Colorado Bold Itinerary
DAY 1-3: HIKE IN ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK
A trip to Colorado wouldn’t be complete without a visit to Rocky Mountain National Park 🏞️. You’ll enjoy hikes with sweeping mountain views, cascading waterfalls, and some of the area’s most beautiful alpine lakes surrounded by aspen and lodgepole pine 🌲. Keep your eyes peeled as you walk these trails, not only are the wildflowers in bloom 🌸, the animals are out! 🦌 Moose, elk, big horned sheep, and others that Rocky Mountain National Park is known for are often sighted along these trails 🦌.
Accommodation: Camping 🏕️
DAY 4: CLIMB A UNIQUE VIA FERRATA ROUTE IN NORTH AMERICA
Next, we’ll explore the Rockies by climbing up the mountains themselves! 🧗♂️ We will spend the day climbing using the Italian inspired climbing style for a different view of these beautiful mountains 🏔️. Via Ferrata, meaning Iron Climbing Path in Italian, was created as a different way to move through the mountains using iron rungs and cable lines ⛓️. Students will have the chance to climb, zipline, and traverse through the Rockies to experience long-range views and vistas of Rocky National Park 🌄.
Accommodation: Camping 🏕️
DAY 5-6: WHITEWATER RAFT THE ARKANSAS RIVER
Among the great Collegiate Peaks, the renowned Browns Canyon on the Arkansas River offers another day of adventure 🌊. Browns Canyon offers the perfect mix of calm stretches (did someone say splash wars? 💦) and exciting rapids—hold on tight for Zume Flume and Big Drop! You may see a few golden eagles 🦅 and peregrine falcons as you gaze up toward the 14,000-foot-high mountains 🏔️.
Accommodation: Camping 🏕️
DAY 7-8: ROCK CLIMB NEAR BUENA VISTA
It’s time to change course—this time toward vertical endeavors 🧗. Spend a day learning the ropes at the Pump Station, where routes from beginner to advanced await on this granite and quartzite crag 🏞️. You’ll have spectacular views of the Collegiate Peaks to the west, and Pike and San Isabel National Forests to the east 🌲. After you’ve had your fill of climbing, tie in for a unique rappelling experience!
Accommodation: Camping 🏕️
DAY 9: COMMUNITY SERVICE WITH MOAB YOUTH GARDEN PROJECT
We’ll give back to the areas we’ve visited by volunteering for the Moab Youth Garden Project, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that helps provide fresh produce for the local community in Moab 🌱. We’ll spend approximately six hours of our day planting, tilling, repotting, and learning about sustainability while we work side-by-side with the full-time staff living out this mission in the Moab community 🌿.
Accommodation: Camping 🏕️
DAY 10-12: WHITEWATER RAFT THE COLORADO RIVER
Continue your adventure with two days of rafting in Westwater Canyon on the Colorado River! 🌊 You’ll be surrounded by dramatic Utah red rock, with bald eagles soaring hundreds of feet above you 🦅. You’ll start off with calm water, where you’ll get to cool off with splash wars and cliff jumps 🏞️. You may even get to paddle a stand-up paddleboard! The river starts to pick up with class II and eventually class III rapids. With names like Big Hummer, Surprise Rapid, and Funnel Falls, you’ll want to hold on tight! We’ll take breaks from the boats every few miles with special hikes to historic Native American sites 🏞️.
Accommodation: Camping 🏕️
DAY 12-14: EXPLORE ARCHES NATIONAL PARK
After we hop off the river, we’ll head to Moab and Arches National Park, home to more than 2,000 of the world’s most beautiful sandstone arch formations 🏜️. We’ll enjoy a special hike to the famous Delicate Arch before visiting Double Arch—where parts of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade were filmed! 🎬
Accommodation: Camping 🏕️
*Listed above is Bold Earth’s intended itinerary for this trip. All itineraries are subject to change in order to provide the best possible program quality.
Activities
✅ Community service: 6 hours
✅ Hiking
✅ Via Ferrata
✅ Rock climbing
✅ Sightseeing
✅ Whitewater rafting
