Hiking Utah's National Parks

Welcome to Las Vegas, Nevada! This glitzy city might be known for its casinos, but there’s plenty more to discover in this neon metropolis. Your trip starts at 6 pm tonight with a welcome meeting. After, why not join your fellow travellers for an optional dinner and indulge in some nightlife? Maybe wander along the famous strip, past impersonators, billboards and hotels to the choreographed Bellagio Fountain show. Hit the chain stores or lose all sense of time exploring the gaudy interiors of hotels like The Venetian, Caesars Palace and New York-New York.

Kick off with the famous Virgin River Narrows hike. Hiking in moving water can be a new and exciting experience, so you’ll have time to get your ‘stream legs’ before walking another 2.4 km (1.5 mi) upriver, using your walking pole as you make your way to the turnaround point at Orderville Canyon. As you walk through narrow slot canyons, gaze up at hanging gardens on towering sandstone walls that have been sculpted by centuries of erosion. Before heading back downstream, get a few more photos of the Narrows’ beauty. Tonight you'll head out on an included group dinner at a local restaurant in Springdale.

Today after breakfast, head out nice and early for another hike in Zion National Park. This time, you’ll head up onto the plateau to get sweeping views over Zion Canyon, with its red rock cliffs and the Virgin River below. Follow the West Rim trail to reach Scout Lookout. Here, you can take in the view of Angels Landing without having to tackle the notoriously tricky final ascent up the rock. Today’s hike involves some steep switchbacks, but you'll take plenty of breaks to pause and soak up the views. You'll cross the Virgin River, enter Refrigerator Canyon and ascend Walter’s Wiggles, before being rewarded with stunning views of Zion Canyon's 270-million-year-old rock layers. Then, head back to your hotel for the evening.

After breakfast this morning, drive to Bryce Canyon National Park, where wind and water erosion have formed the park's crimson hoodoos – uniquely shaped rock spires rising out of the desert. Get ready to venture into the expansive Bryce Amphitheatre – a hoodoo-filled depression below the Rim Trail hiking path, beloved by photographers for the unforgettable panorama of thousands of jagged spires. After checking into your accommodation, you’ll hike the iconic Navajo Loop Trail, taking you into the amphitheatre on a maze-like path between the towering orange and red hoodoos. Travelling by switchbacks between narrow walls of colourful limestone with views of towering Douglas-fir trees, this trail takes you to the park's most famous hoodoo – Thor's Hammer. This trail has two sides, Two Bridges and Wall Street, so the trip out and back is different, with unique scenery on each side of the loop.

After breakfast today, you’ll head to Capitol Reef National Park to explore the historic orchards of the park’s Fruita district. These orchards were planted by Mormon settlers in the late 1800s and are now maintained by the National Park service using historic irrigation techniques. The apples, pears, apricots, peaches and cherries grown here are baked into seasonal pies in the onsite bakery. Go for a leisurely stroll through the orchards, then follow a short trail along boardwalks to see the petroglyphs left by the ancient Fremont people, who lived in the park from 300 to 1300 AD. Continue on to your accommodation in Moab and enjoy a free evening to rest and recharge.

Get ready for a jam-packed day. You’ll visit two national parks – Canyonlands, full of sweeping vistas of red landscapes, and Arches, home to more than 2000 natural stone arches, rock formations and giant, balancing rocks. Start at Canyonlands, where you’ll embark on the Island in the Sky hike. Resting on sheer sandstone cliffs, the Island in the Sky lookout point is on top of a mesa 304 m (1000 ft) above the canyon floor, giving you spectacular views of the park from above. Take in the vastness of the landscape below of canyons and winding streams, then head to Arches National Park. Head out on a sunset hike to visit the Delicate Arch – a stone icon of the park that has become the unofficial symbol of the State of Utah. Along this trail, you’ll see the Wolfe Ranch cabin and Ute Indian petroglyphs. Watch the landscape glow in red and orange hues as you enjoy a picnic dinner. Return to your hotel in Moab for the night.

Travel south to Bluff, stopping for a very special experience along the way – a guided hike with an expert Navajo guide in Bears Ears National Monument. You’ll be hiking along slickrock, discovering both the natural wonders of this region that’s filled with abundant native plants, animals, incredible geological features and archaeological sites, and the monument’s significance to Navajo communities today. Your guide will share their personal connection to the landscape, giving you the opportunity to learn some of the fascinating Indigenous stories and history of the area.