Active lifestyle: Vacationers today try to pack lots of adventure into a little time

Finding things to do isn't the problem. Finding time is, especially for today's active crowd.

Fewer and fewer vacationers are opting for the simpler life: Drive to the intended location, complete the planned activity, such as a long river trip, and then drive home.

The growing trend is to get as many activities squeezed into the available time as possible. That can go something like this: Hiking in the early morning, then saddling up for a horseback ride until noon, taking a half-day rafting trip, followed by a dip in the pool and an evening Hummer ride to see the sunset. Then it's back to the room for a short night's sleep, then scheduled biking, hiking, touring, ATV riding and even a go at rock climbing.

One survey says fewer than 8 percent of the vacationing public in America will take off for longer than a week. Seventy-two percent will take vacations ranging from three to seven days.

"And within the days they have," explained Myke Hughes, owner of Adrift Adventures, a rafting company in Moab, "they want to squeeze in as much as they can.

"As recent as 10 years ago, our most popular rafting trips were the longer trips, four and five days, on Cataract (Canyon) and Desolation. Now it's our one- and two-day trips. People want to experience the river but then want to go off and do something else."

Even the more passive travelers are looking for multiple activities, such as a raft trip, scenic flight, Hummer excursions and guided four-wheel-drive trips.

All of which has a number of companies joining together to offer packages.

"The individual travelers today have bought into the idea of packages. The travel industry introduced the packages, and now it's something people expect," said Colin Fryer, owner of Red Cliff Lodge, east of Moab along the Colorado River.

"The Internet has made it all possible. It's created a world of shoppers all looking for a good deal on a package that includes room, meals and a full range of activities . . . the more the better."

Few places in the country have fine-tuned the package market better than Moab. But then few places in the country have such a wide range of resources to draw from, all complemented by the close presence of two national parks, the Colorado River and a landscape unmatched anywhere else in the world.