CAPITOL REEF JEEP TOURS

Unlike other tour companies in the area, all of our Jeep tours are private; you won’t be sharing a Jeep with strangers. We want to be able to tailor your tour to what you want to see and experience!

Single riders are welcome but usually must purchase two seats. You will have the whole Jeep to yourself and the tour will be tailored to what you want to see!

However, please email us to be added to a single rider waitlist. We may see if another tour is willing to accommodate you as well, however, the tour will be tailored for the group you join.

Routes and itineraries are subject to change based on weather, road conditions, and other circumstances.

If you cancel your tour 72 hours or more in advance, or if SRA cancels your tour due to acts of god, you will receive a 100% refund. Cancellation with 48-72 hours prior to your tour, results in a 50% refund. No refund will be provided with less than 48 hour notice of cancellation, however options are available to credit your payment towards a rescheduled or future tour.

We encourage everyone to obtain travel insurance in case of last minute cancellations.

We do not rent our Jeeps.

All our tours include a guide/driver, recovery equipment, and satellite phone for safety. You can travel where are tours go on your own, please check with the Capitol Reef Visitor Center for changing road conditions in the backcountry – they often require high clearance 4WD. It changes by the season and weather – in 2020 we saw sand pits that swallowed up multiple 4wd vehicles a day, while flash floods in 2021 rendered many roads completely impassable for a month. 

The Cathedral Valley, Waterpocket Fold, Factory Butte, and, Grand Staircase are rugged wilderness with no cell reception.  Bring extra food, water, and warm clothes in case you have to spend the night. Do not attempt to walk out, you’re safest option with be relying on a Good Samaritan to take you to town to call a tow truck. Tows in these backcountry areas can vary from $500-2,000 dollars, depending on how remote.

We provide pickup from your lodging in the Torrey, Utah area. We can arrange to take you from other locations if, for example, you are passing through Capitol Reef, are exploring the park before your tour, or are staying in a town like Hanksville, Boulder, or Escalante. Additional charges may apply depending on meeting location and your tour.

While not required, it is customary to tip tour guides. You may tip the guide in cash, or use Venmo at the end of the tour.

We do have a picnic option available for the sunrise and sunset Jeep tours and provide a lunch on custom all day tours.

All Jeep tours come with water and snacks – (chips, Clif Bars, Kind Bars, Nature Valley Bars, fruit snacks, and Rice Krispie treats). We may adjust the snacks we provide depending on food allergies.

Our tours our scheduled so you can eat before or after your tour – this gives us more time in the backcountry to explore and adventure!

You are welcome to bring any food or beverages you’d like to put in our coolers with ice. We can even provide glasses and bottle openers/corkscrews for adult beverages!

When you book a 7 am tour, keep in mind no restaurants or hotel breakfasts are open before then. Some hotels can arrange a breakfast box for you if requested in advance, otherwise we recommend picking up food in advance.

Bring your camera or cell phone and sunscreen. We provide water and snacks (e.g. chips, Clif Bars, Kind Bars, Nature Valley bars, fruit snacks, Rice Krispie treats, etc) but feel free to bring your own snacks and beverages. You can even bring your own meals in our cooler, let us know to bring our chairs and table to set up for a picnic.

We can provide trekking poles for you, just let us know when you book!

We bring first aid kits and emergency equipment, but please bring any medications you might need if there’s an emergency or we get delayed for any reason. We are going to be very far from medical facilities.

A purse or standard-sized backpack is totally fine to bring.

For clothing, we highly recommend layers – the coldest part of the day is just before the sun rises, but it can warm up 30-40 ℉ once it does. Wind, clouds, shade, and significant elevation changes on our tours mean you may be changing layers frequently. Dress for the season in comfortable outdoor clothing with footwear that can handle dirt, sand, and rock (and mud on rainy days). Hats and sunglasses are good to bring too. On windy days, contact lens wearers may want to switch to eyeglasses to avoid dust.

Anytime is great, really! If you are interested in perfect golden hour lighting, we recommend a sunset or afternoon tour. Most times of the year, we must leave very early to get to the photogenic spots for morning light. Additional charges apply for an earlier departure for sunrise.

Spring may offer opportunities to see desert wildflowers and fantastic weather, but it will be quite chilly in the mornings. Summer is very hot in the lower elevations we travel but our enclosed Jeeps offer great air conditioning! July through early September is our “rainy season” which means we have occasional storms usually in the afternoon, so we recommend morning tours to avoid flash flooding. Fall brings stunning foliage to the aspen forests as we travel through in higher elevations. In winter, the majority of our tours are still available, and the lower elevations receive little if any snowfall! Winter is the quietest time of the year in Southern Utah.

We offer several short hikes on our Jeep tours if you enjoy walking, so you won’t be sitting in the car the whole time. However, if you have mobility concerns, you don’t even need to leave the Jeep to see many of the amazing views!

We provide collapsible steps and our Jeeps are equipped with handlebars to help you get into our lifted vehicles. We have a Jeep truck in our fleet that can securely hold any portable mobility devices you may require.

Child prices are for ages 5-14. Infants and toddlers under the age of 5 are free, but may not be comfortable on our longer tours.

You must provide your own car seats and boosters. Utah car seat laws apply to all child passengers who are younger than eight years of age and shorter than 57 inches tall. As part of these car seat regulations, child passengers must use a rear- or front-facing restraint or a high-back or backless booster seat whenever they travel by passenger vehicle.

We do allow furry friends on our Jeep tours on a case by case basis. Pets are not allowed on hikes or off the road inside Capitol Reef National Park, but can roam freely on other surrounding public lands.

We reserve the right for additional charges in case of extra cleaning or damage to our vehicles, so keep this in mind if your dog has long nails and scratches a lot and sheds.

For groups of 8 or more, please call or email to book. Our software is set to only allow 8 people to go out at a time, but with enough advance notice, we can accomodate up to 20 people!

Group rates vary by the size of your group, contact us for details!

Capitol Reef and Grand Staircase-Escalante have some incredible slot canyons, but they usually aren’t the easiest to get to. The most easy and convenient slot canyon is visited by the Waterpocket Fold Jeep Tour and the Burr Trail – Hell’s Backbone Jeep Tour. The Singing Canyon slot is beautiful but only about 300 feet long. It’s accessed just off a paved spot on the Burr Trail and visitors are common. If you were traveling to or from Bryce Canyon, it’s a pretty easy trip if you’re traveling on scenic Highway 12.

The Waterpocket Fold is the southern district of the park and where the slot canyons of the park are found. Headquarters and Surprise Canyons are the easiest to hike to, each hike is only about 2 miles and flat by slot canyon standards (you’ll still need to navigate uneven terrain and climb over one 4 foot boulder). It can take over an hour to hike one of these canyons (going there on your own is about a 2 hour drive from Torrey to the trailheads). Sheets Gulch and Burro Wash are our favorite slot canyons, but require an hour of hiking across the open desert and several hours each to explore, and feature scrambling and rock climbing moves like “stemming.” We’d love to help succeed at the challenge these canyons provide, but you’ll need to either book one of our slot canyon guided hike or a custom tour that is 7+ hours to see these on a tour with us.

The Grand Staircase-Escalante slots canyons are possibly the best collection in the world. Unfortunately they typically require several hours of driving to reach and an hour of walking across the desert. They are worth the effort, but none of our Jeep tours venture into this area. A full day hiking here while based out of Torrey or Boulder would be about 8-12 hours , long but very fun.

Unfortunately the northern Cathedral Valley district doesn’t feature any slot canyon. However our Factory Butte to Goblin Valley Jeep Tour passes what is likely the most convenient, wild slot canyon in the state. Little Wild Horse is a great slot canyon introduction. It does have a couple of climbs but overall is an accessible canyon. It is extremely popular with Utah natives so you’ll likely share the canyon with families and children. We are in the process of applying for permits to guide here, so it may be an option to add on to your tour; if you’re driving to or from Moab it’s at the halfway point; the road to the trailhead is typically in good enough condition for normal cars.

All waterfalls in Capitol Reef require hiking, the exception being a small manmade waterfall on Highway 24. Some of these hikes are easy and popular, others require more work and effort to see but promise solitude. There are a number of “secret” waterfalls located around the Torrey area but they’re not much for swimming. The easiest waterfall hike and swimming area would be walking up Sulphur Creek from the park visitor center. It’s about 1 mile to a small waterfall and pool. Please do not leave mud imprints and art on the walls or jump off the cliffs into the pool. The waterfall is suitable for sliding down if you can safely climb up a small cliff. Children can usually be safely boosted up to the waterfall slide by a parent.

Slide, swim, and jump at your own risk!

Wildlife in the desert is very elusive, typically active at night and early morning and sleeping when we are out on our tours. We relish every rare encounter we have with them!

Interesting animals we have encountered on our tours include Bighorn Sheep, antelope, coyotes, fox, badgers, tarantulas, and rattlesnakes, and fresh cougar and bobcat tracks.

It’s a very lucky day to encounter wildlife, but if you are particularly interested, we may be able to take you on a custom tour to search for Bison (American buffalo) in the Henry Mountains.

Due to the high levels of dust, sun, and extreme variability in temperature, we do not take the tops off our vehicles. Trust us, you’ll be far more comfortable in our enclosed, air-conditioned Jeep. We can take off the front panel above the driver and passenger seats occasionally depending on the space available in the “trunk.”

Our tours have bonus opportunities for unique hikes, additional 4×4 trails and scenic spots, and fantastic photography settings.  If you want to make the most of your day, custom tours are available – 7+ hour tours start at $300 per adult and include lunch. Shorter custom tours follow our standard pricing: 3-4 hours is $175 per adult, 4-5 hours is $200 per adult, and 5-7 hours is $225 per adult. Overnight options may even be available with advance notice.

We hold permits for numerous surrounding areas, so if you have a special request we have the experience and paperwork to provide what you’re seeking. Please contact us so we can create the perfect experience for you.