Category: Travel News

Death Valley is an extreme desert land area located in Eastern California.  The specifics of the area are that it is located within the Mojave Desert, and is physically the lowest area (282 feet below sea level at the Badwater Basin) on the North American continent.  Oddly enough, this point is only 84.6 miles from Mount Whitney, which is the highest point in the United States at 14,505 feet.  It is also is the driest area in the United States, measured through rainfall amounts on average of 1.5 inches.  The heat in Death Valley is extreme, and the area holds the world record for the highest reported temperature on earth, which happened at Furnace Creek on July 10, 1913 when the temperature went to 134 degrees Fahrenheit.  Although there was a similar temperature measured in Libya in 1922, the World Meteorological Organization could not verify it, and thus called it invalid.  Death Valley is officially the hottest place on the face of the earth, but Death Valley tours are comfortable and beautiful. Death Valley is located on the border of California and Nevada, within the Great Basin area of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  The majority of Death Valley National Park is made up of Death Valley, and it is the highlight and main feature of the Mojave and Colorado Deserts Biosphere Reserve.  Death Valley itself is an area of about 3,000 square miles. Tours of Death Valley will concentrate mainly on the beauty of the extreme geology and landscape, and educate visitors about this unique area in the world, as well as what produces the attributes of the area.  For example, one of the very unique features of Death Valley is that it contains “salt pans,” which was left behind when inland seas (once called Lake Manly) evaporated, leaving behind

Zabriskie Point is a portion of the Amargosa Range, which is located in east of Death Valley.  It is made up of large amounts of sediment from  Furnace Creek Lake, which dried up 5 million years ago.  The location is named after Christian Brevoort Zabriskie, who was the acting vice-president and general manager of the Pacific Coast Borax Company. The area of Zabriskie Point is quite colorful, and the elevated landscape of hills and gullies sit on the edge of the Black Mountains.  From  the viewpoint of Zabriskie Point, there is an extensive and unobstructed view of the salt plains of the valley floor.  Most who visit Zabriskie Point simply admire the unique landscape, although some do hike and walk through the area.  Sunrise is the best time to view the area, as the light dances through the landscape.  If a hiking tour is in order, there is a trail that winds through the mounds, traveling down a ravine and into Gower Gulch.  Another branch of the trail leads to Golden Canyon. A tour of Death Valley is best to include Zabrskie Point, as the unique landscape created by millions of years of salt-sediment and erosion have delivered a scenic area without match in the United States.

Located near the Arizona-Utah state line, Monument Valley is a five square mile region of the Colorado Plateau, and is a part of the Navajo Nation Reservation. Monument Valley is characterized by its breathtaking cluster of vivid red sandstone buttes, some of which tower 1,000 feet above the valley floor. This iconic valley has been home to generations of Navajo families, and has been chosen as the location for hundreds of Western movies. Monument Valley’s butte and mesa formations have been gradually carved out by slow-moving rivers, which deposited their siltstone on the valley floor. The majority of siltstone originated from the Cutler Formation of the Colorado Plateau. The bright red colors that characterize this area are created by the iron oxide in the siltstone being exposed to the elements. The buttes get their stratified appearance from three layers of sandstone. The top layer is made up of Moenkopi shale and Shinarump siltstone, the center layer is de Chelly sandstone, and the bottom layer is Organ Rock shale. Visitors to Monument Valley will never forget the majestic views and striking colors created by the juxtaposition of butte and mesa formations thrusting upward from the sweeping valley floor. Don’t forget to bring a camera to capture the beauty of geologic wonders including the Mittens Buttes, Merrick Butte, Sentinel Mesa, Pine Tree Arch, Stout Arch, Honeymoon Arch, and Mitchell and Wetherill Mesas. The valley is part of the Grand Circle, a vast region containing America’s largest concentration of national parks and monuments. In addition to Monument Valley, the Grand Circle also includes the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon, Lake Powell, and the Four Corners region. Four Corners Monument, where four states (Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah) meet, can easily be visited while exploring the Monument Valley area. Monument Valley

Bindlestiff Tours has been recognized as one of the leading tour companies in the nation that provides national parks tours from Las Vegas.  As one of the most exciting cities in the world, Las Vegas offers a multitude of activities and entertainment options that are sure to dazzle and impress even the most jaded world traveler.  The problem is that all of the entertainment that is provided by the casinos in Las Vegas, as well as the majority of the entertainment that is provided by businesses that are associated with the casinos is designed to keep you indoors.  After all, the point of the casinos in Las Vegas is gambling, and pretty much everything that they do is going to keep people inside the casinos themselves. Bindlestiff Tours offers it's National Parks Tours specifically to allow the adventurous tourist in Las Vegas a taste of the surrounding desert and the beauty of some of the most impressive landscapes on earth.  Many people do not realize that they can combine the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas the city  with using it as a starting point for adventure travel that will take them to the real wild west, and some of the most rugged terrain in the United States.  For example, our National Parks 3 Day Tour will pick adventurers up at their respective hotels and transport them into the beauty of the Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion, Monument Valley and Lake Powell.  The natural landscapes and beauty of any of these locations on their own is unbelievable, but three consecutive days of travel and camping at these national parks, while having all of your travel throughout the locations, meals and necessities catered to has been reviewed by many on social media websites as beyond their wildest expectations.  Our tour guides have

Bindlestiff Tours is one of the leading providers of Grand Canyon tours from Las Vegas.  Many tourists utilize Las Vegas as a starting point in order to visit some of the world's most unique and beautiful scenery provided by the nearby national parks.  There are many parks within driving distance of the comfortable hotels and bright lights of Las Vegas, and the adventurous traveler will find none more spectacular than the Grand Canyon, which offers what can be described as "the most incredible landscape on the planet."  After resting up in the luxury that our Las Vegas hotels provide, get ready to experience nature like you have never seen it with our specialized Grand Canyon tour. Bindlestiff offers two types of Grand Canyon tours, one that lasts a single day and one that will provide an overnight experience.  The day tour is perfect for groups under 13 people, and will include Route 66 and Hoover Dam on the way to the mighty canyon.  Recognized as one of the natural wonders of the world, the Grand Canyon represents 2 billion years of water erosion provided by the Colorado River.  The exposed rock tells the geological story of the formation of the earth, as spectators can easily observe the varied colors of the rock formation over millions of years that has been cut away by the river's flowing waters.  The park itself also provides many variations on your experience, from walking tours to helicopter rides.  The experience of a Grand Canyon tour can take any shape you choose, and our seasoned tour guides will provide the story of this geological wonder.  The overnight tour provides a more inclusive experience as we get to see the canyon at night, camp in the park and experience life as the locals live it in the

Bindlestiff Tours has always been a favorite of adventure lovers traveling through the Southwest, but the recent expansion of their touring selection has solidified them as a leader in their field for adventure junkies worldwide.  The newest tour that Bindlestiff is offering are seven day Yellowstone tours from Las Vegas, an all-inclusive experience that takes tourists through multiple national parks on their way to one of the planet's most spectacular geographic areas. For people who love to experience natural areas through camping, hiking, photography, wildlife watching and generally experiencing nature by living in the middle of it, the Yellowstone tour from Las Vegas is exactly what you have been looking for.  Starting with a pickup directly from your hotel room on the Las Vegas strip and enjoying the drive to Bryce Canyon where we camp for the night under the stars, you are not going to get a better way to enjoy adventure in the Southwest.  There is absolutely nothing on Earth like the night sky and unobstructed views of the stars from Bryce, everything in the sky is actually brighter than you have ever seen before because there are no city lights to interfere with the observation of stars within a sky that goes on for as far as the eye can see.  Campfires, singing, quite reflection and experiencing life in a way you have never done before is sure the make you long for the great outdoors once you are back at home.  The next few days take us through Salt Lake City and Grand Tetons National Park before we arrive at the ultimate destination for adventure and nature lovers worldwide, Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone is one of the most pristine examples of the beauty that nature can provide on the face of the earth, with landscapes, water

Recently, Huffington Post did a list of "must visit" places and things in every state, and although the list lacked many of the most spectacular national parks in the world, we were pleased to see one of our favorite locations on the list for Utah.  Delicate Arch in Arches National Park is listed as one of the "must visit" locations for the Southern United States, and we could not agree more.  Delicate Arch is one of the most photographed and scenic locations in the Southwest, and has come to be recognized as an unofficial symbol of Utah. Delicate Arch towers over eighty feet in the air, and is considered by many to be the world's most beautiful natural archway.  Many also consider the Delicate Arch hike to be one of the best in Arches National Park, along with the Devils Garden hike. Arches National Park itself is located five miles north of Moab, Utah.  Delicate Arch is actually located 11.7 miles into the park at the Wolf Ranch turn off. When hiking toward Delicate Arch, you will encounter  a wide and well defined trail that leads to the base of a steep sandstone hill. The trail follows cairns (stacks of rocks) as the route climbs over the sandstone hill.  As you near Delicate Arch you will pass Frame Arch on your right.  Frame Arch is often used by photographers to capture the beauty of Delicate Arch in a completely unique way, by framing the photo of the arch with another arch. Arches National Park and Delicate Arch in particular is one of Bindlestiff Tours most requested and popular excursions.  The completely unique visual landscape is something that every adventure tourist should see with their own eyes, as photographs do not nearly do justice to the incredible span.  You can inquire for more information

In an article recently released by Huffington Post entitled The Most Photogenic Places On Earth, The Grand Canyon was voted by a group called Veryfirstto as the third most photogenic place on earth, trailing behind Bora Bora and The Great Barrier Reef.  We cannot say we are surprised, as we have always known that the Grand Canyon offers one of the most dramatic geological views that can ever experienced.  Although the article only addresses the Grand canyon from a photographic sense, and the creation of dramatic images utilizing it as a backdrop, we can easily also vote the Grand Canyon National Park as one of the most interesting and beautiful experiences from an adventure tour aspect that can be had anywhere on earth.  Of course we feel lucky that it just happens to be located practically in our back yard, and close enough that we can offer a tour of the Grand Canyon as a single day trip leaving from Las Vegas in the morning and having you back in your hotel room by evening (as well as multiple day camping trips as well,) so we are probably a little biased in our voting. If you are interested in touring the grand canyon in order to photograph the third most photogenic place on earth, Bindlestiff Tours has you covered with our inclusive adventure tour packages which offer not only transportation to the park, an expert guide who is experienced with the area, lunch, hiking and nature walking/photography....we can even arrange for a helicopter ride over the canyon expanse which is sure to not only thrill you but also provide you with an even more dramatic view than the Huffington Post reported on.  The Grand Canyon is one of the deepest and most diverse canyons on earth, and will provide you with

Bindlestiff Tours proudly announces the addition of Joe Dan Boyle to it's already impressive team of tour leaders.  As many customers already realize, Bindlestiff Tours prides itself on employing only the most experienced guides that are available, a practice which translates to better customer experiences and a richer traveler environment.  The Senior Tour Leaders are chosen due to their knowledge of specific areas due to personal experience with them, to their lifestyle that embodies the experiences that Bindlestiff Tours makes part of every customer's trip.  "The tour leader is the guide that shapes the experience of every customer on a tour, and their knowledge of an area must go beyond what they themselves have read in books," said Rachel Frampton, owner of Bindlestiff Tours.  "The guide must live and breathe the area, must understand it from a local perspective and truly love adventure travel, or the customer will simply be being given a guided tour instead of what we offer, a real, living experience of the area."

Many people traveling to the American Southwest want to experience one of the harshest climates on the face of the earth, and put a Death Valley tour on their calendar.  Even though a tour of Death Valley under the right circumstances is a wonderful experience filled with some of the most exquisite scenery you will ever experience, visitors must realize that the area itself can be dangerous if you attempt to explore it yourself without a qualified guide who knows the area.  Last year, a news story surfaced about a family who ventured into Death Valley with only a few bottles of water and a GPS system, only to find that many of the roads that the GPS listed were not actually there, and much of the information was incorrect.  They ended up running out of gas deep inside the territory, and did manage to be located by the California police in the nick of time.  The lesson to be learned from their experience is that Death Valley is not to be taken lightly, it is a very large expanse of unpopulated area that is also home to a climate that can literally kill you in a short period of time.  Exploring it on your own without experience with the area can prove to be a grave mistake if you get lost or are unprepared. Death Valley is home to the highest temperature that has ever been recorded on Earth.  If you embark on a Death Valley tour during the summer months, you can expect to be exposed to a level of heat that you probably are not prepared for.  Once the temperature is over 100 degrees, the relentless sun can cause visitors to become light headed, confused and dehydrated very quickly.  It is important to understand why the landscape