extras ...
You can take an off road jeep tour along dirt roads into Canyonlands ...
Or there is the option of a white water rafting trip along the Colorado River.
Both options are described below. If you do not want to do either you are on your own for the morning, to sleep in and explore Moab. |
Day 2 - Canyonlands off road tour ... - 3 1/2 to 4 hours
| | You have an option of taking a jeep tour into Canyonlands National Park. Please note that you can do the jeep trip or go white water rafting, but you cannot do both.
On the jeep tour a city street becomes a country lane, then a gravel road, and finally a four-wheel drive route through Canyonlands and into the desert. To the east, thousand foot cliffs reach for the sky; to the west, the Colorado carves a canyon nearly as deep.
Three hundred million years of Earth's history is written in the multicolored, infinitely varied rock layers, and your guide can interpret the events they record. Bring twice as much memory or film as you would expect to use; the scenery on this trip consumes it at quite a rate. |
Day 2 - Or Colorado River white water rafting. - 3 1/2 to 4 hours
| | There is some great white water rafting on the Colorado River that flows through Moab. The rapids are generally at their highest in the spring, when the snow melt accumulates in the river. This is another trip that has great photographs. The rafting company even provides containers for your cameras, as well as Coast Guard approved life vests.
Please note that you cannot do both the white water rafting and the off road jeep tour. |
Day 2 - Arches National Park - About 4 hours
| | At about midday the group will join together to visit Arches, a park that has the wow factor. You will be amazed at the assortment of arches, fins and spires inside the park. In fact, most of the world's natural arches are to be found here.
Depending on the make up of the group, we will do one of two hikes. The first possibility is going down Park Avenue, with towering fins and slabs of rock everywhere you look. This is an easy, predominantly downhill walk, that should take 30 to 45 minutes.
The other option is hiking up to the top of Delicate Arch. This is a difficult, mainly uphill hike, of about two hours round trip. It can be even more energy sapping if it is hot, as it generally is there. Having said that, Delicate Arch, which is Utah state's symbol, is a magnificent, once in a lifetime sight, and well worth the hike. Your guide will decide which of the two to do after assessing the group. Everyone has to be able to do Delicate Arch or the whole group will settle for the Park Avenue walk. If that is the case you will still be given the opportunity of walking up to an overlook of Delicate Arch. |
Day 2 - Arches National Park
| | We will stop at Balanced Rock for photographs, and also drive up to Windows Arches, where you can take an easy walk all the way up to both of the windows.
You can expect to see many other arches and rock formations while in the park, and we will stop often to take photographs and admire the views. |
Day 2 - Moab to Salt Lake City - 234 mi / 376.51 km - 4 1/2 hours
Map | It is time to return to Salt Lake and end the tour. We drop off in the downtown area. Thanks for joining us! |
 Tour ID | 1086 |
Please note the following...- This tour is subject to a 3.00% per person fuel surcharge.
- The entry fees to all parks are included.
- The off road tour at Monument Valley is included.
- The Arches tour is included.
- Vehicles are mini buses or executive vans, which are vans with individual, high back, reclining seats.
- One night's accommodation is included at the River Canyon Lodge (http://www.rivercanyonlodge.com/) in Moab.
- Prices are based on double occupancy. A single surcharge of $44 is applicable, or we can try and match singles. If you want to have three or four to a room, you will get a lower price.
- The price includes the services of a guide/driver and transportation.
- No meals are included.
- The tour itinerary may change at our discretion without notice. Factors that may cause a change include, but are not limited to, the weather, vendors and road conditions.
- Portions of this tour may be subcontracted to other reputable vendors. This will in no way affect your comfort or safety.
- A minimum of two people may be required for a tour to depart. This means two in total and not two in your group.
- You may also need to book several weeks out to ensure availability.
- This tour runs every Tuesday and Friday from mid May through September.
- This tour only picks up and drops off in the downtown Salt Lake area.
- Please check with us to ensure this tour is still available prior to making lodging or air bookings.
- Be careful about making any show or air bookings for the date this tour returns. We are not responsible for delays getting back into Salt Lake.
- Payment Details: While we would rather you not make a booking until you are sure you want to go, you are welcome to cancel the booking any time up until 45 days prior to the start of the tour, and you will get a full refund. After that time, we will not accept a cancellation and you will have to pay for the tour in full. Trip insurance is available. Half the cost of the tour will be charged to your card any time from 45 days prior to the start of the tour, and the balance will be charged any time from 10 days prior to the start of the tour.
TOP
Please call us at (USA) 406 646 1118 x 12, or mail us for additional information.
|
