High Chaparral & Durango

As you exit the airport, the comfortable dry warmth of the desert air hits you! Take the complimentary shuttle to our hotel and meet your tour guides at our welcome desk. The guided High Chaparral & Durango motorcycle tour kicks off in the evening at our welcome dinner for you and your fellow riders.

Take a few moments to savour the amazing sunrise that signals the beginning of a new day here in Phoenix. After a good American breakfast, we’ll pack our bags and pick up our motorcycles. After your briefing you’ll soon be in the saddle of your favourite motorcycle, off to Hwy 87 and the Tonto National Forest. Pretty much from the outset you’ll experience classic Arizona vistas, from the beautiful wide sweeping roads, occasionally passing the road sign that we all love: ‘bends ahead!’

We’ll then ride up the hills and into ‘America’s Most Vertical City’ and largest ghost town – Jerome. This town was once known as the wickedest town in the west. Historic Jerome grew from a tented settlement to a roaring copper mining community. It’s both enchanting and a photographic paradise, not having changed much in nearly 100 years.

We end the day with a visit to Tuzigut, a preserved Navajo village, and chase the sunlight to awe-inspiring red rock country – Snoopy Rock, Bell Rock, Cathedral Rock and Sedona. The rocks appear as if on fire.

Sedona sems to have it all. A charming main street, a vibrant pedestrian-friendly atmosphere that embraces the beauty of the surrounding red rocks and creates a unique experience. And you can look out over red rock country and imagine Big John Cannon and his family running their High Chaparral Ranch in the 1870s.

Before we leave Sedona we take a little detour on Red Rock Loop Road. We’ll stop and bask, with engines turned off, in the stunning views of Sedona and its surrounding rock formations – in total tranquillity. From Sedona we head north past Slide Rock State Park, crossing Route 66 in Flagstaff and then on to Page. There’s time to take an exhilarating slot canyon excursion, a stunning boat ride on Lake Powell, or a detour to Marble Canyon and Lee’s Ferry, one of the few crossing points of the Colorado river for hundreds of miles.

Another early start on your guided High Chaparral & Durango motorcycle tour as there is just so much fantastic scenery and activity on today’s plan. Glen Canyon Dam is the first stop, an amazing feat of engineering and the second largest dam on the Colorado River. Then we head across the desert to Zion National Park on a great scenic road through Kanab (one-time popular Western movie location). After a quick stop in Kanab, we detour to Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. This area, as the name suggests, is a shifting sea of red sand. These sand hills can move by as much as 50 feet per year and are a mecca for outdoor activities such as quad biking or horse riding. Why not have a go? Alternatively take your iron horse and ride along the bottom of the canyon to Springdale. Here you can stop at the visitor centre, catch the free Zion Park Shuttle, and venture further into the beautiful park where private vehicles are prohibited.

This morning we ride the Switchbacks of Zion and explore, the magnificent Bryce Canyon with its weird and wonderful hoodoos (rock pillars.) To get to Rainbow Point, the last viewing point, is about 20 miles so we allow plenty of time to tour the entire park.

Enjoy the cool mountain air in the pine forests as we ride one of our favourite roads in the World, Highway 12, a real rollercoaster ride – just made for motorcycles – all 122 miles of it! Look out for the old schoolhouse in Henrieville before we hit the ‘stairs’ in the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument. Notice the different colours of sandstone to the north and south. Between Escalante and Boulder, we ride the ‘Hogsback’ with drops off the bends down into deep canyons below. We cross groves of pine and aspen, followed by the meadowlands of Boulder Mountain before finally heading into our overnight stop at Torrey, the gateway to Capitol Reef National Park.

First thing, we head to Capitol Reef National Park. Both the riding and the scenery are truly incredible. On the top of the mountain you’re riding through pine and then birch forests before you drop down into the valley again. Then the bends become wide sweepers and the trees are replaced by bizarre rock formations. There are several sights along the way, including petroglyphs. The quaint little town of Hanksville awaits us with tasty buffalo burgers. In the saddle again, the road is straighter but picturesque and with very little traffic. Our ride ends in Moab, Utah’s No1 adventure city, located right on the Colorado River.

This big activity day is a free day for us to choose from a myriad of optional adventures:

• White water rafting (several to choose from)
• Hummer safari
• Horseback riding
• Slick rock mountain biking
• Hot air balloon sunrise adventure
• River cruise

And then there’s the extraordinary rock formations and colours of Arches National Park, Dead Horse Point State Park and Canyonlands. Allow plenty of time to explore these too.

Leaving Moab, the scenery changes dramatically as we climb through the lush wooded roads high in the San Juan Mountains. We stop for lunch in the historic spa town of Ouray. The steep climb out of the town brings us onto the famous Million Dollar Highway. The 12-mile challenging ride takes you over 3 mountain passes, all well over 3,000 m, affording you some of the best views in the state. The highway cuts through the Uncompahgre Gorge all the way up to the summit of Red Mountain Pass, through the heart of the San Juan Mountains, and down into Silverton, with its unique ‘Wild West’ ambience – and the highest Harley-Davidson store in the world. We then ride one more pass before following the meandering Animas River down to Durango. And we think you’ll like your hotel.

Today on your High Chaparral & Durango motorcycle tour is for your leisure in this amazing railroad town on the Animas River. We recommend taking the wonderful steam train on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. Follow the same route taken over a century ago by miners, settlers and cowboys, along awesome canyons through the remote wilderness of the San Juan National Forest to Silverton and back. Alternatively, Durango has museums such as the Powerhouse Science Center in a former power plant or the Fish Hatchery and Wildlife Museum. Visit the beautiful James Ranch in the Animas River Valley with its spruce nursery, cattle, and organic vegetable and flower garden. Or take the opportunity for some walking on the Animas River Trail. For the more adventurous there’s white water rafting, kayaking and tubing. We know you’ll have an amazing day whatever you choose to do in Durango.

We ride out of Durango first thing for a different picture of Colorado. Mesa Verde National Park is our first stop, with more winding roads and spectacular views of the cliff dwellings and across the plains of New Mexico to the south. This is the ancestral home of the Pueblo people, with a rich archaeological heritage. The historic cave dwellings of Hovenweep National Monument are next up, on the Cajon Mesa of the Great Sage Plain, before or final ride to the quiet oasis of Bluff.

We ride through the heart of the Navajo Nation today, visiting two of their most sacred sites. First up is one the most iconic places in the USA – Monument Valley. We take one particular bend where the road straightens out and becomes a jaw-dropping single line into Navajo land. We stop at the point the road seems to disappear between the red monuments for the perfect photo opportunity. Indeed you may remember the spot from the movie ‘Forest Gump’. We ride past the rock ‘monuments’ and after a few turns make our way up to the tribal park. Now you’re right in front of a formation that reminds you of some great John Wayne westerns and old Marlboro commercials. We stop again to take some last photos – and it’s hard not to leave this mesmeric place. Then a little further down the road we enter Arizona again and ride to Chinle and the mystical Canyon de Chelly.

It’ll be an early rise as we’ll take the scenic White House Ruin Trail to several view points in the magical Canyon de Chelly. Spider Rock is the most iconic sandstone spire that rises 240 m from the canyon floor and is visible from South Rim Drive. You are bound to have seen this in some TV adverts. Traditionally the Navajo believe that the taller of the two spires is the home of ‘spider woman’. We exit the park through the enormous Navajo Reservation to Route 66. Here we take the Petrified Forest Loop Drive, and if time permits we’ll stop at Meteor Crater along the way.

Tonight’s resting place is an historic Route 66 railroad town – Holbrook.

It’s a lovely ride south to Strawberry through Apache-Sitgreaves and Tonto National Forests. As our adventure draws to a close we descend through the saguaros to say goodbye to our trusty Harleys in Phoenix. Tonight, we’ll have our farewell meal in downtown Scottsdale and swap tales of our adventures on the High Chaparral & Durango motorcycle tour.

Today is the day to pack your bags, filled with fantastic memories and new experiences from a scenic and historic tour of Arizona, Utah and Colorado. Although it’s now time to head home, we hope to see you again soon for another Orange & Black adventure!