These guys totally made my first Moab trip. I spent eleven - yes 11 - days hiking with them. I…read morehave never hired guides for anything before when travelling, and certainly didn't think I would hire any to hike with as I hike with some regularity back home. After spending every day the week before my trip listening to my dad practically have a coronary over the situation (he could stress over anything and basically still thinks that I am four), and my friends who all pretty much insisted I hire someone due to my incessant ability to get lost (I call this wandering and an adventure) and my somewhat questionable take on risk, at the last minute I decided to hire Hike Moab for most of my stay. This was hands down the best decision I could have made.
As I had more than the average tourist's time to play in town, my only real requirement was that they show me something cool every single day - their pick, it just had to be cool. This is one of those very rare times when I wish Yelp had more than five stars, because Hike Moab delivered and then some.
Both Micah and Paul were awesome. Paul is a thru-hiker with a serious amount of knowledge about hiking, backpacking, and wildflowers (and a ton of other stuff). If you spend any time with him I suggest picking his brain because he has a wealth of information in there. Micah appears to know every amazing spot in Moab and the surrounding areas, has a solid understanding of the area's history/geology and is a great source of local information, geared the hikes to both my ability and desired outcomes, worked with my scheduling needs, and is likely responsible for my incessant drive to get back to the desert as I think I may now love this area as much as he does.
I've given some thought as to what types of people might be a good fit, and I've pretty much decided that anyone should hire Hike Moab if they are in town. I would absolutely trust them with my parents (in their 70's and 80's), my niece and nephew (8 and 6 and questionably behaved), and my friends who come from all walks of life.
As for where to go, that really depends on you. If you only have half a day to spend in Arches, then maybe just have them hit the highlights for you. If I were to hire them for my parents, this is likely what I would choose. For my friends who hike, I still suggest hiring them for Tower Arch and Devils Garden - Tower is a little tricky to get to, and Devils Garden because it is a primitive trail that is a bit easy to get turned around on. I also suggest hiring them if you are going anywhere off the main beaten path in Canyonlands - ie you are getting out of your car for more than three miles. There are also endless amazing local Moab area hikes - I vote for taking a day Behind the Rocks - if I lived in Moab I'd be in those canyons at least once a weekend.
Tips:
Be honest about where you are at physically and what you want to do. I had foot surgery before this trip, and I get vertigo which is often set off by heights (yes I know going to Utah is questionable in this regard). I let Micah know both of these things when I hired them. He was great about making sure that hikes were geared to my physical limitations, and I think that letting them know upfront will help ensure that you have great hikes that suit your individual needs.
Bring a bandana - even if you don't use it on your hike, you are likely to use it at least once in Moab, and I cannot overestimate how happy I was to have one.
I'm coming back to Moab as soon as possible, and I will absolutely hire Hike Moab again.
