America’s national parks are also a national treasure. These vast landscapes have inspired authors, politicians, artists and nature-lovers the world over, and now our guides and guests too.
Join us in exploring our national parks.
National parks: Our Favorite Guide and Guest Photos
An Ode to Our Parks
An ode to our parks by Tony Ferlisi, Guide, Trip Designer, outdoor enthusiast and friend.
Thoreau and Muir spoke of cathedrals, refuges, sanctuaries and temples;
Home to bison, bighorn, grizzly bear and salmon;
We walk in the footsteps of Eastern Cherokee, Piegan, Blackfeet, Southern Paiute and Eastern Shoshone;
While the springtime scent of basin sagebrush, blue spruce, flowering lupines and rhododendron paint the breeze;
Our hands reach out to grasp texture: Wingate sandstone, polished granite, Madison limestone, tholeiitic basalt;
Socks removed, toes dig into Appalachian clay, plunge into glacial run-off, wriggle in the desert sun;
Read names: Grand Prismatic, Going to the Sun, Weeping Wall, Wizard Island;
These places are gifted by our ancestors and borrowed from our grandchildren;
These places are a legacy, a home, a story;
These places are cherished and celebrated;
These places: our National Parks.
Soak in the beauty of our national parks
Top 5 Trips: Multisport
Find your rush with exotic adventures that go beyond the bike and show you a whole new side to some of the most exotic locales around the world. Here are our top 5 trips for the those who want to bike, hike, and explore the wild world.
Exotic, beautiful and exhilarating, our Costa Rica vacation is full of tropical rides with exciting stops along the way. You’ll raft down the incredible Rio Balsa, relax in the pool with a view of Arenal Volcano, discover the ancient secrets of chocolate on a rainforest chocolate tour, enjoy a boat cruise across Lake Arenal, zip line through the Cloud Forest, take a surfing lesson and watch a Pacific Ocean sunset from the back of a horse. It’s about as adventurous as it gets in one of the most picturesque places on earth.
From the majestic living glaciers and steep fjords of the Kenai Peninsula, north to the lonesome gravel roads of the interior outpost of Talkeetna and skyward to 20,310’ Mt. Denali, this is one experience sure to blow your mind at every turn. Explore the wonders of one of the last great American ski towns around Alyeska Resort, hop a train and marvel at the 360 degree views under the shadow of the massive Chugach range, raft the glacially fed Susitna River then pedal your bike through the alders along the Chase Trail past grizzly and moose tracks. And that’s just the start.
Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands
Ecuador is like no other place on Earth and our multisport journey from the Andean highlands to the Galápagos Islands will show you why. South America’s fourth-smallest country boasts the world’s greatest biodiversity per square mile. As you travel by bus, bike, foot, boat and plane, you will encounter species of birds, plants, reptiles and amphibians that will educate, inform and take your breath away. From the Guango Cloud Forest Reserve to Santa Cruz Island in the Galápagos this trip is groud zero for adventure and ecodiversity.
Embrace the wilds of Wyoming in the shadow of the majestic Teton Range. You’ll get to know the open countryside and resident moose as you ride under the banner of stunning views that make the peaks of Grand Teton National Park famous. You’ll hike to hidden alpine lakes and waterfalls, learn the stories of this unique and amazing landscape from local wildlife experts and journey northward to Yellowstone National Park to bear witness to the wonders of Old Faithful and Yellowstone Falls. And did we mention whitewater rafting the famous Snake River Canyon?
Glacier National Park isn’t just another protected wildlife site in northwest Montana. It’s one of Mother Nature’s most prized possessions, crammed end-to-end with snow-capped peaks, blue skies, moose, big-horn sheep, mountain goats, aspen trees and inspiration. As you ride the smooth pavement of Going-to-the-Sun Road, your soundtrack will include the echo of Bird Woman Falls and the vast silences of the hinterland. There’s no better time to visit this undiscovered country, because only 25 glaciers remain, and with every passing day, they get a little smaller.
See our other Top 5 trip collections.
A Day in Zion
Summer is ending soon, but that doesn’t mean the fun should! Join us in Zion National Park this fall and make your “summer vacation” last just a bit longer! It’s time to sit back and relax (or lean forward and pedal your heart out) and pretend like you’re a kid at summer camp.
It’s not often that we find ourselves within a group of people we don’t know, but all with a similar interest: a desire to explore by bicycle. Many might find a two-hour ride in a ten-person passenger van with a group of strangers quite uneasy or claustrophobic. As the initial shy kid at camp, these thoughts crept into my head while packing my bags to meet my group on Day 1. But I quickly forgot about that when I caught sight of the scenery just outside of St. George. Cue entire van jaw-drop. I’m a Midwesterner who’s accustomed to rolling green hills, cornfields, and forests, so this new landscape had me clutching my iPhone in camera mode the entire shuttle to Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. After prancing around in the sand like a little girl at the beach (note: there are no bodies of water here), I met back with the group for a picnic before our ride. Food always has a way of bringing people together, just like it did at camp when I was ten and I was beaming ear to ear and chatting away.
After twenty-six miles through a vast desert landscape, I satisfied my inner child-like craving to visit with the ‘farm’ animals at Zion Mountain Ranch before sitting down to dinner with my new friends (the other guests, not the animals). Chickens scurried over my toes, horses tried nibbling my fingers, and a foreign sense of delight swept over me as I felt like I was back at the summer state fair. Except the chaos of the fair was nowhere to be found, and the sunset in the distance was starting to blanket the Ranch in hues of blue and pink—a sight that I didn’t appreciate enough as a child.
As we rode west closer to the entrance of Zion National Park on Day 2, I could tell I was going to have a hard time focusing on the task at hand: staying in my lane. Sloping towards the sun on either side of the rust red road were petrified sand dunes and towering mesas. My mom’s voice popped into my head a few times, “Keep your eyes on the road, Ashley.” I wanted to look at everything around me, it was all so stunning! But I thought back to when I was a child with skinned knees from tripping over my feet because I was too busy looking at everything around me. So I slowed my speed, and stopped from time to time to soak it all in. Trust me when I say you’ll need to do this more than just a few times!
Both Day 2 and Day 3 offer our guests the chance to explore Zion National Park and the quaint town of Springdale on their own before closing out the weekend with a victory lap through the canyon. After hiking to what felt like the clouds (Observation Point) on Day 3, I was able to see the entire canyon from a bird’s-eye view, vastly different from what I perceived the canyon to be on the bike the day before. While I chomped on my more sophisticated sack lunch at the cliff edge, I could see hikers attempting Angel’s Landing, the Park shuttle buses unloading the morning’s first explorers below, and vultures circling even further above our heads. Climbing trees at camp served me well as a child, because I was now able to experience the same feeling, only now (safely) at 6,500 feet.
To say that this weekend fulfilled some sort of childhood dream is an understatement. My group, the guides, and this place left me feeling energized and inspired. By the end of Sunday, I wasn’t ready to leave Springdale. However, I refrained from the kicking and screaming I may have done when I was younger and quietly packed myself back into the van.
“In every walk with nature, one receives more than he seeks.” -John Muir
Muir was an incredibly wise man, and the founding father of our National Park system, and he hits the nail right on the head with this quote. I’ve always enjoyed spending time outside, but I didn’t expect for this trip to bring me back in time and relive some of my greatest childhood experiences. So go ahead, order that ice cream cone in Springdale and buy a silly souvenir to remind yourself of when you were a kid again for a weekend!
Ride the spectacular Zion National Park
Welcome Home to Yellowstone
“There are few spots in the western mountain lands about which there hangs so much frontier romance.”
– William Maillie-Grohman, English Mountaineer 1882
No foothills. Steep coniferous forest. Solitary sub-alpine meadows bursting with wildflowers: paintbrush, lupine, sticky geranium, forget-me-not. Above it all, bare granite pinnacles. Moran, Buck, Middle, South, Owen, Teewinot. The Grand. Below, the braided channels of the Snake River. Banks carpeted by sagebrush, gatherings of aspen and cottonwood. Native Snake River cutthroat, beaver, geese, elk, moose, deer, pronghorn antelope and bison are here. Your flight makes its final approach from the north to the only commercial airport in the US located within a National Park. If you find yourself seated on the left side of the plane, gaze down at Blacktail Butte, the Gros Ventre River, Sleeping Indian, Flat Creek, Jackson Peak and the National Elk Refuge. On the right: Leigh Lake, Jenny Lake, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. And towering above (even your plane), the Tetons.
Summer, 1871. Hot. Humid. Sweating and anxious, Ferdinand Hayden walked the streets of Washington D.C. He scrambled in and out of government office buildings. Up and down stairs. On and off street cars. He met with everyone who gave him a minute. Senators, Congressmen, Department of Interior officials. He schlepped large-format photographs taken by his friend William Henry Jackson, small oil paintings and sketches by Thomas Moran, and a giant report that bore his name: “The Hayden Geological Survey.” On December 18th of that same year, thanks to Hayden’s gargantuan efforts, a bill was simultaneously introduced to both the US Senate and the House of Representatives calling for the creation of a public park at the headwaters of the Yellowstone River, “…For all to enjoy.” On March 1st of 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Act of Dedication into law, effectively creating the world’s first National Park. It was named “Yellowstone.”
It was the spring of 2003. I took a break from college in Florida and got a job working on a guest ranch a few miles down the road from Allenspark, Colorado. During that time on the ranch, I learned most of the basic, Florida-boy-in-the-mountains lessons: horses are heavy, lightning above tree-line is scary, it can (and will) snow in July, bears can smell you cooking, wet cotton pants are cold, etc. etc. I made fantastic friends, cleaned horse stalls, slept outside, worked long hours and ultimately made my first journey north to Jackson, Wyoming and Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. My fate was sealed.
I returned that fall to Gainesville, Florida to complete my senior year. Surfing magazine posters and neon beer signs were replaced on my walls with photos by Ansel Adams, Bradford Washburn, Galen Rowel and Tom Mangelsen. I bought my first “Sibley Guide to Birds” and “Plants of the Rocky Mountains.” I read John McPhee’s Rising from the Plains, Annie Proulx’s Close Range, Owen Wister’s The Virginian, and Gretel Erlich’s The Solace of Open Spaces. I sent out resumes by the dozen. I was in love.
After finishing my last exam and turning in the final “Blue Book” of my college days, I packed my truck and headed west again. My destination this time: a tiny basement bedroom on Millward St. in downtown Jackson. The 20 million-acre Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and the Jackson Hole Valley had called me back, and corny as it sounds, I was home. Fast forward to today, over 12 years later: I’m still in Wyoming. Weekend explorations of the canyons and ridgelines of the Tetons have kept me here. Floating and fishing the Snake River Canyon has kept me here. Riding bikes on lonesome ranch roads and dark timber-lined singletrack has kept me here. Pizza and beer with friends on the deck at Dornan’s has kept me here. Skiing quiet winter glades has kept me here. The bear and elk and moose and antelope have kept me here. This fantastic, eternal landscape has kept me here.
I now live in a town just a few hours southeast of Jackson, on the east side of the Wind River Mountains, but every time I crest the top of Togwotee Pass on Highway 26, heading north, and catch that first glimpse of the Tetons…the hair still stands up on the back of my neck. I’m not joking. Staring up from the road, sometimes I cross the yellow line. Rumble strips snap me back to reality. The fantastical mountains and steep canyons, sweeping valleys and winding rivers of Grand Teton National Park; the bubbling mud-pots and steaming geysers, ghost-like lodgepole pine stands and sweeping grasslands of Yellowstone National Park; they belong to us all. Go see them. Take a deep breath of sulfury air in Norris Geyser Basin, pause and listen to the leaves of a quaking aspen stand on Signal Mountain. Watch wolves lope across Lamar Valley and eagles perched in a dead snag above Jenny Lake. Catch the sunrise over Sleeping Indian. Feel the nip on a cool summer evening in Teton Village. Just scratch the surface. You’re home.
Yellowstone and
Grand Tetons National Parks