9-Nights Wonders of the American West - Classic Group

9 nights from: $5,575

Wonders Of The American West - Classic Group
See the best of the American West on this 10-Day guided tour. Travel to Bryce Canyon National Park to explore its rock pillars and natural amphitheatres, then feast with your fellow travelers overlooking the park’s iconic orange rock formations. In Moab, see the ancient pueblo dwellings in Mesa Verde National Park, where the Ancestral Pueblo people once lived. Meet a Navajo guide in Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, where you will board ATVs, explore the valley and learn about the tribe’s history. Later, eat a traditional Navajo meal amid the valley’s beautiful buttes and mesas. Then go off the beaten path into backcountry with your Navajo Guide. Join a Local Expert at Grand Canyon National Park for a one-of-a-kind experience: allow the expert to guide you through the park while teaching you about how this national treasure was formed.


Dining Summary

• 5 Dinner (D)
• 9 Breakfast (B)

• Choose between two carefully selected activities
• Grand Canyon: Opt for a relaxed hike along the rim of the Grand Canyon from Mather Point to Yavapai Point. 1.4 miles (2.25 kilometers) roundtrip, this scenic hike will provide spectacular views of the canyon's unique geology. Alternatively, join a local expert at your hotel to learn all about the local flora and fauna of the Grand Canyon.
• Grand Canyon National Park: Join your Local Expert, Canyon Tim, for an informative talk about the wonders of the Grand Canyon. With over seven years of experience in geology, you'll learn about the origins of the five-million-year-old canyon, its rock formation and its current impact. You'll also discover the local flora and fauna, and find out where you might be able to spot elk, mule deer, coyotes, gray foxes, bobcats and mountain lions.

• Las Vegas:
• Bryce Canyon National Park: Enjoy a memorable dinner set against the park's beautiful surroundings.
• Moab: Enjoy a Dine-Around evening as you choose from a hand-picked selection of mouthwatering restaurants.
• Grand Canyon National Park: Enjoy dinner at the Thunderbird Room with an incredible view overlooking the South Rim.

• Grand Canyon: Opt for a relaxed hike along the rim of the Grand Canyon from Mather Point to Yavapai Point. 1.4 miles (2.25 kilometers) roundtrip, this scenic hike will provide spectacular views of the canyon's unique geology. Alternatively, join a local expert at your hotel to learn all about the local flora and fauna of the Grand Canyon.
• Grand Canyon National Park: Join your Local Expert, Canyon Tim, for an informative talk about the wonders of the Grand Canyon. With over seven years of experience in geology, you'll learn about the origins of the five-million-year-old canyon, its rock formation and its current impact. You'll also discover the local flora and fauna, and find out where you might be able to spot elk, mule deer, coyotes, gray foxes, bobcats and mountain lions.

• Monument Valley: Dive into Mystery Valley with a local Navajo guide. Normally off-limits to the general public, discover Anasazi ruins and rock art, admire geological formations, and spot petroglyphs carved into the red rocks.
• Monument Valley: Embark on an exclusive Insight Experience into Mystery Valley’s relatively unknown haven of Anasazi Ruins and rock art. Explore this intriguing stretch of desert full of graceful geological formations, petroglyphs, scattered artifacts like broken pottery shards and breath-taking views of the spectacular buttes of neighboring Monument Valley Tribal Park. A true hidden gem, your visit  accompanied by a local Diné (Navajo) guide is a unique opportunity for a guided tour among ancient Indigenous ruins.

• Monument Valley: Deepen your knowledge and connection with the first nations of this land as we travel to Monument Valley by way of off-road vehicles to the cookout site. Here you’ll enjoy an authentically delicious barbecue dinner with members of the Navajo Nation, where traditional Navajo tacos and fry-bread will be served while you are immersed in traditional dance and songs of this great ancient culture. Your experience advances UN Global Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities.

• Zion National Park: See the grandeur and natural features of the canyon in total comfort while traveling via private open-air tram with live on-board commentary.
• Zion National Park: Beneath soaring Navajo Sandstone cliffs, Zion Canyon follows the Virgin River through hanging gardens and cottonwoods. Look out for the Court of the Patriarchs and the Great White Throne as the canyon walls rise above the valley floor.
• Bryce Canyon National Park: The Park is home to the most spectacular collection of hoodoos - tall skinny shafts of rock that protrude from the bottom of arid basins. While hoodoos are scattered throughout these areas, they are most abundant in the northern section of Bryce Canyon National Park.
• Capitol Reef National Park: Join your Travel Director to see the natural sights along Capitol Reef's Waterpocket Fold, known as "a geological wrinkle on earth". The geologic monocline extends almost 100 miles and is filled with cliffs, canyons, domes and bridges. Admire petroglyphs and the domed shaped sandstone walls along the canyon.
• Arches National Park: Enjoy views of these natural formations, including Double Arch and North Window Arch.
• Canyonlands National Park: Venture to Canyonlands National Park for a drive onto the Island in the Sky - a mesa resting 1,000 feet (305 meters) above the surrounding countryside, offering spectacular views over the dramatic sandstone formations.
• Mesa Verde National Park: Make your way to Mesa Verde National Park, See
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Located in southwest Colorado, Mesa Verde is one of the best places to view the ancient cliff dwellings built by the Anasazi. They lived throughout the area from about AD 550-1300, when their dwellings were suddenly abandoned. Other popular sites are at Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, Canyon de Chelly in Arizona and Hovenweep National Monument on the Utah-Colorado border. Free Mesa Verde National Park Travel
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Mesa Verde National Park Travel Agents

Mesa Verde is special because the cliff dwellings can be viewed at close range. Some tours even let visitors enter the structures.

As the name suggests, Mesa Verde is on a mesa; therefore, visitors must make a long but beautiful drive across the upland plateau to reach the ruins. There are great views of the distant San Juan Mountains from scenic pull-offs along the way. The Mesa Verde Research and Visitor Center sells tickets for the guided tours, and the Chapin Mesa Archaeological Museum offers an introduction to the Anasazi culture and its communities at Mesa Verde. Most of the park attractions are open mid-April to mid-October.

More than 600 cliff dwellings can be viewed in the park, but there are three standouts: Spruce Tree House, Cliff Palace and Balcony House. Spruce Tree House is tucked beneath a cliff just a short walk from the museum; however, rock falls and unstable pueblo architecture have forced park officials to restrict access to this ruin. Visitors can still view it from overlooks near the museum. Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling in North America and can only be reached on a guided tour. A tour is also required to see Balcony House, perched in a cave high above the valley floor. The tour involves climbing up and down several ladders.

A visit to Mesa Verde could fill two days, but a half-day is enough time to make the drive across the plateau and see one or two of the ruins. There's a campground and a lodge in the park for those spending the night.

The park is open daily, and the entrance fee is US$15 per vehicle November-April, US$20 per vehicle May-October for a seven-day pass. Phone 970-529-4465. https://www.nps.gov/meve.