Gateway Canyons Resort & Spa

Close Encounters in the Colorado Desert

"Set beneath a 300-million-year-old butte called the Palisade, this desert oasis sprawls through a primeval red rock canyon. Founded by Discovery Channel creator John Hendrix, it feels like a little bit of Eden in a place that looks a lot like Mars, with pools, restaurants, and a spa spread across a green, campus-like layout and a central museum for Hendrix’s classic cars. Most fellow guests I met were from the region and there for a relaxing spa resort vacation, but I came to explore: a UTV ride to a plateau where our guide pointed out the only canyon in the world where water runs off in two directions, talk of fish fossils in the sandstone and nearby dinosaur tracks, horseback rides under the mountains, and solitary hikes on the rugged trails behind the resort. Evenings ended back at my casita suite, stargazing on the backyard lounger under the Palisade, the novelty never wearing off—punctuated once by a burst of primal adrenaline when two white‑tailed deer exploded from the brush." - Mitchell Friedman