Tour Two

Great Southern Extended Tour
13 riding days and 14 nights lodging
2500 miles

June 9 to June 21, 2010

Our extended southern route is designed to hit all of the best destinations in the southwest. The first four days will have you visiting four different national parks and from there, we alternate national parks and national monuments for the rest of the trip.

Starting from base camp in Salt Lake City, we travel to southern Utah to Zion's National park by way of the beautiful country roads of central Utah. We arrive in the park in the early evening when the sun paints spectacular colors on the deep canyons and the next morning will allow us time to do some further exploring before riding to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. This is the less visited portion of the park which makes it more intimate and personal but no less spectacular.

Day three takes us to our third national park, Bryce Canyon by way of the incredible Marble Canyon and a stop at Lake Powell for a tour of the dam that created the second largest lake in the United States. A cruise through the red rock canyons will put us at the park in time to witness the sunset the turns the formations of Bryce into spectacular pillars of fire.

The next day we travel over Utah’s Highway 12 that is one of the top 10 scenic byways in the country. We even know a few off-shoots that will enhance the days trip. That evening we will stay in a small town and have dinner with a friend of ours who owns a restaurant that has garnished several awards including a “Best of the Southwest” and a “Foders Choice 2008” recommendation. Good dining is part of good traveling.

In the morning we get a lunch to go and fuel up as there are no services along the way. However there is Capitol Reef National Park and very remote but incredible Natural Bridges National Monument along the route. A 1000 foot drop down some unpaved but perfectly safe switchbacks will put us in a small town for large steak dinner at a popular steakhouse.

Next we venture into Colorado for a few days to travel the Million Dollar Highway and view one of the most beautiful portions of the Rocky Mountains and stay in the town of Ouray located right in the middle of the peaks. The next day we will visit another park, Black Canyon of the Gunnison which is a “must see” as the extreme depth and narrowness will amaze you. The following day we will travel deep into the Rocky mountains and over the incredibly magnificent Independence Pass which at 12,000 ft, this will be the highest point of our trip.

Glenwood Springs will mark the middle of our tour where we have scheduled in a lay over day to relax by the incredible pools that have made the town famous or if you are not tired of the saddle we can do a day tour back into the Rockies.

We then travel west and climb over the Grand Mesa which is the highest flat-top mountain in the country which will drop us down into the wine country of Grand Junction for an overnight stay.

The next leg will take us back into Utah to the town of Moab where we will spend a day there and explore Canyonlands and Arches National Parks before our ride home through the high skyline roads of central Utah.

Seven National Parks, two National Monuments, the extremes of the southern desert red rocks and the southern Rocky Mountains. These will be thirteen days you will never forget.

For our international guests, please go to the following site for converting currency to the U.S. Dollar. Now is an excellent time to visit our region!

http://www.xe.com/ucc/

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