If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine; it’s lethal. – Paulo Coelho
Before You Go
There is much to consider when preparing to venture into the wild west. Fortunately, you have this comprehensive, well-organized planning guide chock full of possibilities to fire up your imagination. The Destinations section that follows contains in-depth descriptions of the awesome western wilderness locations we’ve visited, and are grouped into regions that generally share common geography and climate. Here, in the Before You Go section, you will find:
Itineraries & Checklist
- Detailed itineraries that combine these destinations into unforgettable journeys of 1 – 2 weeks in duration. These are day by day schedules of our actual trips that can be used as is, or downloaded to modify as you wish.
- Checklist for hiking and rafting, listing all the related gear you will need. This can also be downloaded and modified.
Helpful Tips
- Alerts & conditions that can arise when visiting various types of national lands
- Thoughts on preparing your mind and body for a wilderness outing
- Thoughts on photography practices in rugged, wilderness environments
Our trips mainly feature day-level excursions of varying types and intensity, with a return to comfortable lodging each night. We do cover some fantastic multi-day wilderness outings (i.e., Grand Canyon rafting, Canyonlands backcountry exploration) but these are all guided. While there can be significant preparation involved, we don’t try to take on the logistics, or navigation and travel in rough, remote areas in which extensive expertise and local knowledge are required. Our goal is to use our precious opportunities to maximize the experience of these magnificent places, and stay out of trouble as much as possible.
Destinations
Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon in Northern Arizona is a region unto itself. It is so vast and deep that most of the climates from the Mexican border to Canada can be found here – kiln dry desert, alpine forest, and 277 miles of riparian ecosystem. Not to mention dazzling rock strata reaching almost 2 billion years old. The Grand Canyon can be experienced in very different ways including: a relatively low impact stay at the South Rim, where 90% of the park’s visitors go; a more remote North Rim trip (less than 10% of visitors); substantially more strenuous hiking down into the canyon (about 1% of visitors); and finally, multi-day rafting trips through the bottom of the canyon on the wild Colorado River (only 25,000 visitors per year out of 5 million). Of course, as our itineraries above show, these experiences can be combined into very special adventures. The possibilities are endless. [read more]
Southern Utah
Under construction
Mountain West
By mid 2025
Northern Arizona
By end 2024
California
By end 2024
Pacific Northwest
By end 2025
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