Class Archives

Below are classes we have run in the past, but they provide a good idea of what we do! Grand Circle Field School holds its signature Sampler classes annually at each public lands area we serve. We run at least one river trip and kayak trip, and several Lodge and Learn classes per year. If you see something you like or something you'd like to see, drop us a line...we'll let you know when the class will run again.

Click here to view all of our 2008 classes!

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RIVER/LAKE TRIPS

9-DAY SAN JUAN RIVER RAFTING TRIP TO CLAY HILLS
Instructors: Brad Dimock, RJ Johnson, Greg Woodall, Gary Ladd

The rowdy and remarkable San Juan River is award-winning author/artist Ann Zwinger’s special favorite! Savor the river with Ann and our exceptional instructors on the ultimate river trip through the archaeology, geology, botany, human history and red rock scenery of southeast Utah.

Known for its swirling currents, sand waves and feisty rapids, the San Juan has a gradient steeper than that of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon. It loops us through the labyrinthine canyons of the Goosenecks, past ancient ruins, pictographs, petroglyphs and geologic wonders nearly impossible to visit by any other means. The spirited little river delivers us to the foot of amazing side canyons—Slickhorn Gulch, Grand Gulch and Whirlwind Draw—where we’ll hike to hidden grottos, waterfalls, quiet pools and hanging gardens.

DESOLATION CANYON DORY BOAT TRIP
Instructors: Brad Dimock and RJ Johnson

The spirited Green River dives through the 10,000-foot-high Tavaputs Plateau to form a gorge deeper than Grand Canyon. Contrary to what

Above: Experience the thrill of navigating a river in a traditional dory boat.
Photo © Alisa and Richard Quist.

their names suggest, Desolation Canyon and Gray Canyon reveal intricately carved walls of rust, green, gray, and a thousand shades in between. These remote and magnificent canyons and alcoves reveal prehistoric Fremont Indian petroglyphs and the abandoned homesteads of frontier families: they are a holdout of the Old West where Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch hid from the law.

Savor the river with author, historian and boatman Brad Dimock and our exceptional instructors on the ultimate river trip through the archaeology, geology, botany, human history and red rock scenery of southeast Utah in traditional beloved-by-river-runners dory boats.

Moki Mac River Expeditions, an authorized BLM permittee, is outfitting the trip.

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Lodge & Learn Getaways!

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Not into camping? No worries — Lodge & Learn classes are based out of the historic Lees Ferry Lodge in the Vermilion Cliffs of Northern Arizona. Tuition includes room, breakfast, lunch, daily afternoon snack, and dinner at the Lodge’s restaurant.

BEST OF THE WEST STORYTELLERS
(aka: "The Lees Ferry Liars' Club")
A Lodge & Learn Getaway!
Instructors: Brad Dimock, Scott Thybony & Tony Norris )
GCFS Instructors include some of the very best story tellers in the West. These guys have been so entertaining in the past that we've decided to turn them loose for a weekend filled with all the fun of dark skies, roaring campfires and great stories and songs. Delight in the great outdoors while enjoying all the comforts of Lees Ferry Lodge.

Class Highlights:
· Daily hikes in the Vermilion Cliffs and
the Lees Ferry Area
· Evening stories around the campfire
· Cowboy songs and poetry

CONDORS & RAPTORS OF THE VERMILLION CLIFFS
A Lodge & Learn Getaway!
Instructors: Chris Parish (Director of the California Condor Reintroduction Project), Richard Reynolds, PhD (National Forest Service Research Wildlife Biologist), Bill Heinrich (Peregrine Fund Species Restoration Manager), and Shawn Farry (Mexican Wolf Reintroduction Project Field Team Leader)

Delight in the heartwarming success stories of the California
Condor and the Peregrine falcon and their narrow escapes
from extinction as told by the folks who made it happen!
Amusing anecdotes, fantastic stories, and fascinitatting facts.

Learn more about goshawks and the National Forest
Service project to protect them through habitat
management. Also, hear about Arizona's Mexican Wolf
Reintroduction Project.

Class Highlights:
· Enjoy daily hikes & field programs
· Visit the Peregrine Fund’s California
Condor Reintroduction Project HQ
· Visit the Condor release site on top
of Vermilion Cliffs to view the birds in
pens and in flight
· Learn through raptor identification
classes and birding in the field
· Relax and enjoy entertaining
evening programs

Above: Witness the heroic return of the California Condor.
Photo © Christie VanCleve.

STARS ABOVE; STRATA BELOW
A Lodge & Learn Getaway!
Instructors: Ivo Lucchitta, Ph.D., and Gary Ladd
Vermilion Cliffs is well known for its dark skies and brilliant stars. Contemplate the age of the universe and stellar evolution and enjoy outdoor star talks. No less spectacular than the stars, the geological features of the area inspire awe. Learn geology in the ultimate classroom at the base of the Vermilion Cliffs, the rim of Marble Canyon and in the greater Glen Canyon area.

Class Highlights:
· Daily hikes & programs in the field
· Visit Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend Overlook
· Hike up Cathedral Rock & Chocolate Cliffs
· Geology seminars and classes in the field
· Evening star programs

Cowboy Songs & Indian Star Stories
A Lodge & Learn Getaway!
Instructors: Bryan Bates and Tony Norris
Between the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River and the Utah state boundary lies an area fondly called the Arizona Strip. This colorful land of vivid, towering, swirling red rocks boasts an equally colorful history blending the cultures of Native Americans, Spanish explorers and Anglo settlers. Join us as we bask in the song, stories and science that portray the lore of this mythic place.

Explore the ruins, rock art and historic ranches of the area and savor its dark skies. Learn how the ancient Puebloan ancestors used the movement of the sun, moon and stars as a calendar mechanism and how the heavens permeated their mythology. Learn about the settlement of the areas through stories, poems, historical accounts, tall tales, and songs in a tantalizing blend of education and entertainment around an evening “campfire’.

Class Highlights:
· Visit historic Lonely Dell Ranch
· Visit ancient ruins and petroglyph sites
· Stargazing
· Cowboy songs, poetry and stories
· Build a solar calendar wall

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Above: The Jones Benally Family Dancers.

SAMPLERS

GLEN CANYON SAMPLER
For 2006, a new twist on the classic GCFS Sampler! As always, we’ll hike and talk geology, but we’ll focus on the fascinating multicultural historyof the Lees Ferry Area. Situated where the mighty Colorado River emerges from the towering red rock cliffs of Glen Canyon and dives into Grand Canyon, this area was geologically graced--it provided the access across the river to the Arizona-Utah borderlands that was key to native and modern cultures’ settlement of the region. The Mormon Church sent John D. Lee to the spot to operate a ferry to help its pioneers cross the river; hence the name Lees Ferry.

Camp in comfort and enjoy great meals while experiencing 5 days of geology, history, archeology, biology, botany and birds with rich, hands-on, in-the-field instruction from
the pros. Each sampler class offers an array of hikes—so you can choose your level of difficulty.

Our base camp at the foot of Lees Backbone on the Navajo side of the Colorado River will provide comfortable camping with excellent meals. Enjoy entertaining instructors, spectacular Navajo dance and song performances and cowboy poetry. Day hike to great locations like Lees Backbone, Fall Canyon and Spenser’s Trail and float the Colorado River from the Glen Canyon Dam to Lees Ferry.

VERMILION CLIFFS SAMPLER
Experience the ultimate classroom — in the breathtaking, brilliant Vermilion Cliffs. Explore Wire Pass, Buckskin and Paria Canyons, and Coyote Buttes. Delight in sweeping red rock sandstone sculpted by wind and water, slot canyons, ancient rock art and archeological sites. Base camp is the Stateline Campground on the Arizona/Utah border in House Rock Valley at the foot of the Vermilion Cliffs.

GRAND CANYON-PARASHANT SAMPLER
For those who need cushier accommodations — Camp or bunk with full bath & shower facilities in Nixon Cabin in the peaceful pine forest of Mt. Trumbull. Explore the remote rugged deep canyons, mountains and lonely buttes of this vast monument and wilderness area. Enjoy magnificent panoramic vistas taking in all of Grand Canyon to Grand Staircase.

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BACKPACKING TRIPS

VERMILION CLIFFS NM/PARIA CANYON BACKPACK
Instructors: Gary Ladd and Mike Anderson
Spilling off the Paria Plateau, the Paria River has sculpted a series of sinuous canyons in ancient sandstone. Explore the geologic forces that shaped this network of slot canyons and water’s role in a delicate desert ecosystem. From the Puebloan peoples to the Mormon pioneers, learn about man’s connection to this storied landscape.

ESCALANTE HIKE/BACKPACK
Instructor: Christa Sadler
Follow in the footsteps of dinosaurs, Ancient Ones, pioneers, artists and poets in this exquisitely beautiful land of slickrock plateaus, deep slot canyons and soaring arches as we examine the role that geology, geography and ecology have played in its remarkable natural and human history.

Our trip will combine backpacking and base camping/dayhiking in the area between Hurricane Wash and Davis Gulch on the south side of the Escalante River—an area made famous by wanderer Everett Ruess and the Hole in the Rock Mormon pioneers.

RAINBOW BRIDGE & NAVAJO MOUNTAIN AREA BACKPACK
Traverse the often overlooked labyrinth of beautiful canyons from the slopes of Navajo Mountain to Rainbow Bridge and Lake Powell. We’ll arrive at Rainbow Bridge by tour boat via Lake Powell and pass under the bridge to spend a week in the wild tangle of sandstone canyons beyond that climb towards the summit of Navajo Mountain. We’ll sometimes follow the canyon bottoms, sometimes scramble up cracks away from the canyons, sometimes climb buttes and sometimes “sticky-shoe” up Anasazi toehold routes. Three of our seven days will be fully devoted to day-hiking. Join us for a backpack loop into the wrinkled, folded and lovely landscapes beyond the foot of the rainbow.

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See What's Available Today...

View our 2008 Classes and sign up today for the trip of a lifetime!

Above: Monsoons release curtains of rain over Lava Falls Rapid. View from Toroweap Overlook looking west.
Photo by Gary Ladd.

Above: San Juan takeout at Clay Hills.
Photo courtesy of OARS.

View photos of kayaking on Lake Powell

View photos of San Juan River trip

View more photos (variety of trips)

View photos from Glen Canyon area

"... I now feast on beautiful memories. Almost a week later, I still get sustenance from the reoccurrence of colorful images and ideas from that trip..."
— Judy Gerber