Share your Dream Trip?

[Graham Fong]

Looking for some expedition inspiration!

I’m a student in the Outdoor Adventure Leadership program at Laurentian University in Sudbury Ontario, and every year the program goes on a roughly 1 month long expedition. My class is in charge of planning and leading the spring 2019 trip, however we’re not able to all agree on a location or activity. There have been a few cool ideas brought up, such as sea kayaking or hiking in Japan, river canoe trips in Northern Canada, mountaineering in Peru and packrafting in Patagonia. We’ve reached a bit of a stand still as we cannot all agree on one trip.

 

Came here to see what some of your dream trips are to hopefully get a few more ideas/options! we’re going to be a group of ~20, budget is around $3,500 (flexible). Between our professors we have connections in almost every continent, and a lot of logistical planning power. We have a fairly skilled and experienced group, and lots of time to practice any new skills. I’d like to hear from the BPL community to hopefully find some inspiration!

 

Thanks in advance!

[Mark Haffner]

Your ideas for trips sound great.  If I could go anywhere for an extended backpacking trip it would probably be to the Brooks Range.  Could be more expensive than some of the other trips you mention, but may be doable.  Remote, lots of wildlife, unique, challenging.  Would take lots of planning, especially for a large group. Have fun wherever you go.  M

[David Thomas]

You don’t all have to agree on a destination.  Only the people who are doing the work of organizing need to agree.

If it is SPRING 2019 (versus summer), I’d rule out northern Canada or the Brooks Range in Alaska.

Is your budget $3500 per person (versus total)?  Is that airfare + land costs, or land costs only?

Sea kayaking in the Sea of Cortez, Baja California, Mexico is in the right season, and with 20 people, you could easily afford getting resupplied by a panga (fiberglass skiff with an outboard) out of La Paz.

Rafting the Colorado in the Grand Canyon is spectacular, but there’s a whole permit lottery timeline to consider and therefore the need for a Plan B.

Arizona Trail?  It’s 800 miles long which is a brutal pace for a large group in one month, but half of it would very doable in a month.  If it’s early spring, do the southern half.  If later in Spring the northern half would be a lot cooler.

The Camino de Santiago across northern Spain would be nice that time of year, cheap (once you get there), and multiple starting points lets you vary the hiking length.  It would give an unusually large number of options for people who go slower, need to take multiple zero or nero days due to minor injuries or want to fly home for mom’s funeral or the brother’s wedding (in a large group, this kind of stuff WILL come up).

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