Backpacking, Hiking, Floating and Biking-
Adventures in the Utah Desert
Welcome to Desert Explorer. We are an online desert adventure resource featuring introductions to ultralight backpacking, hiking, floating the rivers and mountain biking the deserts and canyons of Utah, the Four Corners Region, and the Southwest.
"...wilderness is not a luxury, but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital
to our lives as water and good bread."
- Ed Abbey, Desert Solitaire
Our Mission: At Desert Explorer we offer summarized trip guides from locations in southern Utah and the Four Corners region. We provide information to help you plan your visit, offering the details to get you to the trailhead, including driving directions, mapsheet names and guidebooks recommendations when necessary. We also offer general information on the desert- on enjoying and even surviving your visit.
We discuss what gear you should carry, water and hydration, survival kits and survival situations, primitive skills, and hazards of the desert while backpacking and hiking. We also provide background information on the natural history- history, prehistory, geology and biology of the desert southwest.
As we travel and discover new locations of interest, new backpack trips, hikes, rides, floats and even places to stop and eat we will post this information by region and include the details you need to take advantage of it. Be sure to check back for new postings and trip guides regularly.
All feedback is greatly appreciated. If you use our guides, please let us know what you thought of them, how they worked for you, and if you had any issues with the information we provided. Click here to contact us through email. And please help support our site by supporting our advertisers- if you see a link of interest please follow it and take a look. On our Guidebooks page we have links to most of the titles we recommend. You can purchase them from Amazon.com through us, also helping support our site.
Finally, the disclaimer- we must state that all information contained in this website is for informational purposes only. We make no guarantees regarding what we present. We are not responsible for you and how you use our guides. We are not responsible for any injury, loss of property, expense incurred by you the reader, or loss of limb or life. The desert Southwest can be dangerous- people are seriously injured and even die each year attempting hikes or rides or floats or drives that they should not. You are on your own once you leave our site. Good luck and enjoy! For further information on the dangers of the desert visit our Words of Caution page.
All content at Desert Explorer is copyrighted- do not reuse or reprint any site content without permission.