From jeep tours to canyoneering, desert locales set the perfect backdrop for team-building and break-time activities. Outfitters and DMCs offer an abundance of innovative ways to include a desert adventure in a meetings program—often just minutes away from the hotel.
The Sonoran Desert spans 120,000 square miles in southwestern Arizona and southeastern California, including Palm Springs, and reaches down through most of Baja California. Not only is the region rich in biodiversity, it is ripe with ways for groups to explore its expanse.
Equally filled with adventure options are the desert environments of New Mexico and Utah, as well as the rugged canyons outside of Las Vegas.
Arizona
The Phoenix-Scottsdale area is especially flush with desert options, including a number of tours and programs offered by Arizona Outback Adventures.
Team building is a focus with options like the Desert Survivor program, which simulates a crash-landing in the Superstition Mountains where attendees must navigate to and from different checkpoints in the desert to gather essentials needed to build a camp. Teams then have two hours to work together and strategize the best way to build a protective shelter from the environment’s harsh elements.
The company has also adapted the theme of television show CSI into a group scavenger hunt format. With each member proficient in a specific navigational or crime-solving skill—map reader, team lead investigator, crime scene specialist, forensic technician—teams work together to work their way through a series of crime scenes. Following various checkpoints on a map, participants take a picture of each crime scene. Once the teams regroup and turn in the collected evidence, they receive additional clues to help solve the crime.
Another company offering unique options in the Phoenix and Scottsdale areas is Desert Wolf Tours, founded by Zev Nadler in 2007. The company owns a line of Tomcars, formerly military vehicles, which Nadler says are more comfortable than jeeps and easy to drive, allowing participants to get behind the wheel.
The company also teaches groups how to use firearms using paper targets and can put together a combined Sonoran desert off-road tour and point-and-shoot experience or create GPS treasure hunts.
Destination and Conference Services, a DMC based out of the Westin La Paloma Resort in Tucson, offers adventure as well as sightseeing for groups. One group option is a visit to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, which houses animals and reptiles native to the Sonoran desert and showcases minerals and gemstones from the environment. Tram rides through Sabino Canyon and visits to Kartchner Caverns are also popular.
For adventure, groups can arrange cattle drives on a 16,000-acre cattle ranch for all levels of horseback riding. Following the drive, the Cocoraque Ranch can host a rodeo or barbecue lunch or dinner.
"It’s the real thing and I think that’s why people like it," says Bobby Retz, managing director of Destination and Conference Services.
Also in Tucson, Southwest Trekking arranges hiking, biking, camping and climbing trips for groups. Its GPS scavenger hunt sends participants out to find pieces of a puzzle, usually depicting a company logo or theme of an event, with the group returning to put the puzzle back together.
"We can adapt anywhere, from the national forest service on trails to mountains, deserts or resort environments," says John Heiman, owner and president of Southwest Trekking. "It’s like geocaching and there can be an added twist. They find the geocache, in our case a puzzle piece, and maybe they leave a token in the cache of $10 or $20."
At the end, the tokens are collected and the group can write a check to its favorite charity.
Sedona Sojourns offers jeep adventure rides.
"Everybody likes the jeep rides because they take you to the backcountry and get away from tourism areas," says Judi Bloomfield, president and owner of Sedona Sojourns.
Aside from exploring the Red Rocks, groups can organize team-building options during nature walks, which are guided by local Native Americans. One option is for the group members to pick up various elements along the trails to construct their own arrows, or the group can build a shield together.
Groups return to their meeting venue and can set up an evening outdoors with Native American dance performances.
"They come away with a sense of vibrancy and energy," Bloomfield says.
The company also hosts themed events, some based at ranches such as Blazin’ M Ranch, or it can organize jeep tours to Coyote Canyon and set up a Western barbecue.
California
Heading to California’s Palm Springs area, a number of tour companies offer options for exploring the territory. Desert Adventures Eco-Tours and Events is the area’s oldest outdoor tour company.
"Our primary tour is our jeep tour, our signature program which is in its 23rd season," says Mary Dungans, owner of the company.
Groups of up to 100 can head out to the company’s private Desert Adventures Ranch in jeeps and visit a natural palm oasis, an old mining camp where attendees can pan for gold and see the Cahuilla Indian village. There are options to stop and hike in the canyons.
In the evening, the company offers its Desert Discovery parties, which can be customized. One popular option is to arrange a hold-up with gun fighters on the bus heading to the party site, the Old Mining Camp at the San Andreas Fault. Groups can also organize an educational experience with telescopes to study the night sky. Night jeep rides in the desert can be arranged, as can a competition with mechanical bulls.
"It allows planners on a limited budget to offer a lot for people to do," Dungans says.
There are also options for jeep rides to Joshua Tree National Park.
The Living Desert, an animal and botanical sanctuary in Palm Desert, is open to groups. Another venue is the Empire Polo Club, which boasts an expansive rose garden. The site hosts golf cart polo, where polo players drive the golf carts while group members sit shotgun, using polo mallets and a small rubber ball to play polo.
Utah
Utah caters to the outdoor enthusiast, including numerous adventure options in the Moab region. Moab Desert Adventures focuses on canyoneering and rappelling, which are used as team-building activities.
On the popular Morning Glory canyoneering excursion, participants rappel from the Morning Glory Arch into a canyon. The Entrajo Canyon half-day trip is more challenging, with attendees having to negotiate rappels and wade through chest-deep water balancing packs on their heads.
Other companies, such as Adrift Adventures and Moab Adventure Center, offer trips down the Colorado River, including lunch prepared fresh on the riverbanks.
Different outfitters sometimes work together to provide services for larger groups. Many companies also offer mountain bike trips taking advantage of the numerous trails in Moab.
Companies can also take groups on trips to Canyonlands National Park heading out on scenic motorized boat rides. Moab Adventure Center offers its Canyonlands by Night expedition, including a cowboy dinner and light show from the Moab II flat-bottomed jet boat.
New Mexico
From the Chihuahuan Desert near Carlsbad Caverns to the high desert of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains near Santa Fe, New Mexico teems with outdoor pursuits.
"This area is incredible as far as outdoor spaces," says Sally Lane, director of sales and co-owner of Destination Southwest.
The company works with outfitters to provide tours from Santa Fe or Albuquerque, including half-day llama treks that incorporate gourmet meals en route.
"Geocaching is also really big in the area," Lane says. "We’ve also done team building involving hot-air ballooning."
The company sets up competitions using a grid with a bullseye. Once attendees are in the balloons, they drop bean bags to hit the target, and the group with the most bags closest to the center wins.
Other options are rafting on the Rio Grande and skiing in winter.
Tour New Mexico offers floats on the Rio Grande and "funyaking" trips.
"A funyak is like a canoe and inflatable kayak combined—a two-man boat," says Tamara Chavez, president of the tour company. "It is good for team building because they have to work together. It’s survival of the fittest just trying to stay in the boat."
The area used is the Pilar Race Course, a five-mile stretch on the Rio Grande.
"One of our favorite outdoor places is a place called Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument overseen by Cochiti Puebo Indian tribe," Chavez says. "There are slot canyons and beautiful views of rock formations. There is hiking in the area—a three-mile walk up to the mesa top. Sometimes it’s led by a geologist, sometimes by a pueblo historian."
Santa Fe Mountain Adventures offers a number of options for groups, including the Sundowner Hikes and Outdoor Cooking Class tour, during which guides lead the group on a hike through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, near Santa Fe. The late afternoon hike can include stops to learn about flora and geology. Following the hike, a master chef meets the group for a cooking class and sundowner.
The company is partners with the Santa Fe School of Cooking and focuses on the Southwestern cooking experience, as the chef leads the group in preparing a sundowner meal in the mountains with the use of Dutch ovens.
Guided mountain biking is another focus of the company, and can be customized for a variety of skill levels, exploring the Santa Fe National Forest. Options run from an easy cruise along the scenic Santa Fe Rail Trail to the more challenging single-track of the Dale Ball Trails.
The DMC can also arrange for a cross-country skiing or snowshoe adventure in winter in the Santa Fe National Forest or northern New Mexico’s Valles Caldera National Preserve, an 89,000-acre property inside a collapsed volcano crater in the Jemez Mountains. Both tours follow animal tracks and teach about the area’s geology.
Another unique option is a Feast and Float with the tour company Los Rios River Runners, based in Taos, though float trips run on the Rio Grande just north of Albuquerque. The trips include information about the Native American pueblos in the area, including native foods and culture.
After floating for about an hour and a half, guests disembark to find a traditional meal awaiting them, prepared and served by a Pueblo family. The meal includes red chili stew, green chili stew, posole, calabacitas, oven bread or fry bread, and Indian tea. A pottery demonstration or dancing performance can be arranged.
Nevada
In Las Vegas, Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopters operates a variety of activities, including helicopter rides over the Las Vegas Strip or Grand Canyon itself. Various Grand Canyon rafting trips are available as well as Grand Canyon South Rim tours and tours to Monument Valley.
Destinations by Design can organize hiking, biking and horseback riding trips through Red Rock Canyon, as well as rafting trips on the Colorado River combined with visits to Hoover Dam. Destinations by Design can also set up team-building races at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Black Canyon River Adventures offers custom-designed group charters for 25 or more. The trips run along the Colorado River and offer the opportunity to see desert big horn sheep, osprey and great blue heron in their natural setting, as well as swim in the cool, clear waters below Hoover Dam.
Bootleg Canyon Flightlines runs two-and-a-half-hour zip line-style tours, picking up attendees along the Las Vegas Strip and heading out to the base of Red Mountain in Boulder City. With the flight line, participants are suspended seated
in a paragliding harness and are treated to jaw-dropping views of Las Vegas, Lake Mead and the Eldorado Valley.
One popular meeting venue near Las Vegas is the Springs Preserve, a 180-acre cultural institution, featuring museums, galleries, outdoor concerts and events, botanical gardens and an interpretive trail system through a wetland habitat.
The centerpiece of the Springs Preserve is the Desert Living Center, with 43 interactive exhibits, classroom and meeting space, and gardens that explore sustainable solutions to environmental issues.
Mexico
Mexico’s Baja Peninsula is a haven for adventure seekers. The DMC Maritur offers a number of adventure options, including Canopy at the Desert, during which groups journey to the Costa Azul canyon for a zip line ride above river canyon.
The company’s ATV and buggy tours traverse river beds and dirt roads passing waterfalls and canyons, or attendees can arrange desert hikes through the Sierras, including a chance to swim in freshwater pools.
Land’s End DMC (www.landsenddmc.com) appropriately leads the Land’s End horseback riding tours at the La Sanluquena Rodeo stable, located at the entrance to Cabo San Lucas. Horseback rides follow along desert trails and afford views of the Arch at Land’s End on the way. The company also offers ATV tours in the Arroyo el Migrino.
Another DMC, Tropical Incentives, leads groups in a variety of activities and excursions, including jeep and snorkeling tours to Cabo Pulmo, a national park with the only living coral reef on the western coast of North America. The reef houses approximately 200 species of tropical fish.
The company also offers private snorkeling and sunset cruises and surfing lessons on the Pacific, as well as whale-watching tours operated in season from January through March.
