About Our Arizona Tours: I cannot imagine any adventure company better suited and more qualified than Southwest Discoveries. to lead hiking and outfitting tours in the Southwest. They are the best. Their trips are intelligently planned and carried out, meeting or exceeding all environmental standards. I cannot recommend anyone more highly for Tucson hiking guides, hikes in Tucson tours, best hikes in Tucson, and guided hiking tours near me. From hiking in Tucson Arizona to day trips from Tucson, Southwest Discoveries. offers the best hikes near Tucson AZ and beyond. Explore the hiking trails in Tucson with the experts.

 

 

  • I just cannot overstate the value you and Southwest Discoveries have brought to my life both in enrichment of interaction with nature and adventure, and with amazing, wonderful people. Absolutely a grace. Mitch Stevens has a passion for nature, conservation, and interaction with Arizona’s lands that is rarely equaled. He interprets the natural world, and especially geology, with charisma and charm that make his outings extremely popular in the Southwest. He leads outings safely, thoughtfully, and with amazing knowledge and planning.

    Keith BagwellSierra Club,

  • Unrivaled guided hiking tours. Unbelievable culinary experiences. Unparalleled adventures. You have many travel companies to choose from, but Southwest Discoveries is a little bit different. Our unique itineraries put expert guides on your side for every new adventure, bringing you up close and personal with the desert in ways you can't experience on your own.

    Eric MorrisonTucson, Arizona

DISCOVER THE SOUTHWEST

Inspired Exploration


Every Southwest Discoveries guide has tested the waters, explored the trails, and gone through each adventure before bringing guests along for the ride. That experience works in your favor, helping you see the trails, the tours, and the backwoods through a local perspective. Through our familiarity with the region, you get access to the gold standard for style, service, and that the Southwest region has to offer adventurers at heart.


Authentic Discovery

Southwest Discoveries offers adventure tours to multi-generational groups. Regardless of age, experience level, or background, if you have a sense of adventure, want to break a little further away from your comfort zone and be enriched and awed by extraordinary places, our trips are designed for you!


Is Adventure Travel for You?

Culture, history, and information can change the way you see the world. Our knowledgeable guides share hidden gems that reveal new perspectives, allowing you to see the Southwest in ways the everyday traveler cannot.


Every tour is personalizing to your preferences. If you don’t feel comfortable with a portion of the trip, talk to us before you travel, and we’ll let you know what other options are available to you.


Rich Insights

Our guides have led hikes, canyoneering tours and backpacking outings for the Sierra Club, the world’s leading conservation group.


It is our hope that after experiencing these lesser trodden and sometimes endangered places, you will feel inspired to help preserve these wonders. By doing so, those who succeed us in time will not be denied the chance to be filled with that same awe that brings forth all that is best in us.


Conservation

Guiding people through the lesser trodden places since 2006

  • 2006

    Foundation

    Experienced in Southwest Adventure

    Mitch Stevens is the founder and lead guide of Southwest Discoveries.

    After growing up surrounded by asphalt, Mitch pursued an education at City College of New York. After graduating with a degree in geology, he eagerly left the confines of the city and he and his wife moved to Tucson, Arizona in 1984.

    Mitch came to discover the great outdoors and fall in love with Arizona’s special places. Through his countless trips across the state and region, Mitch made it his mission to encourage fellow hikers and enthusiasts to protect the beauty of the desert. After leading Sierra Club outings since 2006, Mitch saw a fresh opportunity to share the beauty of the Southwest through the lens of conservation.

    The core mission of the Sierra Club is to explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of the earth. John Muir, who founded the Sierra Club in 1892, was the most famous and influential conservationist and naturalist on the planet. He believed that by partaking in adventurous activities such as hiking and backpacking, they would fall in love with wild places and want to protect them. That is the core mission of Southwest Discoveries.

    Today, Mitch continues to serve as outings chairman for the Rincon Group of the Sierra Club in Tucson while leading personalized guided hiking tours across the Southwestern region of the United States. He also makes regular presentations at Canyon Ranch about the “Islands in the Sky and the Southwest Monsoon.”

Mitch Stevens

Barry Infuso has a rich history of pairing culinary experiences with Southwest discoveries.

Barry began his career after graduating from Prescott College and the University of California at Berkley. His education allowed him to receive a California Culinary Academy Grande Diploma and Master of Science in Nutritional Anthropology.

After graduating, Barry worked for ten years as the food editor for Tucson Lifestyle Magazine and five years on a TV cooking segment for KGUN-9, Tucson. He also served on the Board of Directors for Tucson City of Gastronomy for seven years, was President of the Chef’s Association of Southern Arizona for ten years and was Director of Slow Food for Southern Arizona for thirty years. He has also served two years as a Certified Travel Ambassador, three years as a Docent with the Tucson Visitors Center, and 22 years as a part-time guide for Canyon Ranch.

Through his work, he won the Canyon Ranch Foundation Food Pioneer Award for his work with Pasqua Yaqui Community and the Outstanding Volunteer Award for the American Heart Association.

Today, Barry is one of the distinguished Southwest Discoveries guides, leading culinary tours around Tucson and personalized hiking tours on Arizona trails.

Barry Infuso

Eric Morrison, M.A. is a long-term K-12 and college educator in Tucson, retiring as Department Chair for Academic Skills at Pima Community College. A major focus of his work has been with lower-literacy adults and those with disabilities, and he worked intensively with the American Institutes for Research in Washington, D.C., conducting research and writing articles on assistive technologies. He has long enjoyed hiking, backpacking, and canyoneering, and is an enthusiast photographer with images published for websites, juried art periodicals, magazines, and an academic textbook. He enjoys helping others see new perspectives and elements in the desert, and considering options for composition in the Southwest.

Eric Morrison

Eric Morrison, M.A. is a long-term K-12 and college educator in Tucson, retiring as Department Chair for Academic Skills at Pima Community College. A major focus of his work has been with lower-literacy adults and those with disabilities, and he worked intensively with the American Institutes for Research in Washington, D.C., conducting research and writing articles on assistive technologies. He has long enjoyed hiking, backpacking, and canyoneering, and is an enthusiast photographer with images published for websites, juried art periodicals, magazines, and an academic textbook. He enjoys helping others see new perspectives and elements in the desert, and considering options for composition in the Southwest.

GET IN TOUCH

We love talking to our guests!

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CONTACT

Information

  • Address

    9420 East Golf Links Rd. #122

  • Email

    info@southwestdiscoveries.com

  • Phone

    888-882-2282

  • Local Phone

    520-722-6860

WE LOVE HEARING FROM ADVENTURE SEEKERS



Ready to start your next adventure? Contact Southwest Discoveries today to speak directly with a tour guide. Ask questions about our tours, get details about personalized guided hikes for groups, conferences, or partnerships, and learn more about what awaits you in the Southwest.

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