Hiking Plus: April 2021 - Parks Plus Hiking
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Hiking Plus: April 2021
Last week, Nola and I traveled to Arizona to scout possible hikes for
2022 and, more importantly, to hike to Phantom Ranch in the Grand
Canyon to get a feel for the changes we might see during our
upcoming 2021 hiking season. Since that season begins this weekend
with our "Trails of the Ancients North" tour, we thought we'd use this
issue of Hiking Plus to give you a rough picture of some of those
changes. Check out the article below for details.
Also included this month is an update of the great puzzle assembly. The end of winter saw significant
progress, but warmer weather now has me outdoors more and "puzzling" less.
Finally, we're getting a lot of interest in our summer and fall tours and slots are going fast. Our latest
issue of Tour News lists the status of each of our twelve 2021 tours.
The Season Ahead
If we can be sure of nothing else in these uncertain times, we know 2021 will be a
memorable hiking season here at Parks Plus. And while conditions are certainly
better for hiking than in 2020, they are by no means anywhere near normal. Nola
and I saw that for ourselves last week when we hiked the Grand Canyon and spent
a night at Phantom Ranch. Between our firsthand observations in one of our nation's
iconic National Parks and our extensive research covering all the places we plan to
visit in 2021, here is a glimpse by category of what this season's tour will look like:
Vaccinations: We've made the important decision to require that all of our 2021 adult hiking
guests be fully vaccinated for Covid 19. This is for the protection of you our guests, we as guides,
and the general public. This will also greatly reduce the Covid-related restrictions we will have to
impose during our tours.
Hiking: Oddly and fortunately, the actual hiking we do in 2021 may be the least impacted of any
aspect of our tours. With the exception of trails in Navajo Nation Lands (Canyon de Chelly and
Monument Valley), most of the trails on our tour itineraries are currently open and accessible
(though many park visitor centers remain closed). Probably the biggest impact we expect to our
2021 hiking is less spare time before and after hikes due to the increased time meals, lodge check
ins, travel, and other logistics will demand in light of ongoing Covid restrictions.
Meals: As you all know, dining out during a pandemic is a challenge. For
2021, we're expecting some of our breakfasts and dinners to be take-out
meals off limited menus consumed at outdoor tables, in our hotel rooms, or
even in the van. Where "normal" indoor dining is permitted, we're expecting
increased crowds/wait times and difficulty obtaining desired reservation
times. All that said, things are improving steadily. Rest assured, no one will
go home from one of our tours hungry!
"Parks Plus Buffet": In terms of lunches, we're still planning to provide our
normal pre-hike self-serve buffet for guests to prepare their own trail lunch,
albeit with a somewhat diminished selection of items and most fruit and
snacks served prepackaged. For our last day's restaurant lunch, we expect
the same sort of changes noted for dinners and breakfasts above.
Lodging/rooms: At this point, we're happy to report that we plan to stay at all of our normal
National Park and other lodges. Besides increased cleaning and disinfection by lodge staff, the
biggest change we're likely to see is the lack of daily maid service (though fresh towels and linens
will generally be available on request). Some hotels amenities such as exercise rooms, pools,
spas, etc. may also be closed or have reduced hours.
Van and Shuttle Travel: Because we're
requiring all our guests to be fully
vaccinated, we'll be able to treat our van
like a mini-single household space and
generally not require masks or social
distancing. That said, we will provide
disinfectants wipes and periodically clean
van surfaces after longer drives. We
expect National Park shuttle service to be
significantly curtailed in 2021. Fortunately,
this will only impact our Grand Canyon and
Yosemite tours and, even in those cases,
not severely.
Parks Plus Policies: In general and expect as noted below, all of our normal Parks Plus tour
policies will apply in 2021, such as our deposit, payment, cancellation, and refund policies.
Because we are requiring vaccinations, where applicable we will continue to pair double
occupancy guests traveling alone with other same sex guests (please keep this in mind when you
sign up for one of our tours). In general, we will continue to offer a full deposit refund to any guest
wishing to cancel off a tour due to concerns over Covid though this offer will not apply closer to
tour departure once tour balance payments have been made
Other general Items: Before the start of each of our tours, we will check all
guests for possible illness/Covid symptoms. Depending on the rules in place
for the locations we visit, we may have to wear masks, maintain social
distancing, limit our group gatherings, and follow other Covid guidelines. We
will expect all our guests to respect and follow all such rules.
Puzzle Update
The latter part of winter saw me spending a good bit of time on the 9,000 piece "Wedding Feast At Cana"
by Paolo Veronese. I now estimate 80% completion. Our gearing up to hit the road again will cut down on
my puzzling time, so it may still be several months until completion.
November (0%)--------------------------- December (15%)--------------------------- February (50%)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
April (80%)
Tour News
Here is the current status of the twelve tours on our 2021 season schedule (click on any tour title to
access details on our web page):
Capitol Reef & Trails of the Ancient North(May 2 - 8): Departs soon.
Grand Canyon Rim-Rim & the Legendary West (May 21 - 27): One female double occupancy slot
still available. Note that this tour's itinerary is still pending based on availability of hikes in Canyon
de Chelly National Monument and Monument Valley Navajo Park.
Grand Canyon Rim-Rim 5-Day (May 29 - June 2): Sold out and nearing departure.
Yellowstone/Grand Teton National Parks (June 26 - July 2): Sold out with several guests on a
waiting list.
"This Is Our Colorado" (July 11 - 16): Sold out with no names on waiting list.
Great Volcanoes: Mt. Rainier/Mt. St. Helens (August 1 - 6): Sold out with no names on waiting list.
Great Volcanoes 2: Mt. St. Helens/Mt. Hood (August 8 - 13): Half full at present.
Lassen Volcanic National Park (Sept 4 - 9): Less than half full at present.
Yosemite National Park (Sept 11 - 17): Based on our Half Dome permit, one slot remains
available.
Canyonlands/Arches National Parks (Sept 26 - October 1): Less than half full at present.
The Ice Age Trail (October 17 - 22): Wide open at present
Great Smoky Mountains: Fall Colors (October 24 - 29): Sold out with one name on waiting list.
Please note that because of ongoing pandemic restrictions, we're imposing capacity limits on most of our
tours for the time being. As conditions continue to improve, we hope to ease those limits and, thus, be
able to accommodate more guests. For this reason, we strongly encourage anyone interested in one of
our sold out tours to register for the waiting list.
Please note also that we are requiring all of our adult tour guests to be fully vaccinated for Covid 19.
Finally, feel free to contact us at any time to check the status of any tour on our schedule.
Pick your tour and sign up soon--we're already running out of room.
Nola & Steve
www.ParksPlusHiking.com
719-207-HIKE (4453)
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