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Winter – Moab, Utah’s Secret Season for Uncrowded Adventure

January 23, 2022

*Moab Adventure Center offers many different experiences for enjoying winter getaways in this vast expanse of geologic history unique in the world.*

MOAB, UT– Even in the winter, the rocks can feel warm to the touch as they absorb the sunshine that kisses the world-renowned, red rock playground of Moab, Utah. Here, precipitation of rain or snow visits fewer than 60 days a year. Come December, locals and visitors alike button up their overcoats against daytime temperatures that dip into the 40s.

While campsites are closed for the winter season, in and around Moab comfortable lodging remains open as do a variety of dining options. And everyone’s friend and go-to resource, Moab Adventure Center (https://www.moabadventurecenter.com/), continues to welcome queries about what’s to see and do in the short off-season between now and early March. Come spring the region once again prepares itself to meet the demands of a world hungry for wholesome, outdoor recreation.

But for those who can’t wait until spring, Moab Adventure Center has these recommendations for enjoying winter getaways in this vast expanse of geologic history unique in the world:

Two, three, and four-hour Hummer Safari tours are available beginning in February. Rates range from $98 to $215 per person depending on the off-road excursion. All safaris are conducted in comfortable 4×4 off-road vehicles. Your driver adds meaning to the spectacular canyon vistas and stops along the way.

Arches National Park tours are conducted year-round by land or air. Land tours are four hours long and air tours range from 30 minutes to one hour. On the land tours guests have an opportunity for short hikes to phenomenal vistas of famous arches.

Air tours give a birds-eye view of Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park; a new flight allows visitors to capture spectacular vistas of Capitol Reef National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park.

Local experts recommend first visiting the Moab Giants Dinosaur Park & Tracks (interactive) Museum. A Dinosaur Discovery Tour reveals Moab as the original Jurassic park. The surrounding expanse comprised of Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park invites the curious to ponder where those ancient creatures might have ambled and foraged. Note that the Dinosaur Park will reopen for the season on Feb. 18.

Hiking Arches National Park is a year-round, four-hour morning tour for hikers exploring this ancient plateau concealing more than 2,000 natural arches, representing the highest concentration of such wonders on the planet.

Throughout the year guests can rent four-door Jeep Wranglers so they can do their own exploring of the region. The jeeps hold up to five people and can be rented for 10.5 hours.

Moab Adventure Center has been exploring the rivers and canyons surrounding Moab since 1961 as Western River Expeditions, pioneers in the river rafting industry. Western River created the Moab Adventure Center to give this “Adventure Capital of the West” its full due with a focus on day tours and adventures in unparalleled red rock beauty, and to become a convenient one-stop adventure center in world famous Moab.

Through the late winter season, Moab Adventure Center recommends tapping into http://udottraffic.utah.gov to see real-time road conditions across Utah.

Moab Adventure Center (https://www.moabadventurecenter.com/) is a division of Western River Expeditions (http://www.westernriver.com/) an adventure travel company headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah with operations and offices in Moab and Fredonia, AZ. The company is the largest single tour provider in Moab, Utah. The Moab Adventure Center is located at 225 South Main St., Moab, UT 84532. For information and reservations call (435) 259-7019 or (866) 904-1163. Moab Adventure Center also has a 2,000-square-foot retail space selling adventure-related gear, clothing, maps and souvenirs.

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Tags:Arches National Park, Moab Adventure Center, national parks, winter getaways
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New Helping Hands Program Offers Opportunity to Live, Work in Yellowstone National Park

June 18, 2019

Imagine living and working in Yellowstone National Park © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

by Veronica Stoddart

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK – “I don’t know too many people who get to spend five weeks in Yellowstone,” gushes Bernd Linzbach of his experience with the park’s Helping Hands program. “It was a great opportunity to explore the park,” says the retiree from Prescott Valley, Ariz.

He’s referring to the year-old Helping Hands program run by the Xanterra Travel Collection, which manages the Yellowstone National Park Lodges. It offers part-time, short-term jobs to people who want to immerse themselves more deeply in the nation’s first national park by living and working there while offering a “helping hand.”

“It’s a chance to spend real time in Yellowstone and explore the park when you’re not working,” observes Linzbach, who first experienced the program with his wife Debra in the fall of 2018. They enjoyed it so much that they repeated it in the spring of 2019. The Lizbachs worked in the housekeeping department at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel and the Old Faithful Snow Lodge and the Old Faithful Inn, tidying up, re-stocking, and getting the rooms ready for the housekeepers to turn them over for incoming guests.

Helping Hands requires participants to work 20 hours per week, between four and eight hours per day. They live in the park in dorm accommodations, which Linzbach says are basic with no TVs and slow WiFi. Some rooms have private baths; others are shared. Meals are cafeteria style, which at the Lake Hotel means having the same cooks as the guests have, who turn out food “of a very high standard,” he says.

Highlights for the Linzbachs were viewing wildlife and meeting people, including other participants in the program. “It’s not like a vacation where you have to try to see everything in a few days,” says Linzbach. “(When you live there), if you don’t see an animal one day, you’ll see it another. We were able to see grizzlies, bison, elk, deer, coyotes, moose, and even a wolf. It’s very special and fantastic to see all those animals.”

What advice does Linzbach have for others? “I would highly recommend this program for anybody interested in nature,” he says. “It was so inspiring,” he adds, that he and Debra are already preparing to apply for the fall season.

How to Participate

Submit your application now for the fall season. Arrival is on Sept. 5 and 12, 2019, and departure is on Oct. 15, 2019.

You could be assigned to the lodging or food and beverage department. Jobs include housekeeper, dishwasher, busser, or host. Training will be provided for each one. Housekeepers do light cleaning and prepare guest rooms for the full-time housekeeping staff; kitchen crew workers do prep, set up, service, and clean up; and hosts provide guest services in the restaurants.

You will be assigned to work in one of the following locations: Old Faithful, Canyon Village, Mammoth, Grant Village, and Lake Yellowstone.

Program perks include employee discounts in and around Yellowstone.

For more travel experiences available from the Xanterra Travel Collection and its affiliated properties, visit xanterra.com/explore.

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Record Visits to National Parks Generates $34.9 Billion, 318,000 Jobs for US Economy in 2016

April 19, 2017

CA-Yosemite-Tena_041517_505e2(c) Karen Rubin-MistTrail

Hiking up the Mist Trail alongside Vernal Falls in Yosemite Park during National Parks Week 2017. In 2016, America’s 417 National Park Service sites drew 331 million visitors and contributed $34.9 billion to the US economy © 2017 Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

SAN FRANCISCO – Today, during National Park Week, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke announced that 2016’s record visitation of 331 million visitors at America’s 417 National Park Service sites contributed $34.9 billion to the U.S. economy in 2016 – a $2.9 billion increase from 2015. Zinke made his announcement while visiting the historic Presidio of San Francisco at Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Zinke marked National Park Week by also visiting Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon, and Channel Islands national parks.

According to the annual peer-reviewed economics report, 2016 National Park Visitor Spending Effects, the strong economic output is attributed to record visitation and visitor spending in “gateway” communities near national park entrances. The report also found visitor spending supported 318,000 jobs in 2016, with the vast majority of them defined as local jobs, including those in the hospitality, retail, transportation, and recreation industries.

“National Parks are America’s treasure which provide magnificent outdoor recreation opportunities and serve as economic engines for local communities. In my own hometown of Whitefish, Montana, I saw how the popularity of Glacier National Park led to growth of the local outdoor rec and eco-tourism industry. And while traveling to Sequoia and Kings Canyon last week it was exciting to see tourism towns dotting the road to the park,” Zinke said. “This report is a testament to the tangible economic benefits our parks bring to communities across the nation. Visitation numbers continue to rise because people want to experience these majestic public lands.”

Zinke continued, “With continued record visitation it’s time to start thinking about accessibility and infrastructure. Last week, it was great to see the team at Yosemite opening up areas with new wheelchair accessible trails. In the coming years, we will look at ways to make innovative investments in our parks to enhance visitor experiences and improve our aging infrastructure. To ensure visitors continue to have great experiences, we will remain focused on increasing access and addressing the maintenance backlog to ensure we are on the right track for generations to come.”

More than 270,000 of the jobs supported by visitor spending in 2016 exist in the communities that lie within 60 miles of a park. These range from big parks like Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina, which attracted 11.3 million people and supported more than 14,600 jobs, to smaller parks like Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in New Hampshire that attracted more than 42,000 visitors and supported 34 jobs.

CA-SF-MuirWoods_041317_755e2(c) Karen Rubin

A view of San Francisco’s iconic Golden Gate Bridge from the ruins of battlements of historic Presidio of San Francisco at Golden Gate National Recration Area.. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke visited there to announce that 2016’s record visitation of 331 million visitors at America’s 417 National Park Service sites and a $2.9 billion gain in the contribution to the US economy from 2015. © 2017 Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

“National parks like Yellowstone, Zion, and Gettysburg connect us with nature and help tell America’s story,” said Michael T. Reynolds, acting director of the National Park Service. “They are also a vital part of our nation’s economy, drawing hundreds of millions of visitors every year who fill the hotels and restaurants, hire the outfitters and rely on other local businesses that help drive a vibrant tourism and outdoor recreation industry.”

Visitor spending in 2016 supported 318,000 jobs, provided $12.0 billion in labor income, $19.9 billion in value added, and $34.9 billion in economic output to the U.S. economy. The lodging sector provided the highest direct contributions with $5.7 billion in economic output to local gateway economies and 56,000 jobs. The restaurants and bars sector provided the next greatest direct contributions with $3.7 billion in economic output to local gateway economies and 71,000 jobs.

According to the 2016 report, most park visitor spending was for lodging (31.2 percent) followed by food and beverages (27.2 percent), gas and oil (11.7 percent), admissions and fees (10.2 percent), souvenirs and other expenses (9.7 percent), local transportation (7.4 percent), and camping fees (2.5%).

The report was prepared by economists Catherine Cullinane Thomas of the U.S. Geological Survey and Lynne Koontz of the National Park Service. It includes information by park and by state on visitor spending, the number of jobs supported by visitor spending and other statistics.

Report authors also produced an interactive tool to present data in full color circle and bar graphs. Users can explore visitor spending, jobs, labor income, value added, and output effects by sector for national, state, and local economies. Users can also view year-by-year trend data. The interactive tool and report are available at the NPS Social Science Program webpage: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/socialscience/vse.htm.

National Park visitation grew by 7.7 percent from 2015 to 2016, the centennial year of the National Park Service celebrated with the Find Your Park campaign and promoted visits with such programs as admitting families with fourth graders for free.

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