Ancient Trails Adventure Tour 2012
(9 days)

DESCRIPTION:

DATES:
Friday, August 3rd - Saturday, August 11, 2012
(Includes Airport Arrival and Departure Days.)

PRICES:
$ 2,840 USD – Double Occupancy
$ 3,100 USD – Single Occupancy

Itinerary route to include Grand Canyon and Sedona anticipating some limited adventure, scenic routes, minimal physical activities, camping, intellectual stimulating, and a program involving all the senses; food cuisine, music, natural earthy plants, rock formations, dimensional art forms, and unlimited scenic viewing.

Paul Tohlakai will be the guide for this tour. He will have an assistant who will drive a truck carrying all luggage and camp gear, and who will help set up camp and deal with logistical details. This leaves Paul to being able to focus on interacting with tour participants.

ITINERARY DAY BY DAY:

DAY 1: Friday, August 3rd
Phoenix, Arizona
Arrival at Phoenix, Arizona Sky Harbor Airport, Shuttle to Hotel. Evening Orientation.
Hotel accommodations: Crowne Plaza Hotel - Phoenix, Arizona.
Meals: Dinner on your own.

DAY 2: Saturday, August 4th:
Phoenix, Arizona -> Sedona / Oak Creek Canyon, Arizona -> Flagstaff, Arizona -> Grand Canyon, Arizona
Driving Miles: Approx. 236 Miles (380 km)

Group will begin the drive north to Sedona, and stopover and tour the many Red Rock formations with a hike on Bell Rock. The group will be given a tour of the scenic red rock country with world known earth energy and filled with vortexes. This photographic paradise offers the participant a private moment of meditation that will be offered in one of the many places.

We next drive up Oak Creek Canyon to the north rim view and Native craft vendors. From there, we go on to Flagstaff beneath the western sacred mountains of local natives. Navajo interpretive guide will share ancient history.




We will arrive at the Grand Canyon in mid-afternoon and set up for overnight camping. Visitors will view the canyon at leisure with short hike down the canyon and other activities at own expenses.

Accommodations:
Campgrounds - Grand Canyon, Arizona.
Includes: Hotel Breakfast; Snacks/Drinks. Lunch and Dinner on your own.

Day 3: Sunday, August 5th
Grand Canyon, Arizona -> Tuba City / Navajo Interactive Museum -> Page / Lake Powell / Antelope Canyon, Arizona
Driving Miles: Approx. 185 Miles (298 km)

Group will pack up, have a group breakfast and continue along the south rim of the Grand Canyon, including a stopover at Hopi Tower. From there we enter the west entry to the Navajo reservation.





Group will continue to Tuba City, home of the Explore Navajo Interactive Museum featuring the famed Navajo Code Talkers Museum.





In the afternoon, we go on to recreational Lake Powell and Glen Canyon Dam.





We will check into accommodating motel in Page and drive a short ways to Antelope Canyon in the late afternoon, a photographer's delight of water and wind carved crevice below the ground surface, and then return to our motel for the evening.

Hotel Accommodations: Holiday Inn Express - Page, Arizona
Includes: Camp Breakfast; Snacks/Drinks. Lunch and Dinner on your own.



Day 4: Monday, August 6th
Page, Arizona -> Monument Valley, Arizona -> Valley of the Gods
-> Mesa Verde, Colorado -> Durango, Colorado
Driving Miles: Approx. 345 Miles (555 km)

Early breakfast at 7am at motel. Group will travel on to Monument Valley. Famed Monument Valley is the site of many movie industry filming. A two hour group tour into Monument Valley is an experience that is not to be forgotten. We continue on to scenic Valley of the Gods and then on through the quant towns of Mexican Hat, Bluff, Aneth and to Cortez, Colorado.

Near Cortez, the group will see the Anasazi site at Mesa Verde with a hike down to the ruins. Mesa Verde is the site of one of the best preserved Anasazi ruins in the Southwest. The afternoon will be spent near Sheep Mountain, one of the Sacred Mountains of the Dineh. Traveling east, we will find ourselves in Durango, Colorado, once a mining town nestled in the Southern Rocky Mountains. Group will camp out in the area. An evening dinning out and visiting this beautiful little town will conclude our day.

Accommodations: Campgrounds - Durango, Colorado.
Includes: Hotel Breakfast; Snacks/Drinks; Lunch and Dinner on your own.

DAY 5: Tuesday, August 7th
Durango, Colorado -> Chaco Canyon, New Mexico
Driving Miles: Approx. 100 Miles (161 km)

We will travel South on to Chaco Canyon, a UNESCO World Heritage and premier site of Pueblo culture between AD 850 - 1250. The Pueblo Peoples of New Mexico, the Hopi of Arizona, and the Navajo all have cultural and spiritual ties to this once major urban site renown for its remarkable ceremonial buildings, engineering projects, astronomy, artistic achievement, and distinctive architecture. Native Americans from the Four Corners region return to Chaco Canyon today on pilgrimages to honor their ancestors. It is here that the Nomads of the North, the Dineh came to establish their own world.

We will set up camp and spend the whole day hiking and visiting the many ruins in a remote area. Group meals and night time star gazing with Native Star Knowledge. Native drumming and singing at night around a fire.

Note: Chaco Canyon is an area very subjected to changing weather conditions, meaning the roads are at times impassable. Re-routing to Chaco Canyon may occur.

Accommodations: Campgrounds - Chaco Canyon, New Mexico.
Includes: Camp Breakfast, Picnic Lunch, Snacks/Drinks, Camp Dinner.

DAY 6: Wednesday, August 8th
Chaco Canyon, New Mexico -> Window Rock, Arizona -> Dine College / Tsaile, Arizona -> Canyon de Chelly, Arizona
Driving Miles: Approx. 233 Miles (375 km}

We head to Window Rock, Arizona in the morning with stops at the Navajo Nation Museum, dedicated to preserving and interpreting the rich and unique culture of the Navajo People, the Navajo Nation Zoological & Botanical Park, Navajo Nation Headquarters, and Window Rock, a red stone arch and mystical rock formation, an important part of the Dineh cosmology. After which we will continue on North on recently designated Navajo Scenic Route 12 through "Beautiful Valley" in the Chuska Mountains, a ride through pine-covered volcanic buttes, lush green meadows and lakes.

Stopping at Tsaile, Arizona, home of Dine College, the first tribally-controlled college in the United States, we will take a short tour of the college's museum.





We will then travel down the rim of the geographical wonder Canyon de Chelly, "a mini Grand Canyon," known the world over. Late afternoon will include a hike down to the White House Ruins, a prominent Anasazi cultural dwelling site built in the alcove of the canyon walls.

From the canyon rim, we will view Spider Rock, the spectacular red sandstone monolith, the home of Spider Woman, an honored deity in the Dine' Cosmology. It was she who taught the Navajo the craft of weaving. We will camp at Cottonwood Camp Grounds at the Canyon's entrance. There will be a demonstration of craftwork in the evening in camp.


Accommodations: Cottonwood Camp Ground, Canyon de Chelly, Arizona.
Includes: Camp Breakfast; Lunch on your own; Snacks/Drinks, Camp Dinner.





Day 7: Thursday, August 9th
Canyon de Chelly, Arizona -> Hubbell Trading Post / Ganado, Arizona -> Hopi Land / Old Oraibi / Hopi Cultural Center, Arizona -> Flagstaff, Arizona
Driving Miles: Approx. 250 Miles (402 km)

In the morning, a horseback ride or an all-terrain vehicle tour up Canyon de Chelly with a Navajo Guide (at own expense) is available for those interested, or a tour of the Park's Visitors Center and grounds.



Afterwards, we drive to Ganado, Arizona to historic Hubbell Trading Post for short tour to one of the oldest existing and operating turn-of-the-century Indian trading post, a designated national site.





Traveling westward, we next enter the land of the Hopi Indians. We will tour through the Hopi village of Old Oraibi (Kykotsmovi), the oldest still inhabited Native village in North America. Afterwards, we will stop at the Hopi Cultural Center for a tour and dinner at the restaurant featuring a native menu. We will continue back to Flagstaff, Arizona, where we will spend the night.

Hotel accommodations: Days Inn - Flagstaff, Arizona
Includes: Camp Breakfast; Snacks/Drinks. Lunch and Dinner on your own.

DAY 8: Friday, August 10th
Flagstaff, Arizona -> Sedona, Arizona -> Jerome, Arizona -> Phoenix, Arizona
Driving Miles: Approx. 186 Miles (299 km)

The group rises at 8am and prepares for a leisurely day. We will visit the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff and its Native American exhibits.







We will then drive South via Sedona / Oak Creek Canyon, Cottonwood and have a stop in Jerome, Arizona, a historic copper mining town and ghost town, and artistic community with an incredible scenic view of the desert floor below.


From there, we continue back to Phoenix for drop off at participating motel. Tour ends. Arrangement of Shuttle Service to Airport.

Hotel accommodations: Crowne Plaza Hotel - Phoenix, Arizona.
Includes: Hotel Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner on your own.

DAY 9: Saturday, August 11th
Phoenix, Arizona
Hotel breakfast included, check-outs, transfers. Arrangements will be made for shuttle to Phoenix, Arizona Sky Harbor Airport from hotel at designated time of flights.
Includes: Hotel Breakfast.


INCLUDED: - Navajo Guide and Assistant.
- All ground transportation.
- All fees to national parks and museums except where noted.
- All camping fees (4 Nights Camping) and camp gear as detailed below.
- Meals: 4 Hotel Breakfasts; 1 Picnic Lunch; 4 Camp Breakfasts; 2 Camp Dinners, Snacks/Drinks.
- All taxes are included.

NOT INCLUDED:
- On-Own Meals (at tour participant's expense): 6 Lunches; 6 Dinners.
- Tips & gratuities.
- Alcohol.
- The flights to and from Phoenix, Arizona.

NOTE: Navajo Trails plans to use the hotel accommodations mentioned in the tour itinerary. At times, hotel rooms are not available at time of reservation. If this happens, Navajo Trails will make reservations at another hotel with similar value and facilities.

CAMP GEAR WILL BE PROVIDED - one 2-person tent for each person, pillow, ground pad and sleeping bag. (Pillow case and sheet are not provided.)

WEATHER AND CLOTHING WEAR: Be prepared with proper clothing befitting seasonal weather changes. Good hiking shoes, hat, sun block, and rain gear advised.

HEALTH: Obtain health clearance. Disclaimer is available for any activities assumed by participants. Tour route will take place between the altitudes of 1,117 feet - 340 m (Phoenix, Arizona) and 7,000 feet - 2,133 m (Grand Canyon, AZ). Physical activities will be minimal, and will take in account tour participants' physical reaction to altitude and terrain.

CULTURE: Be prepared for any preconceived notions about what has been romanticized about Native American culture. We are like any other, but with greater challenges as Indigenous people. As an Eco-Tour business, Navajo Trails continues to educate both natives and non-natives alike for concerns for our future with respect to being open to the preservation of Indigenous Culture and their Environment. Have an open mind and heart.

The purchase of any Tour offered by Navajo Trails L.L.C. or its Travel Agents constitutes a contractual arrangement between you (Tour Purchaser & Participant) and Navajo Trails L.L.C. and represents your acceptance of Navajo Trails L.L.C.'s Terms & Conditions.

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