The drama of Zion Canyon’s sheer Navajo sandstone towers and cliffs demand pedal assist. I consider myself a proficient cyclist, but I notch up my e-bike’s power boost so I can devote my energy to admiring the soft red glow of Watchman peak looming high above the Virgin River.
It’s a late afternoon in early June and Zion National Park is the first stop on my four-day trip with EXP Journeys, a tour operator specializing in bespoke, high-touch adventure trips. I’m shocked that we have the paved Pa’Rus trail in Zion to ourselves, with the exception of a few lizards and wild turkeys that scamper into the rabbitbrush as our e-bikes near. But that’s the magic of EXP Journeys. Their guides have spent years scouting these wildly popular places and know how to deliver solitude.
In the last 15 years, Zion has seen annual visitation nearly double to just shy of five million people, making it America’s second most-visited national park. Stats like this have deterred me from seeing the natural treasures in my own backyard. And even for outdoorsy folks like myself, the preparation and gear required to pull off a comfortable family camping trip can be daunting. “Camping is an adventure, not a vacation,” my dad used to say. EXP Journeys handles all the logistics to ensure it’s both.
Co-founders Kevin Jackson and Andrew Roberts have led trips around the globe, from the Pyrenees to Everest Base Camp, and kept feeling a pull back to America’s wild places, particularly the Southwest. Their trips reimagine the American camping experience with passionate guides, luxe amenities once reserved for Africa’s high-end safari camps, and, through a partnership with Navajo-owned tour company, Monument Valley Safari, native storytellers. “These tourism projects allow us to share our land but also our culture,” says owner Shaye Holiday. “That exchange keeps our culture alive.”
The best time to visit, lesser-known scenic drives, and expert-led excursions you won’t want to miss.
Our leave-no-trace mobile camp, set up in 48 hours on Bureau of Land Management grounds just beyond the East Entrance of Zion National Park, provides every imaginable comfort. Palatial canvas-walled tents are outfitted with ensuite bathrooms and memory foam beds, and illuminated by bell jar chandeliers. Two hot showers, shared by the guests in the camp, are just ten steps away. Games, like corn hole, are sprinkled around a central fire pit and dining tent, where Shon Foster, the former chef at Amangiri and owner of Sego restaurant in nearby Kanab, dazzles us with artichoke mozzarella tomato frittatas and filet mignon cooked cowboy papillote-style.
Over four days, our guides, Maxie and Chris, chaperone us on thrilling adventures, like UTVing and sand-boarding in Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. Their knowledge is a master class in geology, history, botany, and even off-roading. “Drive it like you stole it,” instructs Maxie, giving me confidence to gun my UTV up an intimidating mountain of sand. In Bryce Canyon National Park, as we gaze across a sea of rust-colored hoodoos from Sunset Point—another lookout we miraculously had to ourselves thanks to our guide’s brilliant timing—Chris explained how these drippy sandcastle-like formations were created by a unique weathering process known as ice wedging wherein water seeps into the crevices in the rocks and when temperatures drop, it freezes and fractures the stone.