Walking the Western US National Parks holiday

Planet

We spend a significant amount of time in five beautiful national parks on this tour, the main focus is to explore on foot. All entrance fees are included in our package and these go towards the continued conservation and protection of the resources by the National Park service.

Our Tour Leaders educate travellers on the landscapes they are walking through and advise all groups to keep to the path to minimise their impact and avoid disturbing wildlife. Setting the group size at a maximum of 13 also helps to mitigate our impact, allow us to use smaller vehicles and cause less disturbance whilst walking. We make use of the local shuttle services for getting around Grand Canyon National Park, giving the group a choice of walks and flexibility to discover the spectacular park at their own pace.

During the summer departures of this trip we camp for 6 nights, immersing ourselves nature in an energy efficient, wildlife-friendly and generally less wasteful way to enjoy the soak up the scenery of the national parks of this area. Camping is permitted in designated areas and we operate a leave no trace policy at the campsites.

As a travel company we are continually looking for ways to improve and are proud to be ‘Responsible in everything we do’. Education is key, and so all staff, Tour Leaders and partnering suppliers are trained in responsible and sustainable tourism. At our Head Office, we continually strive towards a sustainable and planet-friendly working environment, including having solar panels installed and a company commitment to reducing our plastic usage.

People

Our Tour Leader is American, and will guide us through the National Parks that they know so well. They have had ethical approach, are passionate about the environment and will share a great depth of knowledge about the culture and history of the country with the group.

We travel in small groups of 12-13 people to minimise the effects that large groups have when visiting remote areas and small villages. This allows us to stay in smaller properties and campsite and eat in more local establishments, while larger coachloads of 40-50 would need to eat in more touristy places.

We shop at local stores for picnic items, and our Tour Leader will encourage the group to eat in family-run restaurants and visit local shops whenever possible. This all brings economic benefit to the local communities that we visit.

As a company we have valuable and longstanding partnerships with UK charities Toilet Twinning and Send a Cow, plus many smaller initiatives and projects around the world. We’re members of the UK travel industry body AITO because we believe it’s important to share our knowledge and experience, as well as learn from other operators.