Buy your adventure tour directly from a local outfitter, a person on the spot who actually organizes and supervises the activity, and you can save big bucks, sometimes a thousand or more. That was the message I advanced in my article On Your Next Adventure Tour, Oust the Middleman and Save! citing examples that ranged from diving in Fiji to mountain biking in Thailand. But it isn't only overseas that small outfitters actually operate the tour and yet receive only a small fraction of the fee charged for it. Here at home, the overwhelming majority of domestic adventure tours is also operated by modest, local outfitters charging reasonable rates. But far too often, their prices are marked up by big national tour companies whose strength is in marketing, advertising, and sales. Innocent adventure travelers buy their tours from national companies when they could have gotten them straight from the local source, and hence pay far more than necessary.
Here are nine outstanding American adventures that you can buy directly from distinguished local outfitters for a fraction of the cost charged by nationwide concerns.
Fishing and Canoeing in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Minnesota
Maybe it's the one-million-plus acres of seemingly endless wilderness, a whopping 1,300 miles of canoeable waters through countless lakes, rivers, and ponds that gets paddlers all dreamy-eyed over Minnesota's northern frontier, the Boundary Waters. You can go days without seeing another person, intent instead on moose, whitetail deer, black bears, beavers, otters, and those laughing loons. Wilderness Outfitters in the border town of Ely has been taking people away from civilization since 1921 (800/777-8572, www.wildernessoutfitters.com). In 2004, they're offering four five-day guided trips through the Boundary Waters and neighboring Quetico Park in Canada.
This area is truly an angler's paradise, to name just one of its attractions. Crystal-clear waters hold trout, walleye, bass, and northern pike in abundance. Since there is almost no motor access to the Boundary Waters and Quetico, fish are plentiful. The cost of the trips is $640 per person, including canoes, guides, food, and tents. Of course, Wilderness Outfitters also offers food, canoes, and maps for alternative self-guided trips, which reduce the price for the latter to $48 per person per day.
Backpacking the John Muir Wilderness, California
It began more than a century ago in the rugged wilderness of the Sierra Nevada. Deep among the towering sequoias and cascading waterfalls, John Muir and other leading conservationists founded an enduring group dedicated to preserving this awesome mountain range. Today, the Sierra Club has more than half a million members and offers guided trips throughout northern California and the world (415/977-5522, www.sierraclub.org/outings). One of the best of the bunch is an eight-day backpacking trip through the John Muir Wilderness.
Called the "High Lakes of the Silver Divide," this on and off-trail trip leads you through an array of unforgettable landscapes, including valleys, rivers, and a "necklace" of emerald lakes. The trip begins just outside Mammoth Lakes on August 27 and ends in the same place on September 4. Cost of the backpack adventure is $515, including food.
Biking Vermont
There are many reasons for bikers to cherish Vermont. The numerous back-country roads connect picturesque hamlets, all with very little traffic. The rolling hills challenge the novice, but also allow the experts to feel a sense of accomplishment. Yet it's the scenery that makes a bike trip in Vermont so appealing. Around every bend, there's another meadow greener than the last, another freshly painted white steeple piercing the clouds overhead, and another Green Mountain standing tall in the distance. Strict environmental statutes prohibit roadside billboards and other eyesores. In their place stand small signs advertising pure maple syrup or identifying the types of cows found on a farm - Holstein, Hereford, or Jersey. This state was meant to be seen at a slow pace.
Depending on your ability, budget, and length of stay, Vermont Outdoor Guides Association (800/425-8747, www.voga.org, email: [email protected]) will develop a detailed itinerary that includes accommodations (B&Bs, youth hostels, or campgrounds), bike routes (including a map and a description of the terrain), even a bike. Remarkably, there is no charge for such consultation. This is a self-guided tour of the state, so luggage will be transported by the lodging properties and each night's accommodation will keep track of your route in case of an emergency. Take a tour in the affordable and majestic northeast kingdom of Vermont, and your total cost, including bike rental, inns, and food, will be about $135 to $165 per day. You can drastically reduce your costs by camping and bringing your own bike. VOGA has free detailed information about campsites.
Rafting the Yampa River, Colorado
Roaring for 72 miles through northwestern Colorado, the Yampa River is the last major free-flowing tributary in the entire Colorado River system. This Class III river, ideal for families, is in its prime in early June, when the snowmelt fills the channel. Large, playful waves run from start to finish through Yampa, Whirlpool, and Split Mountain Canyons in the heart of Dinosaur National Monument. (Butch Cassidy found these slickrock walls and layers of cavernous rock to be the perfect hideaway.) Two-thousand-foot-deep sandstone gorges create a colorful canyon maze that effectively blocks out the world. You'll find golden eagles, bighorn sheep, and one of the largest concentrations of the threatened peregrine falcons in the States. Adrift Adventures (800/824-0150, www.adrift.com) features a five-day run on the Yampa. Cost is $764 for adults and $649 for children (minimum age is eight).
Surfing Oregon
Much of Oregon's northern coast is undeveloped, protected as state parks or public beaches. It's an ideal place to camp and wake up in the morning to look for shells on miles-long crescents of sand. If you register for Adventure Surf Unlimited's (617/484-6839, www.adventuresurf.com) weeklong camps on the Oregon coast, you roll out of your sleeping bag at sunrise and look out over the bluff at the waters of the Pacific. Minutes later, you're donning a wetsuit and hitting the surf. Far away from the crowded conditions of California beaches, Oregon is a far gentler place to try this sport.
In the ocean, guides ride directly alongside novices, even giving them a little push, if necessary, to catch the wave. Although Adventure Surf Unlimited primarily attracts beginners, seasoned riders come to fine-tune skills such as walking the board or setting up for bigger waves. Throughout the session, guides shout instructions like, "This is a good wave, you can catch it," or "Paddle right." Out of the water, instructors discuss tidal conditions, tell you how to read waves, and critique how you did that day. Take it in stride, dude. The seven-day course, including all instruction, food, and camping equipment costs $799.
Mountain Biking in Moab, Utah
Moab and the Canyonlands are to mountain biking what Hawaii is to surfing. It's home to the legendary Slickrock Trail, a 12-mile pedal through a stunning labyrinth of deep narrow canyons that twist and turn sharply, without reason, like the scribbling of a three-year-old. AdventureBus (888/737-5263, www.adventurebus.com) will take you and your favorite mountain bike on an eight-day biking-and-hiking tour of Utah on the Slickrock Express.
Starting from Southern California, you drive through Las Vegas, arriving at the red and amber canyon walls of Zion National Park at dawn. Rise and shine on a hike in the Narrows, where you walk in the Virgin River through a 1,000-foot-deep chasm that's a mere 20 feet wide. The next day is spent hiking or biking in Bryce Canyon National Park. Then it's on to Canyonlands for four days of camping under the stars and biking through rolling juniper and burnt-red butte country. You'll try all the renowned routes-Slickrock, Gemini Bridges, and the Porcupine Rim Trail-spending hours slithering through chutes of sandstone. Cost of the trip is $800, including most food.
Rock Climbing Joshua Tree National Park, California
Three hours east of Los Angeles, huge boulder outcroppings bake in the Mojave Desert sun. Joshua trees, yucca, creosote, and other desert shrubs cover the sandy ground, leaving only these mountains of rock uncovered. Welcome to Joshua Tree National Park, home to the Joshua Tree Rock Climbing School (800/890-4745, www.joshuatreerockclimbing.com). More than 100 million years ago, these jumbled piles of bedrock cooled, hardened, and then eroded into fantastic shapes. Today, there are over 4,000 rock climbs to choose from, appropriate for any level of expertise.
The school offers four-day beginner and intermediate seminars year-round. A typical day starts at Turtle Rock in the north end of the park. During a quick 30-minute talk about the equipment, you'll be outfitted with a harness, helmet, and climbing shoes, whose bottoms are made of sticky rubber. Then you'll spend the rest of the morning "bouldering" (climbing low to the ground up a large boulder) before tackling a sheet of rock. After your guides delve further into the mechanics of the ropes and the belay (the thing that stops you from falling if you slip off the rock), you will spend the afternoon on the rockface, getting comfortable with hand and footholds as you climb up and rappel down a 75-foot cliff. By the end of four days, you'll look like SpiderMan as you climb a 100-foot cliff. Cost of the program is $390 beginner, $490 intermediate. Camping is $5 in the park and is first-come, first-served. You may also reserve a site in Indian Cove or Black Rock Campgrounds for $10 a night (800/365-2267).
Sea Kayaking the Barrier Islands, Georgia
While many islands off the Atlantic coast continue to build resorts and second homes, Georgia has left its barrier islands pretty much alone. Only four of its dozen islands have been developed. The others are still marsh wetlands and dunes, where giant sea turtles come to lay their eggs and the occasional alligator stumbles though brackish swamp. These countless miles of tidal rivers and coastal waters are a sea kayaker's dream.
Sea Kayak Georgia (888/529-2542,www.seakayakgeorgia.com), based on Savannah's Tybee Island, takes a minimum of six kayakers on a five-day trip to Little Tybee and Wassaw Islands, of which the former is a green expanse of tidal marsh and maritime forests in various stages of succession, from hammocks of live and laurel oak to scrubby forests of palm and slash pine, as well as deserted beaches populated only by mink, sea otters, snowy egrets, blue herons, and ospreys. On the paddle over, you'll most likely be accompanied by bottlenose dolphins and diving pelicans. Wassaw Island is a national wildlife refuge open to the public during daylight hours only. The island is known for the Boneyard, a thicket of large oak trees that have been swept up by sand and sea, leaving a maze of dead roots. The cost of the trip is $600, including all food and camping equipment.
Horseback Packing, New Mexico
The half-million-acre Gila Wilderness sits in the southwestern part of New Mexico, near the Arizona border. This is desolate country, where 11,000-foot peaks tower over deeply eroded canyons and hundreds of miles of lonely river. Once infamous for Apache raids on early settlers by the likes of Geronimo, Gila is now known for its large herds of elk, bighorn sheep, black bears, and mountain lions.
The only way to pierce this vast interior is by foot or on horseback. Tom Klumker, owner of San Francisco River Outfitters (505/539-2517, www.gilanet.com/sfroutfitters), has been leading pack trips into this region for almost 30 years. In the saddle of a strong quarter horse that he supplies, you'll lope through large stretches of ponderosa pines and tall aspen, some as high as 100 feet. In the nighttime, you can soothe your sore bum in a cool river. Five-day trips cost $675. Horses, camping equipment, and hearty steak dinners that could satiate John Wayne are included in the price.
