This fall, visitors to the Colorado Plateau will have the opportunity to see plants they won’t find in their local nursery and to go to a house on the edge of a cliff through two new tours. In September, the Grand Canyon Conservancy’s Field Institute (GCCFI) will partner with Utah-based tourism company Ancient Wayves on a seven-day expedition to the Cedar Mesa and Grand Canyon areas ($2,800 per person). Visitors will learn about the area’s nature and archaeology through the lens of the indigenous cultures who first called it home. Plus, if the plants are ripe, they’ll get to try locally sourced tea and traditional foods such as ash bread, a fluffy, tortilla-like treat, says Louis Williams, owner of Ancient Wayves and a guide for the expedition. “We go back in time and see how our ancestors lived,” Williams says. GCCFI senior program coordinators Laura Beutelman and Chris Zielinski were wowed on a test tour with Williams. “Just the amount of information he shared during that time” was impressive, Beutelman says. “You know, we’re guides, and we’ve been in the industry for a while, and it was really special for us to be able to experience that. So, for those who are new to it, I think it’s going to be even more special.” From August to December, GCCFI will also offer a tour of the Kolb Studio, a cliffside home where Emery and Ellsworth Kolb, artist brothers who performed risky photography stunts to highlight the beauty of the Grand Canyon, lived.
