Pure Adventures Woos Cyclists, Trekkers and Mountain Bikers to Iconic Southwestern US Destinations This Summer

Pure Adventures, specialists in meticulously planned self- and custom-guided bicycle and trekking vacations, announces Summer 2014 bicycle and mountain biking tours, a new line of trekking programs and an 8-day self-drive-and-explore road trip (with a 6-night add-on extension), all engaging guests with National Parks in America’s Southwest.

Whether or not tours are self-guided or guided, guests imbibing Pure Adventures’ itineraries can relax into their days without fretting about which are the best cycling and hiking routes and trails, or even thinking about luggage transfer and travel logistics.

This company that pioneered self-guided tours in Europe in 1994 will launch a pioneering first this summer with an 8-day “Passport to the American West” combining self-drive with self-guided hiking and park discovery.

Says Loren Siekman, founder/owner:  “Road trips, a classic American pastime, are the perfect way to get an up close and personal tour of the seemingly endless mountains, vistas and trails of the American West. This program showcases the very best the West has to offer: Sedona in all its Red Rock glory, Grand Canyon at sunset, Lake Powell with its towering buttes, Bryce Canyon’s mystical Hoodoo spires and Zion’s heavenly stone monuments.

Add on the 6 night extension and include the burnt landscapes and extreme temperatures of Death Valley, the magnificence of the Sierras and Yosemite National Park, ending in San Francisco. The wonders of our National Parks, their fantastic trails and the roads in between will leave you with memories to last a lifetime.”

The full 14 day journey begins in Phoenix, explores Sedona and Grand Canyon South Rim on day 2; Grand Canyon, Painted Desert, Cameron Trading Post, Horseshoe Bend and Lake Powell on day 3; Bryce Canyon, Grand Staircase Escalante and Zion National Park on days 4-7. There’s a day off for an urban adventure in Las Vegason day 8 before moving to Death Valley, MammothLakesand the Eastern Sierras and Yosemite on days 9 through 12 before another urban crawl in San Francisco, the departure gateway.  For details including rates please see here.

Also new are two guided programs focusing on BryceCanyonand ZionNational Parks.  Both trips begin and end in Las Vegas.

Bryce Canyon and Zion Guided Cycling & Hiking Tour is a five-day adventure for between four and 12 people available May 15 to Oct. 15. Guests experience 17-plus miles of hiking and 115- plus miles of cycling. The per person, double rate, is from $1,925 inclusive of four nights lodging, guide service, van transfers, park fees and permits, all meals and snacks, some gratuities  and use of a Trek FX 7.2 hybrid bicycle or Giant Defy road bike or equivalent.

Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks Guided Trekking, a six day program available June 1 to Sept. 30, averages eight miles daily trekking. The per person rate double (based on group of six) is $1,199.  This program features three nights camping near Bryce Canyon and two nights near Zion Canyon. Most meals are included as are transfers, guide fees and park permits. Professionally planned chef meals are served by a guide at the campsite. Guests sleep in durable two-person tents.

Havasupai Grand Canyon Trekking Tour is a four-day program available March through November from $998 per person, double, and offering four to 10 miles of trekking daily. Guests transfer from Scottsdale to the red rock canyons of north-central Arizona where they are stationed for the duration of the trip at a base camp from which hikes and activities take place.  The rate includes transfers, professional guide service, overnight permits to stay on the Havasupai Reservation at a fully equipped base camp, all meals and snacks, tents and base camp amenities. Havasupai, known as the “land of the blue-green waters,” is a lush and unexpected oasis deep in the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Guests enjoy dipping into the water streamside and in swimming holes.

Sedona & Grand Canyon Mountain Biking Tour Summer Self Guided is an eight-day adventure for mountain bikers who will lock onto trails for up to four hours a day. This program is available May 15 through Oct. 15. The per person double rate is $875. Guests receive a detailed Route Book and personal review with expert staff on days 1 and 2; three nights lodging at Red Agave Resort,  two nights at Kaibab Lodge and one night each at Quality Inn Page and Hotel Monte Vista; rental mountain bike (Giant Revel or equivalent) and emergency repair kit; gloves, helmet and specific pedals when requested.

Comparable to Southern Utah(with less sand and way easier to travel!), Sedona is a red rock playground of slick rock, hard packed silt and ledge-filled rides. Well known by sightseers and new age spiritualists, Sedona is also home to some of the best mountain biking in the country. After a stop near Lake Powell, the trip moves to North Rim of Grand Canyon for a sail through Aspen groves and carve turns right on the rim! A stop in the mountain town of Flagstaff tops off a week of Arizona’s best high elevation single track.

Pure Adventures has formed a new exclusive partnership with AOA Adventures, also based in Scottsdale,AZ, that supplies custom outdoor services and logistical assistance to groups of all types from corporate to charities and other tour operations.  The operation offers the Southwest’s most diverse and extensive (over 400) bicycle rental fleet. Other equipment rentals include kayaks, camping and backpacking gear.

Pure Adventures’ self-guided tours in 2014 span Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Scotland, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and now the United States with the introduction of 20 programs in the West.