Camp Verde, AZ Outdoor Activities

Sculpted through the desert and framed by distant mountain peaks, Wickenburg Country Club's 18-hole course roams across 6,320 yards of dazzling terrain. Fresh off an October 2011 overseeding, the course's fairways, greens, and tee boxes blanket the arid terrain with a thick carpet of immaculately mown grass stitched by palm trees, intervening waterways, and tumbleweeds that generously lead golfers to wayward balls. The course bounds over naturally undulating terrain that creates numerous uphill and downhill shots, which gives an advantage to players who trust their yardages and can handle sidehill lies. After rounds, players can continue honing their game at the driving range, check out golf apparel at the pro shop, or drink in views of the rolling, sandstone-hued tundra amid the adobe accents of the clubhouse patio, where clubbers can recapitulate memorable shots or interrogate each other's 9-irons about the veracity of their owners' scorecard.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 71 course
• Length of 6,320 yards from the farthest tees
• Course rating of 70.5 from the farthest tees
• Slope rating of 128 from the farthest tees
• Three tee options
• Link to scorecard

Since hosting their first class in 1989, Arizona Climbing and Adventure School's instructors have sent an estimated 37,000 students scurrying up the earth's craggy cliffs. Instead of learning climbing in an indoor facility, participants climb nature’s precipices outdoors upon the Southwest's cliffs and mountains. Adventurer and school director Mark Brontsema guides his students and fellow instructors by a philosophy that emphasizes self-reliance, goal setting, and teamwork. He now brings more than three decades to his post as school director, taking time from a busy schedule that includes writing gear reviews for the New York Times.

The school offers a large number of courses that target students of varying skill levels and reveal technique secrets in small groups of two to six students. Classes may focus on rappelling and anchors, guide services, and equipment-free bouldering, which relies solely on the climber's hands, feet, and retractable suction cups. Adventure courses include day trips and overnight climbing excursions, while special workshops address topics such as backpacking, being an ecologically responsible climber and hiker, and using GPS devices.

Front Range Climbing Company offers some of the best guided rock climbing in Colorado. Try our climbing instruction from the very basics of the sport to the cutting edge of technical climbing. Our climbing classes don't stop at the end of the summer but continue through the winter months.

The guides at Arizona Trail Horse Adventures lead sightseers on horseback rides through Dead Horse Ranch State Park and the Verde Valley. Horse and rider traverse a variety of terrain, crossing barren riverbeds, trotting through high desert, or pondering the duality of cottonwood trees, all while absorbing the beautiful scenery of their surroundings. The trails pose numerous opportunities to spot the wild animals indigenous to the region, including great blue heron, black hawks, beavers, and mule deer. On the 180-minute Monument Loop Trail, peeled peepers can spot the Tuzigoot National Monument, which displays the remains of a Native American pueblo.

Recommended by Frommer's travel guide, Unicorn Balloon Company leads guided excursions through the aerial spectacles of the Sonoran Desert's landscapes and environs. Smoothly ascending sunrise and sunset tours provide an easygoing and elevated trip through the panoramic desert and mountain terrain, which includes resilient flora such as saguaro cacti, palo verde trees, and distant mountain ranges assembled by packs of Paleolithic tailgaters. The wicker baskets float above vegetation and discreetly hover over animal habitats, with occasional views of coyotes, jackrabbits, desert mule deer, and javelinas. Each 100-foot balloon drifts at heights from just above treetop levels to 3,000 feet above the ground, carefully following wind currents to prevent turbulence and stay on the scent trail of musky airplane pilots.

After retiring from competitive professional cycling, Scott Keller and Will Geurts decided to share the joys of the worldview from atop a bike with the next generation of cyclists. The pair conducts anywhere from two-hour to five-day forays into Sedona’s airy wilderness, providing expert coaching to riders throughout the desert journey through towering red-rock formations under a never-ending sky. Their solid advice and encouragement keep pedals moving and the scenery rolling past as they imbue others with the passion that led them to spend a lifetime with the sport and replace the lower half of their bodies with bicycle frames.