Desert Hostel: Arches and Canyonlands

THIS TOUR IS NOW WAIT-LIST ONLY.  PLEASE CALL 760-767-4063 FOR MORE INFORMATION.

Instructor: Paul Remeika
Fee: $1,210 or $1,175 for ABF members
(Single supplement $350)
Final payment is due by July 30

Join earth scientist Paul Remeika on this fascinating one-of-a-kind 2-wheel drive field trip through the Colorado Plateau's fantasyland known as Standing Up Country. Learn about the breathtaking scenery that includes the world's greatest concentration of natural arches at Arches National Park, unparalleled vertical edifices that edge Island in the Sky within Canyonlands National Park, and unreal red-rock spires and towers in the land of the Navajo at Monument Valley. Truly a bizarre landscape unequaled anywhere on Earth.

Included: 4 nights at the Moab Valley Inn, in Moab, Utah, 2 nights at the San Juan Inn in Mexican Hat, Utah, and 1 night at Marble Canyon Lodge on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. All rooms are double occupancy with singles available at an additional cost. Also included: breakfasts, lunches, museum fees, state park day-use fees, white-water raft trip, loop drive in Monument Valley, and handout materials.

Not included: Dinners, except for our first and last nights, (dinners are not included to allow participants maximum flexibility to choose the foods and portion size they desire.), alcoholic beverages, National Park fees, and transportation. Participants are required to bring their own vehicles and 2WD is OK.

Physical difficulty: Most stops will feature informative field study with short hikes to points of interest such as Delicate Arch, and involve cross-country travel.

Detailed Itinerary

Meet at 9 a.m. on September 21st at John Wesley Powell Museum in Green River, Utah.

DAY 1 serves as an introduction to the Dinosaur Triangle with morning visits to Copper Ridge and the Mill Canyon Dinosaur Trail. The afternoon features geologic visits to Dead Horse Point, Upheaval Dome, and Grandview Point atop Island in the Sky, high above the confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers. Here the northern half of Canyonlands National Park features incredible geologic terrain.

DAYS 2 and 3 are dedicated to Moab’s scenic backcountry of Castle Valley and Arches National Park, where restless Paleozoic salt deposits have locally deformed spectacular Mesozoic rock formations. Witness redrock strata inevitably weathered into a whimsical netherland of delicate arches, fins, castles, balanced rocks, and hoodoos. Hikes to Landscape Arch and Delicate Arch are a must-do.

DAY 4 is a soaking wet and smiling half-day whitewater rafting adventure through Professor Valley on the Fisher Towers section of the Colorado River east of Moab, Utah. Towering sandstone walls, exhilarating waves, and fun on the river are guaranteed for all.

DAY 5 will be a scenic travel day into the southern half of Canyonlands National Park. Stops at the Needles and Anticline Overlooks, with drops of 1,500-2,000 feet, overlook the Colorado River carved into the magnificent relics of sandstone plateaus, part of the Grand Staircase. Another point of interest is Newspaper Rock where prehistoric inscriptions are carved into a sandstone cliff. We end the day at the cliff-dwelling San Juan Inn in Mexican Hat.

DAY 6 will be on dirt roads, traveling through a unique land of stone fantasies in Valley of the Gods, and the natural wonders at the Goosenecks of the San Juan River,  A free afternoon to hike to some of the largest natural bridges in the world at Sipapu, Kachina, and Owachomo in Natural Bridges National Monument is geologically rewarding.  Also time for you to explore the upper end of Lake Powell with a relaxing loop drive around Mancos Mesa.

DAY 7 will be a scenic travel day to Marble Canyon Lodge. A loop drive through unspoiled Monument Valley will be our morning adventure. Time-permitting, an afternoon hike out to the steep walls of Horseshoe Bend overlooking Glen Canyon and the Colorado River is always a thrilling experience. Our day ends at Marble Canyon with our famous barbeque at the historic lodge.

DAY 8 Breakfast at Marble Canyon Lodge.  End of tour.

All photos courtesy of National Park Service