Outstanding scenery and hiking in truly stunning US National Parks 5 National Parks, each with something different to offer, but all share magnificent natural beauty. Our leader Jeff was also outstanding and his knowledge of not only each park, but the US in general and its nature and history added to the whole experience. Jeff was able to get us away from the crowds (walk more than half a mile from car parks and suddenly you feel you have escaped the crowds and your experience changes for the better). Going in early September was perfect as it was glorious weather. We enjoyed beautiful sunrises and sunsets, both easy walks and more challenging walks and a memorable barbecue under the stars, with our Navajo guide, in the less visited areas of Monument Valley with its glorious red rocks and silence as youre far away from people and traffic. Returning to the brashness and noise of Las Vegas at the end of the trip to fly home was a shock to the senses and made you appreciate the sense of escape you have on the National Park treks even more!
Overall we really enjoyed the excursion - we had been to NYC so many times before but had never managed to do Liberty & Ellis Island. Jeffrey was very entertaining and had many interesting stories about the sites and general NYC life. The only problem we had was at the start when our groups ended up on different ferries - both for our group and the other group. So this took about 20-30 minutes to sort out when we got to Liberty on the first ferry. Eventually the 2 guides and the bulk of the group arrived on the next ferry. Not a great start but after this everything was very good. The issue was that some of us got through expedited security checks and so ended up on earlier ferry. I suggest the guides ask people to wait on the dock until the guides get the group back together before boarding the ferry. We would do other walking tours on our next trip.
I have actually shared this tour experience while still at the Grand Canyon on the tour operator Facebook website encouraging everybody to take this tour. Best itinerary with very diverse experiences on offer. The hotels were fabulous, our guide Corrine was just perfect and so attentive to everyone's needs. Daniel was our extremely cool and expert driver considering that the roads were so hard to navigate. I'll keep on recommending this tour i swear.