Where to start?! I have so many great things to rave about when it comes to our experience with Jose at Epic Adventures.
Support your local Small Business:
The first thing to note is that Epic Adventures is small, privately owned small business, meaning you will be dealing only with Jose. Since he is only one person, he takes out small groups of 6 maximum, and you'll quickly feel like you're hanging out with friends as opposed to feeling like one in the masses. We were lucky to have caught Jose on a weekend where he was wide open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, so it was just two of us and Jose for three amazing days!
Day One: Rappelling (4 Hour Day)
Being from Chicago, we've never gotten the chance to learn to rappel, so we jumped at the opportunity to have Jose teach us. We met Jose at the trailhead to Tom's Thumb where he set us up with our gear, and then hiked a short way to a beautiful, quiet area. He was very informative, supportive, and makes sure to explain how it all works, and how secure it is. It's easy to trust in the process when you know how all the gear functions, and it's easy to trust in Jose! There are three different walls to rappel down, and Jose takes you through each one in order of difficulty. We got to rappel down each one 2-3 times due to it just being the two of us. It was an awesome experience and we would definitely do it again!
Day Two: Mountain Biking (4 Hour Day)
I had a complete blast this day! Jose came prepared with bikes, helmets, and water for us. As a beginner, we started at an old Jeep trail and went mostly downhill, a bonus considering it was over 90 degrees outside. After a little while we switched to a single track and this when the real fun started! We biked close to 30 miles and went on some gnarly tracks, including one Jose had never been on before with some crazy turns. Jose was proud of me for being a first timer and doing as well as I did, which just pumped me up even more. I would definitely do some more advanced tracks next time! The 4 hours flew by and when we were done I was left craving more.
Day Three: Canyoneering (Full Day)
I can't say enough about this. If you've never heard of Canyoneering, Google it. It's everything that is wonderful in this world. Jeep to the top, hike to the canyon, scramble through, natural water slides, swimming, sun, rappelling down a water fall.... Amazing! Jose is a great guide, and he took us to a secluded area that only locals know of. We ran in to a few of those locals down in the canyon and everyone was super friendly having as much fun as we were. He made sure to take pictures and sent us a YouTube link of a GoPro video he took of us this day; awesome memory to have!
Overall I feel like we made a friend with Jose, and I'm so glad we went with Epic Adventures. On our next trip to AZ, we will for sure being reaching out to Jose again. If I could give him more than a 5 star review, I definitely would.