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Arizona

On the Road: Sedona's Red Rock Country and the Grand Canyon

Program No. 1088RJ

Set out on a larger-than-life learning adventure to experience Sedona’s red rocks and the Grand Canyon, joining experts for an insider’s view on these two monumental sites!

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7 days

6 nights

16 meals

6B 4L 6D

Check-in, Registration, Orientation, Welcome Dinner

Sedona, AZ

Geology, Sedona's Best Loved Sites

Sedona, AZ

Montezuma National Monument, Sedona 4x4 Adventure

Sedona, AZ

Oak Creek Canyon, Grand Canyon South Rim

Grand Canyon - South Rim

Grand Canyon’s South Rim, Route 66 Nostalgia

Peach Springs, AZ

Peach Springs, Grand Canyon, Colorado River

Peach Springs, AZ

Program Concludes with return to Sedona

Sedona, AZ

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At a Glance

The Colorado Plateau in Arizona claims two of North America’s most beautiful canyons. Explore the geology, ecology and human heritage of these spectacular canyon landscapes: Sedona’s Oak Creek Canyon and the incomparable Grand Canyon. In Sedona, enjoy a spectacular “Pink” Jeep trip into its stunning red-rock back country, exploring vistas seldom seen by visitors. Overnight in Grand Canyon National Park while soaking in the breathtaking panorama of this world heritage site. Travel an epic road to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, through its multiplicity of layered rock and time, with the reward of a picnic on the banks of the mighty Colorado River.

Activity Level

Keep the Pace

Walking up to one mile on varied terrain. Some time for personal hiking at Grand Canyon. Bumpy jeep and van rides on slick rock, dirt and gravel roads. Elevations up to 7,000 feet.

Small Group

Love to learn and explore in a small-group setting? These adventures offer small, personal experiences with groups of 13 to 24 participants.

Best of all, you’ll…

Visit Montezuma Castle National Monument, a five-story cliff dwelling of the prehistoric Sinagua people.
Go off the beaten path on the Hualapai Indian Reservation on old Route 66 and in Sedona on a Pink Jeep adventure.
Explore the Grand Canyon South Rim’s dramatic viewpoints and trails with regional experts.

Featured Expert

All trip experts

Mike Masek

Mike Masek is a wilderness skills instructor, herbalist and ethnobotanist living in Flagstaff, Ariz. In addition to his current work with Road Scholar, he is adjunct faculty at Northern Arizona University where he teaches traditional uses of native plants and outdoor survival skills. He also teaches programs at the National Parks and Coconino Community College. He has spent a lifetime exploring the canyons and deserts of the American Southwest and loves to share these treasures with others.

Please note: This expert may not be available for every date of this program.

Mike Masek View biography

Lisa Kearsley View biography

Lisa Kearsley moved to Arizona in the 1980s to earn a master’s degree in biology at Northern Arizona University and, like many who have come to Arizona, she never left. She has worked for the National Park Service at Grand Canyon as an interpretive park ranger and as a researcher, studying the effects of Glen Canyon Dam on the river. She also is a natural science illustrator, working with pen and ink, as well as watercolor.

Margaret (Maggie) Mitchell View biography

Maggie Mitchell has spent years leading educational excursions throughout the Sedona area. Her passion lies with the study of Arizona's wild creatures, and she loves sharing her love of reptiles and spiders with students of all ages.

Carl Bowman View biography

With a bachelor’s degree in biology and having spent 25 years of his life on the South Rim, Carl Bowman knows the Grand Canyon well and specializes in relating the Canyon’s varied and constantly evolving geologic stories. He worked for the National Park Service from 1974-2013, and during his career served as a janitor, wildland fire fighter, archaeologist, ranger, and scientist. A long-time student of the Grand Canyon, Carl has shared its stories with park visitors, staff, university classes and lifelong learners.

Carrie Calisay Cannon View biography

Carrie Calisay Cannon is a member of the Kiowa tribe of Oklahoma and also is of Oglala Lakota descent. She has a B.S. in Wildlife Biology and an M.S. in Resource Management. She is currently employed as an Ethnobotanist for the Hualapai Department of Cultural Resources. She administers a number of department projects and programs which promote the intergenerational teaching of Hualapai ethnobotanical knowledge. She works towards ensuring tribal ethnobotanical knowledge persists as a living practice and tradition.

Kristin Hooten View biography

Kristin Hooten has spent the majority of her life in the mountains of Flagstaff, Arizona. She earned a bachelor's degree in Parks and Recreation Management with an emphasis in Outdoor Education and Leadership from Northern Arizona University. Kristin has worked in the outdoor industry in different capacities and enjoys her ongoing education with the surrounding region. When not in the office or field, she is found enjoying the great outdoors either on a paddleboard or in her camper.

Slim Woodruff View biography

Marjorie “Slim” Woodruff is a graduate of Northern Arizona University. She has worked in outdoor recreation and education for most of her adult life. Slim is a board member and outings chair for the Grand Canyon Historical Society. She is a senior instructor with the Grand Canyon Conservancy Field Institute. Living on the South Rim, her usual hangouts are inside the canyon. Her writings can be found in High Country News Writers on the Range and The Outdoor Journal.

Rocky Sullivan View biography

Rocky Sullivan, a Kansas native, has been living in the southwest working on ranches among other things for the better part of three decades. During the last few years, he has brought his poetry into the limelight, gaining respect and praise from peers and audiences. Rocky won in his division of the 2015 National Cowboy Poetry Rodeo in Abilene, Kansas, and again in 2017. He has been asked to perform at numerous venues since.

Suggested Reading List (10 books)

Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop

You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.

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On the Road: Sedona's Red Rock Country and the Grand Canyon

Program Number: 1088

Sedona through time: Geology of the Red Rocks

by Ranney, Wayne

Visitors to the towering red rock cliffs near Sedona seldom realize that the area was once a broad river floodplain that lay beyond the Ancestral Rocky Mountains. Or that this same place was later buried in a vast, Sahara-like desert, still later to lie beneath the waters of a warm tropical sea filled with ancient life forms. Sedona Through Time is an eminently readable story of the evolution of this fantastic landscape through the eons of geologic time.

We are an Indian Nation: A History of the Hualapai People (First Peoples: New Directions in Indigenous Studies)

by Shepherd, Jeffrey P.

This book focuses on the historical construction of the Hualapai Nation in the face of modern American colonialism. Shepherd shows that Hualapai nation-building was a complex process shaped by band identities, competing visions of the past, creative reactions to modernity, and resistance to state power. He analyzes how the Hualapais transformed an externally imposed tribal identity through nationalist discourses of protecting aboriginal territory; and he examines how that discourse strengthened the Hualapais’ claim to land and water while simultaneously reifying a politicized version of their own history. Drawing on recent work in American Indian history and Native American studies, Shepherd shows how the Hualapai have strived to reclaim a distinct identity and culture in the face of ongoing colonialism.

Living at the Edge: Explorers, Exploiters, and Settlers of the Grand Canyon Region

by Anderson, Michael F

A comprehensive look at the pioneer history of the Grand Canyon Region, from its earliest residents to the creation of the national park at the end of the pioneer era (circa 1920). Included are close to two hundred historic photographs, many never published before, and 12 custom maps of the region. 184pp

The Archaeology of Ancient Arizona

by Jefferson Reid and Stephanie Whittlesey

General overview of the archaeology of Arizona written by archaeologists with combined experience of over half a century of a combination of laboratory and fieldwork.

Grand Canyon Geology

by Beus, Stanley

This second edition of the leading book on Grand Canyon geology contains the most recent discoveries and interpretations of the origin and history of the canyon. It includes two entirely new chapters: one on debris flow in the Canyon and one on the impact of water flow releases from the Glen Canyon Dam. All chapters have been updated where necessary and all photographs have been replaced or re-screened for better resolution. Written by acknowledged experts in stratigraphy, paleontology, structural geology, geomorphology, volcanism and seismology, this book offers a wealth of information for geologists and general readers interested in acquiring an understanding of the geological history of this great natural wonder. 423pp

Ancient Peoples of the American Southwest

by Steve Plog

The American Southwest is home to some of the most remarkable monuments of America's prehistoric past, such as Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde. Stephen Plog, who has spent decades working in the region, provides the most readable and up-to-date account of the predecessors of the modern Hopi and Pueblo Indian cultures in this well-received account. Chaco Canyon became the center of a thriving Anasazi cultural tradition. It was the hub of a trading network extending over hundreds of miles, whose arteries were a series of extraordinary roads that are still being discovered and mapped. Interweaving the latest archaeological evidence with early first-person accounts, Professor Plog explains the rise and mysterious fall of Southwestern cultures. 224pp.

Secret Sedona: Sacred Moments in the Landscape

by Larry Lindahl

This book provides an overview of the terrain, ancestral Indian ruins and petroglyphs found in Sedona's wilderness areas. Extraordinary photography from one of the nations most photogenic areas. 80 pages.

Field Guide to the Grand Canyon

by Whitney, Stephen R

This book describes and illustrates the area's plants and animals, and offers fascinating in-depth information on the natural history and geology of this dramatic region. 272pp

Carving Grand Canyon: Evidence, Theories, and Mystery

by Ranney, Wayne

Ranney explains how rivers in general can physically carve canyons, looks chronologically at the numerous theories that have been presented by successive generations of geologists regarding the Grand Canyon's formation, and describes a plausible sequence of geologic events that could create such a landscape. Numerous color photographs, detailed illustrations, and maps are provided. Annotation ©2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR 160pp; 2nd edition 2012.

An Introduction to Grand Canyon Prehistory

by Coder, Christopher M.

People have inhabited Grand Canyon for the past twelve thousand years. Evidence of their lives exists throughout the canyon; but it is up to their ancestors and archaeologists to interpret those remains for us. This book provides a popular look at the architecture, art, and tools of prehistoric Puebloan peoples, as well as information about modern-day Native American tribes. With illustrations and color photographs.

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On the Road: Sedona's Red Rock Country and the Grand Canyon

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Protecting the Environment

At a Glance

Best of all, you’ll…

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