Desert Highlights is Moab's original canyoneering guide service. This full day canyoneering tour visits a route that Desert Highlights' founder created as a technical guided canyoneering route in the late 1990's. Here, we explore an area that most people would not visit on their own. With the use of ropes and other technical gear, a competent guide and a sense of adventure, we are able to explore areas that are otherwise inaccessible. The Moab desert is our home and we are passionate about sharing it with others. During your guided tour, you will not only safely descend a beautiful, water-carved canyon, but you will learn about the flora and fauna, geology and history of the area that we are so lucky to call our backyard.
Posted By : michellegM9936LM
By far the best thing I’ve done in Moab so far. My husband and I have come here for years and have done almost everything. We tried to do something different and we chose to do the zig zag tour. The tour was amazing, the views, photos we received and everything we saw. Will definitely be coming back yearly! Thank you, Herb for such a great time.
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Posted On : 2024-02-22 18:47:35 
Posted By : shaqcav23
Our experience with Desert Highlights was fantastic beginning to end.
We were a group of four looking for an adventurous trip doing canyoneering (our first times). It started with talking to Melissa on the phone who helped answer questions and got a feel for what we were looking for. She followed up our call via email with a ton of information and helped us pick the perfect excursion. Recommend talking to them to pick the right one for your group, they are super helpful.
The day of the adventure was super convenient. We had a private group since it was four of us and we met our tour guide, Jake. We rode in a private vehicle to the starting point where we did a super intense hike with stunning views, scrambling, and even some rock climbing maneuvers (it was so cool and what we asked for!). Jake was the best. He was cool to talk to, very knowledgeable, and supportive and helped us feel totally safe throughout the entire trip. He even took amazing pictures and gave ski recommendations for Utah for our next visit!
Cannot recommend Desert Highlights enough! Will absolutely book with them again. Thank you DH!
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Posted On : 2023-11-01 19:01:43
Posted By : lisacC8061MC
Just an AMAZING EXPERIENCE!! I booked the Pool Arch Canyon canyoneering experience for me and my 12 year-old goddaughter based solely on the reviews I had voraciously read and the fact that they are a small shop that provide private experiences… and every single part was beyond compare. From my initial conversation with Melissa on the phone who spent so much time with me to determine what I was looking for and really understand our experience levels (she actually suggested this longer adventure from the one I had originally called for, and I am ecstatic that she did), to the perfect communications, to meeting the amazing KAI, our guide extraordinaire, our time could not have been any better. Kai is amazing, fun, and it felt like a super fun day out with friends rather than just a guided trip. Kai knows her stuff, and we felt safe every step of the way with her. She was outstanding with my goddaughter, who is super athletic and loves this stuff, but of course had some nerves. She talked her through every part, and my goddaughter voted our time with Kai as the best part of our entire vacation!! I can’t recommend it any more highly, what a great experience. And the Pool Arch Canyon tour was pretty amazing, with incredible rappels, super fun rock scrambling and some very welcome pool wading in the heat. Thank you Kai!!
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Posted On : 2023-07-25 14:17:14
Posted By : samuelmY2738MI
My group and I had a great time with a great guide. The hike was a ton of fun, with tons of scenery and little technical areas to keep it interesting. The rappelling was then the Icing on the cake. Can’t wait to go again!
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Posted On : 2023-05-21 18:22:31
Posted By : meganp579
Our family of 5 did the Zig Zag Canyoneering tour with Jake as our guide. Every little thing about it was amazing! We loved the canyoneering and ended the day with a bucket list 220 foot rappel that even our 9 year old did. It was the highlight of our week and memories we will never forget. Jake was an awesome guide and Melissa was great working with us to help us find the perfect tour for our adventurous family and we couldn't be happier with what we ultimately chose. Highly highly recommend Desert Highlights.
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Posted On : 2023-03-20 20:22:33
Posted By : Jkoz1006
We booked 3 trips with them and had an amazing time! Highly recommend calling, Melissa was incredibly helpful with choosing the right trips for us and answering all of our questions.
Herb took us on our first multi pitch climb and was very patient with us, helping us learn new knots and teaching us the basics along the way. Kia took us climbing and rappelling, and Kiera took us into one of the Irish canyons. All the guides were so much fun and put up with our ridiculous picture taking. We felt really safe on every trip; Herb, Kia and Kiera were all very knowledgeable and answered all of our questions, plus gave us suggestions for other climbing areas and hikes.
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Posted On : 2022-10-10 15:56:42
Posted By : Kadensaunt
Desert highlights is amazing!!! This is my second time canyoneering with them (10 years apart). Melissa was very friendly and accommodating and always called me right back if she was busy and couldn’t answer the phone. We did the Irish canyons with Kiera and I can’t say enough amazing things about her!! She was the best guide ever. It was 2 of us girls and Kiera and we had a blast!! She always made sure we were ok with her pace and stopped if we needed a rest and we felt very comfortable with her skills which made us comfortable doing all the rappels. She was very friendly and we all talked the entire time. It was the best day ever.
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Posted On : 2022-05-25 19:57:22
Posted By : HappyCamper0818
We did the Zig Zag canyoneering tour today with Kiera and it was beyond amazing. She made what felt like impossible feats completely possible for us. This was our second tour with Desert Highlights and we highly recommend them! The tour guides are friendly, knowledgeable, and patient. And it's such a treat to not be stuck in a large group - it's just me, my husband, and our guide. Thank you Kiera and Desert Highlights for another memorable adventure!
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Posted On : 2022-05-09 19:26:22
Posted By : Corby R
This was an exhilarating experience for our family!! Jake was our guide and he was absolutely amazing - he explained everything and made it easy to understand, made sure we were safe every step of the way, took some fantastic photos for us, and gave us lots of great memories. You don’t need rappelling experience to have a great time. We will definitely be back for another adventure!!!
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Posted On : 2022-04-22 12:28:15
Posted By : 86done
We had a private tour over Presidents day weekend ('22) to a canyon outside of the major parks. Our guide (the owner) was awesome and very knowledgeable. We did three repels and about 3 miles of hiking up and back down during the trip. The trip couldn't have been better for our family. We were the only ones in the this area since it was a spot that's not used by other local guides. It was challenging enough for those in our group that wanted to be pushed, but still good for those that are a little nervous on steep rock sections. The repels, 70', 120', and 150' were amazing and provided great spots for views and eating lunch during the trip. Our trip also took us past places in the rock where our guide was able to point out fossils of past sea life and petrified trees embedded in the rocks. In short, we liked it enough that we'll probably do it again (different canyon) next time we're in town. Thanks for the memories!
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Posted On : 2022-02-24 11:08:15
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