Canyonlands National Park: Off the Beaten Path (HIO)

The Big Picture

This half-day expedition gets you out there to see the spectacular wide-open spaces of Canyonland National Park "Island in the Sky." Your trip includes stops to peer into the Colorado River corridor, a portion of the White Rim Trail and an exciting drive under a fallen boulder! This expedition makes you feel like the adventurer you were born to be!


The Details

Your adventure begins at the Tag-A-Long office fifteen minutes prior to departure for check-in, where you board comfortable, air-conditioned four-wheel drive rigs for an expedition into the backcountry of Canyonland National Park, Island in the Sky region.

Our route takes us along a Utah Scenic Byway where you’ll enjoy wonderful views of the Colorado River. We’ll also stop along the way at one of the area’s largest concentrations of prehistoric American Indian writings. Be sure to bring your camera and lots of film! Just a few more miles down the road and you’ll spot Jug Handle Arch. (Tip: Careful explorers will spot more ancient Indian petroglyphs.)

A few miles more and we leave the paved road behind to begin the 4x4 expedition into Canyonland backcountry! The off-road winds through a spectacular landscape with towering rocks, wide open spaces and deep canyons. You’ll stand 400 feet above the Colorado River at "Thelma and Louise Point," where the two desperate women roared off the cliff in the movie by the same name. We’ll start our slow drive out of the park toward the steep switchbacks of Shafer Trail, an historic cattle and mining road, climbing a 1200 ft section of cliff. All the while, you are surrounded by the most awesome scenery in America. After returning to the pavement briefly, we exit the mesa top via another four-wheel drive road where our route takes us under a giant fallen boulder! At the end of your trip, you will have seen more of Canyonland National Park in just half a day than virtually all the visitors who pass through this amazing region. Departures are at 7:30 a.m. (MI0), 1:30 p.m. (AI0), and 5:30 p.m (EI0 - limited).