Canyons are calling you to Arizona on this premier trip which launched Canyon Calling Tours. Who can pick a highlight when each day is a new and wonderful surprise? Canyon de Chelly is enchanting and you’ll feel the connection between this sacred land and our Navajo storyteller. Boating on Lake Powell to striking Rainbow Bridge leaves one awestruck at the stark beauty. It’s a great night’s camp under star-filled skies sharing stories around the fire. The Grand Canyon is much bigger and more breathtaking than we anticipate. After a challenging hike we find ourselves in a lush oasis at Havasu marveling at the travertine pools and turquoise waterfalls. The stillness and magic of this special corner of the world will touch your soul.
Suzanne C, Boston - It's only Tuesday and I'm out of adjectives!
Diane S, England - Thanks for a wonderful trip. The scenery and places we visited far exceeded my expectations. You made me feel really at home even down to providing one day of British weather! Thanks for making it my best holiday ever.
Debbie W, NJ - My mind and body are on sensory overload. I've run the gamut of emotions and been challenged in so many ways. What a wonderful group and everyone you introduced us to along the way only enhanced the experience. I hope I can hold onto this feeling - sometimes magical things aren't meant to be described, only lived.
Patsy R, AL - In the middle of this unexpected transition in my life, words cannot express what this trip has meant to me. Thanks for the opportunity to grow and explore new worlds.
Kate L, MA - I've backpacked thousands of miles alone but I treasure this week spent traveling with these amazing women.
Saturday
Arrive in Sedona by 3pm and your tour leader Cheryl, will meet you at the shuttle drop-off point (Super 8). Drive to our motel and check in. Change into hiking clothes. We’ll go on a short tour of Sedona including a visit to a vortex and a hike among the red rocks to Devil’s Bridge. Dinner will be at Cheryl’s home.
Sunday
Depart Sedona by 8am 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.
Monday
After a pancake breakfast we’ll jeep back out of the canyon with a stop at the Ute raid panel. Load our van and have time for a visit to a Hogan at the visitor center. 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. The scenes as we drive towards Monument Valley 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. Drive to Page where we’ll climb onto a truck for a trip to Antelope Canyon, the most famous of the slot canyons. Dinner and lodging in Page.
Tuesday
Drive to Lake Powell where we’ll board our private vessel and take a boat ride on Lake Powell to Rainbow Bridge. We’ll lunch on the lake and relax and swim in the warm water. Return south on the lake with a stop at Dangling Rope marina for ice creams. Further south we’ll find a campsite and set up camp for the night. Dinner prepared while you swim and relax. Lake Powell is one of the most wonderful places in the West to get away from it all and you may choose to sleep under the stars outside the tents. Watching the sun set the canyon walls ablaze with it’s last light is one of those indelible lifetime travel memories. After dinner you can be kids again and roast marshmallows for smores.
Wednesday
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. Just outside Page we’ll hike to an amazing overlook at Horseshoe Bend as the Colorado River snakes it’s way south to the Grand Canyon. Heading south from Page we’ll stop at a scenic overlook to see Marble Canyon, our first view of how Mother Nature sculptured the Grand Canyon out of the Colorado Plateau. This is also an opportunity to shop for Native American trinkets at roadside stands. An hour south we’ll arrive at an opportunity to view dinosaur tracks in the desert. We’ll lunch at Cameron Trading Post where Navajo Tacos are the specialty. There will be a chance to shop here and also view the museum. This afternoon will be spent at the Grand Canyon, taking it all in from Desert View and Lipan Points. The I Max Theatre presentation is a wonderful overview of the history of the canyon. Drive to old West Williams for dinner and lodging.
Thursday
It’s a 5am start today to make the most of the cool morning air for our hike to Havasu. We’ll drive to the old Route 66 town of Seligman for breakfast. Then it’s another 90 minutes to arrive at the staging area at hilltop on western rim of the Grand Canyon. We’ll hike down to the village of Supai with lunch on the trail. The hike is eight miles and takes four hours with a sandwich along the way. The first hour is all downhill and the last three hours and flat and slightly descending. If this is beyond your capabilities or desires then you can helicopter into the village for an extra $85. We’ll check into Havasupai Lodge and change into swimsuits and sandals. Then we’ll walk down to Havasu Falls, and through the campground to the Mooney Falls overlook – another WOW! We’ll refill our water bottles at the spring on the way back to Havasu Falls. There’s time for an hours swimming, relaxing and photography at Havasu before the walk back uphill to the lodge. Your guide will prepare dinner at the lodge. After this wonderful day, you’ll find yourself asleep by 8pm!
Friday
Sleep in! Breakfast at the Tribal Café and wait in the village for our turn on the chopper. It’s a scenic seven-minute helicopter ride back to Hilltop. Return to Seligman for lunch and some great Route 66 photos. Drive down Oak Creek Canyon into Sedona and check into motel. Farewell dinner in Sedona. Tour ends.
She gathers the group of vacationers around
And goes over the plan then its outward bound
To all of the beauty the southwest can offer
Each is thrilled, anticipating the pleasure.
We hike in the canyons and bathe in the streams
We sleep in a cave and have ancient dreams
Where the dinosaur lumbered and the Indian roamed
It seems all mixed up now, and we all call it home.
We skim over the water to Rainbow Bridge
On to the ice cream marina and over the ridge
To set up the campsite, the stove and the tents
We sing and tell stories, happy and content.
In Canyon de Chelly we saw the cliff dwellings
Were fascinated by the stories that Daniel was telling
Monument Valley you just can’t believe
And the Grand Canyon is a hole only God could conceive.
So way out somewhere in the canyon lands
I can see our guide strolling the iron colored sands
Where the eagles fly high and the coyotes howl at night
I hope she thinks of it always as pure delight.
The friendships we’ve made, we hope they will last
Are the memories we’ll take with us, down through the past
So I thank God for the Universe and the Indians for the land
And I thank Cheryl our guide for an Adventure that was Grand.
