A settlement hugging the cliffs in Mesa Verde National Park, Utah, USA

Your guide to Mesa Verde National Park

Text: Claire Lessiau
Photographs: Marcella van Alphen & Claire Lessiau

Completely off-the-beaten path, Mesa Verde National Park provides more than natural beauty: real insights into the lives of the Puebloan people, early inhabitants of America. This great cultural significance combined to the exceptionally well-preserved ruins makes Mesa Verde one of the highlights of any trip to the West.

Keep Traveling!
Full raft going down the rapids of the Cataract Canyon, Western River Expeditions, Colorado River, USA.

The call of the white [Rafting the biggest white waters of the USA!]

The vast Colorado River winds its way through the metamorphic red stones of the Colorado Plateau where it has sculpted the land for millions of years carving one of world’s most spectacular gorges. If the Grand Canyon had made explorers of the Great Unknown shiver, the shorter Cataract Canyon just a couple of hundred miles upstream had remained one of the most difficult sections of the Colorado River to conquer. In the springtime, the melting snow feeds both rivers, the Colorado and the Green that merge at Confluence in the heart of Canyonlands NP, the starting point of the Cataract Canyon. Both un-dammed for hundreds of miles upstream, these mighty rivers merge to lead to the greatest white waters of the USA this time of the year with Class II to V rapids ranking along with those of the Grand Canyon in power and difficulty. Today they make the bravest white water enthusiasts shrill while riding these exhilarating rapids!

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Suicidal Tendencies in Utah

The legendary Slick Rock trail in Moab, the Porcupine rim or the Gooseberry Mesa are just a few of the most scenic and technical mountain biking trails leading through the characteristic rocky terrain of Utah. However, with the popularity of mountain biking sky-rocketing these trails get crowded with avid mountain bikers from all over the world and locals alike, especially as they cannot be done year round due to snow cover in winter.  Luckily Utah is a big playground and its most Southern West corner has not been touched by mass tourism yet! All the more reasons to hop on a bike to explore its trails!

Keep biking!

Flying legends [San Francisco]

There are plenty of ways to take in the world famous landmark of San Francisco. From the land at one of the many viewing points or biking or walking the bridge, from the sea by boat or kayak, or… from the air! Flying over the Golden Gate Bridge in open WWII biplane aircraft is definitely a unique and unforgettable experience and the best way to see it in style!

Keep flying!