weekender.
Weekend trips from Grand Canyon University
Hidden spots near Phoenix, day trips and weekend road trips from Grand Canyon University in November, scored 1–10 on price, timing and what's happening, with gas, park fees, a campsite or room and food included.
Plan your own trip from Grand Canyon University →Local finds near campus
Camelback Mountain
Phoenix's steep scramble of a hike, best at sunrise before the heat.
Salt River tubing & wild horses
Float the Salt River in summer past wild horses grazing on the banks.
Day trips
Lost Dutchman & the Superstitions
Jagged desert mountains with a legend of hidden gold, 45 minutes from Tempe.
Tonto Natural Bridge
Probably the largest natural travertine bridge in the world, with a waterfall through it.
Prescott & the Granite Dells
Lumpy granite boulders around a blue lake, and Whiskey Row's old saloons.
Jerome
A former 'wickedest town in the West' clinging to a mountainside, now galleries and a ghost-town museum.
Tucson
Sonoran hot dogs, a white mission in the desert and the country's best Mexican food.
Sedona
Red rock buttes, slot-canyon swimming holes and a dark-sky town (Red Rock Pass $5 a car).
Weekend trips
Tucson
Sonoran hot dogs, a white mission in the desert and the country's best Mexican food.
Sedona
Red rock buttes, slot-canyon swimming holes and a dark-sky town (Red Rock Pass $5 a car).
Lake Havasu
The original London Bridge, rebuilt in the desert, and warm-water coves for boats and paddleboards.
Flagstaff
The world's first dark-sky city, a Route 66 downtown and snow in winter.
Salvation Mountain & Salton Sea
A hand-painted hill, Slab City's off-grid art town and the eerie shores of the Salton Sea.
Petrified Forest
Rainbow logs of stone and the Painted Desert's badlands along old Route 66.
Long weekends
Joshua Tree
Twisted trees, boulder scrambles and some of the darkest skies near LA.
Valley of Fire
Swirling red and pink sandstone, petroglyphs and the Fire Wave, an hour past Las Vegas.
Anza-Borrego & Borrego Springs
Giant metal dinosaur sculptures in the desert, wildflowers in spring and a dark-sky town.
Salvation Mountain & Salton Sea
A hand-painted hill, Slab City's off-grid art town and the eerie shores of the Salton Sea.
Lake Havasu
The original London Bridge, rebuilt in the desert, and warm-water coves for boats and paddleboards.
Petrified Forest
Rainbow logs of stone and the Painted Desert's badlands along old Route 66.
Personalize it
Set your budget, how many friends are coming, your car (or no car: train and bus), and what you're into (hiking, beaches, camping, stargazing, food and more), and Weekender re-ranks every trip for you, with a day-by-day plan, directions and campsites.
Find my trips from Grand Canyon University →