What to Expect on the Trek America Canyon Adventure
UPDATE FOR 2024: Sadly, TrekAmerica is no more. Check out this G Adventures tour for a similar itinerary!
I’m pretty sure every time I go on another Trek America trip, it gets better. This spring, I headed out to the dusty deserts of Arizona and Utah, to experience some of the USA’s most incredible national parks, on the Canyon Adventure tour.
In case you didn’t know, Trek America offer small group tours in the USA, Canada and Central America. The Canyon Adventure was my seventh tour, and like all the others, totally different from the rest. For a start, the only city we visited was Las Vegas – everything else was all about Arizona and Utah’s National Parks. The outdoorsy adventurer’s dream!
If you’re thinking about going on the Trek America Canyon Adventure, or just looking for a different kind of holiday with plenty of adventure, I’ve broken down the whole experience day-by-day, to show off how incredible this trip is.
Day 1: Let’s go, Grand Canyon!
Our TrekAmerica Canyon Adventure tour began at 7.30am, in the lobby of Las Vegas’ Alexis Park Hotel. I’d actually met the majority of my group at Heathrow the day before, and we’d already bonded over flight delays and airport games. I pulled on my favourite Wonder Years t-shirt (which I realised matched my hair), hauled my suitcase downstairs without stubbing my toe, and met the rest of my group and our tour leader, Phil.
First stop: Wal-Mart…duh. Stocking up on campsite food, pillows, beer, suncream and snacks is an essential part of any TrekAmerica camping tour. As is wandering around aimlessly for 20 minutes looking at ALL THE WAL-MART STUFF, then realising you only have ten minutes left to find your essentials and get to the checkout.
Once the trailer had been stocked with the food, drink and soft things, we were soon at our first proper stop of the trip. I’ve raved about Seligman in the past, and this historic Route 66 town is a real slice of Americana.
The Grand Canyon is a big deal on anyone’s bucket list, and even seeing it for the third time, I was in awe of its vastness once again. As we’d all seen it before, Phil didn’t put us through the customary blindfolds-and-reveal, but we spent some time soaking it all in before going to Mather Campground to set up our homes for two nights.
With the Canyon Adventure being my fourth TrekAmerica camping trip, putting up the tent didn’t take long, and Phil treated us to a first night dinner. Followed by an uncharacteristically early bedtime…
Day 2: Grand Canyon
Thanks to the lingering effects of crossing time zones, getting up at 4.30 for sunrise was more bearable than expected. And I got to watch the colours of the canyon slowly come to life as light passed across them, all while rubbing sleep from my eyes and clinging desperately to a can of life-giving Coke Zero.
Once the sun had fully woken up, and I’d mostly woken up, we got a wiggle on over to the South Kaibab trailhead. Which I’d been to before, on a relatively leisurely stroll to Ooh Ahh Point. This time round, I more than doubled it – read my post on hiking to Skeleton Point on the South Kaibab trail to find out about how I basically thought I was going to die in the process.
Read more: Hiking to Skeleton Point on the South Kaibab Trail
And then I went for a ride in a FREAKIN’ HELICOPTER, MATEYS!!!
Yep. On my third visit to the Grand Canyon, I got to do something I wish I’d done on my first visit. The helicopter ride cost $280, and oh boy. It was worth every cent. The views were astounding, and the moment we flew over the edge and the rocks and river stretched out below us will stick with me for a very, very long time.
To top off all that excitement, we had a pizza party at the edge of the canyon while watching the sun set (and enjoying a nice, cold beer). And THAT’S how you do a day at the Grand Canyon.
Read more: Hiking the Grand Canyon For Beginners / Experiencing the Grand Canyon / How to Spend One Day at the Grand Canyon
Day 3: Monument Valley
Monument Valley is probably one of my favourite places in the world. It’s strikingly beautiful and has a really special feeling about it, so I was really hyped to go back for my second visit.
I actually took the same Navajo backroads tour of Monument Valley when I was there back in October. I absolutely loved it, so was super pumped to do it a second time around. The backroads tour takes you to parts of Monument Valley that are blocked off to general public vehicles, so it’s much quieter and immersive than the visitor centre and surrounding paths.
(The tour guides are also experts in the best spots and poses for taking fun photos!)
Note: We did the overnight version of the Navajo backroads tour, although it isn’t a usual inclusion on the Canyon Adventure itinerary. The campsite they usually use has an amazing view of the valley and rock formations though!
Day 4: Moab
The plan for today? Get to the adventure town of Moab as speedily as possible, so we could shower. Turns out I’d dragged half of Monument Valley’s sandy floor with me. Definitely not sure how it ended up in my bra.
Clean, fresh…and time to get sweaty again, with a hike to Delicate Arch, one of the most recognisable arches in…uh, Arches National Park. The hike is relatively easy, although I was definitely out of breath in places. Basically, it’s my perfect level of strenuous enough to feel like exercise, but not so challenging my legs are in danger of forgetting how to work.
When we reached the top, there was one small issue – it was basically blowing a gale up there. We’re talking, sand in eyes, hair in face, wobbly balance kinda wind speeds. But I wasn’t hiking all the way to Delicate Arch and not getting a picture in the middle of it – even if I *did* contemplate crawling all the way.
Day 5-6: Backcountry Desert Adventure
I’ve actually written about our amazing 4×4 backcountry trip in Canyonlands National Park in quite a lot of detail already, so you can go and read that if you fancy finding out more! I’ll sum it up in a few words: Miles from nowhere. Wild camping. Canyon climbing. Minor injuries. Best adventure.
Read More: A backcountry and canyoning adventure in Canyonlands NP
After our backcountry dalliances, we were supposed to be having dinner at the campsite, but after our time in the wilderness, we decided to head out for dinner (and wine) at Eddie McStiff’s instead. Which was an excellent call.
A few of us decided to grab some drinks after, at the ‘World Famous’ Woody Tavern. Which is basically your classic all-American dive bar, complete with live music, weird dance moves and crying girls in the toilets. Just my kinda place.
(We also discovered there is basically ONE taxi in the whole of Moab…)
Day 7: Goblin Valley, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon
During our 4×4 backcountry adventure, the guides had told us all about the Moab Rock Shop – selling…yep, all kinds of rocks, alongside fossils and dinosaur bones. Tip: Want a free dino bone souvenir? Follow the footprints on the floor through the store and help yourself to a reward! You’re v. welcome.
Goblin Valley is a weird little place. But a cool weird little place. Filled with small rock spires called hoodoos (read about their bigger brothers later), they’re referred to locally as goblins and shaped a bit like mushrooms. At Goblin Valley you can walk among them – the ideal place for a spot of hide and seek!
Back on the road again, we took a quick lunch stop in Capitol Reef National Park, including checking out some deer casually taking a stroll. And avoiding a turkey (mostly just me, that one).
Our campsite for the night was in Kodachrome Basin State Park, which had the red-rock-green-trees trimming that I’d come to expect from the area. With tents up, we tucked into some chilli-from-a-tin (not exactly gourmet, but it warmed me up a treat), had some feeble attempts at bowling, and got the fire roaring to keep us cosy in the dropping temperatures…
Day 8: Bryce Canyon & Zion National Park
Winter in May? Yeah, that’s a thing. I unrolled myself from the cosy surrounds of my sleeping bag, unzipped my tent and was promptly greeted by the thump of snow falling off the tent door and onto my head.
Overnight, it had snowed pretty heavily in Bryce and the surrounding area, and we packed up our tents in a rush, as flakes continued to fall around us.
Bryce Canyon was one of the places on the tour I hadn’t been to already – and getting to see it covered in a white blanket made it all the more special. The horse ride I’d booked on to had been cancelled due to the weather, so I got to explore a little on foot. Watching my slippery steps closely, we took a walk into the hoodoos – the tall, orange rock spires that dominate Bryce Canyon.
Apparently, I make an excellent snowball target. Who knew?
The drive to Zion National Park took around two hours, giving us some time to roll out our snow-soaked tents to dry before putting them up. Because summer was back in business, seemingly!
Day 9: Zion National Park
Aka the day of THE BIG ONE, lads. I’d been psyching myself up about the iconic Angel’s Landing hike in Zion National Park for WEEKS. At 5.30am, I was *slightly* less enthusiastic (and also quite chilly), but I managed to haul myself out of my sleeping bag and into the van, and we made our way to the Angel’s Landing trailhead.
I’ve written about my experience of hiking Angel’s Landing in full, glorious detail so you should probably go and read that, but all I can say is that it was all so, so worth it. Get out of bed early, do the hike, dodge the chipmunks, have a cry. Treat yourself to a beer and some nachos afterwards, you deserve it.
We’d finished up the hike well before lunchtime, so I grabbed said beer (lager has never tasted so good) before heading back to the campsite to shower, play some ball games and find a bar for some last-day margaritas.
Day 10: Las Vegas
The last day of a trip is always kinda bittersweet. Bitter because, well, it’s the last day of the trip, and sweet because you’re probably going to go out and imbibe hella huge amounts of alcohol that evening. And we also started this one with a big, juicy cooked brekkie, which is definitely, definitely sweet.
On the way back to Sin City, we stopped off at Fort Zion, which is one of those quirky little roadside places you’d only find in America. Wooden building fronts of the Virgin Jail and Wild Ass Saloon made for excellent photo ops, and for the princely sum of a dollar we were able to feed some carrots to the donkeys in the petting zoo.
Another stop before we reached Las Vegas? At the request of quite a few of the group, we rolled into In-n-Out burger. Animal burger with animal fries, and a side of the In-N-Out hats that Phil managed to get us. Pretty sure I’d make a fabulous In-N-Out worker.
We checked back in to the Alexis Park Hotel, where I used a proper shower and straightened the hell out of my hair before a proper Las Vegas night out. Said night out involved: steak at the Cheesecake Factory, lots of BIG BEERS, teaching Phil to floss, almost-but-not going to a strip club, sitting in casinos talking to strange men, fountain paddling and an end-of-the-night Taco Bell. Vegas. It’s Vegas.
DAY 11: BONUS DAY in Las Vegas
I call it a bonus, because it wasn’t *actually* part of the Canyon Adventure tour. With flights not leaving until the evening, we had some time to kill in Vegas. So we went to Evel Pie, and I got a squeaky fresh tattoo and some Sephora sheet masks (they’re legit amazing and I have to buy a load to bring back every time I go to the States now).
Read more: Things to know before you go to Las Vegas / Why you should ride the Slotzilla Zoom Line in Las Vegas / Evel Pie Pizza Restaurant Review
About the Trek America Canyon Adventure
While some TrekAmerica small group tours mix up cities and nature, the Canyon Adventure is 10 days of national parks, state parks and nature focused locations.
My Canyon Adventure tour visited six major US national parks in Arizona and Utah: Grand Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon and Zion; as well as Goblin Valley State Park, Kodachrome Basin State Park and Monument Valley Tribal Park.
The tour is 10 days long, starting and ending in Las Vegas. Included in the price is 9 nights camping – most campsites have good facilities (toilets, showers and laundry) except the night wild camping in Canyonlands National Park. For that one – pack some baby wipes!
Prices for the Canyon Adventure start at £1409, check out the itinerary on the TrekAmerica website. The tour price includes camping accommodation, all camping equipment except a sleeping bag, transport between all locations while on the tour itself, all National Park entry fees, 4×4 backcountry trip and the services of a tour leader throughout.
For meals, which is most of them, everyone chips in $10 per day to a food kitty, which covers all meals while camping. As a group, you’ll take turns at cooking, washing up and cleaning out the van.
About TrekAmerica
Trek America offer small group adventure tours in the USA, Canada and Central America. Tours start from 3 days and go up to 75 days. As well as camping tours, they also offer budget lodging (think cabins, hostels and affordable hotels) and Plus tours, which are hotel based.
