Shining Rock Wilderness

Guide

Your tour will be led by a trained, experienced professional with a solid guiding background, years of personal wilderness and hiking experience, medical certifications, and a passion for leading people into breathtaking landscapes.

Meals

3 Breakfasts 3 Lunches 2 Dinners We never use dehydrated backpacking meals, instead, we serve freshly prepared, delicious backcountry cuisine made with a variety of common and speciality ingredients that travel well in the wilderness. For optimal taste and energy, we supplement all our meals with spices, herbs, oils, cheeses, butter, sugar, and fruits and vegetables (fresh and dried). In addition, we provide you with with an assortment of trail mix, snacks, and dried fruits to eat at your own discretion. We regularly accommodate vegan, vegetarian, kosher and non-gluten diets and will make adjustments for food allergies. These and other special dietary requests may require an additional fee.

Others

Arrival and departure transfers to/from Asheville Entrance fees and national park permits Use of Deuter or Osprey backpacks Use of Leki or Black Diamond trekking poles Use of Sierra Designs, Kelty or Big Agnes tents Use of Sierra Designs, Kelty, Big Agnes and Mountain Hardware synthetic-fill sleeping bags (or bring your own) Use of Thermarest or Big Agnes sleeping pads Emergency equipment including a company-issued first-aid kit and satellite phone You will receive a Lifetime Hiking Membership entitling you, your spouse, and your kids to a lifetime discount of 10% off any Wildland Trekking hiking trip after your first one!

Transport

We will provide transfers to/from the trailhead to/from your accommodation in Asheville in a private vehicle.

Accommodation

3 nights in twin-share top-of-the-line tents at Appalachian campsites Sleeping on backpacking trips is in premier 1-person, 2-person or 4-person backcountry tents. Solo travelers, and anyone else who requests it, are issued single tents. Top-of-the-line self-inflating sleeping pads and synthetic-fill sleeping bags (professionally laundered after every trip) are also provided. Of course, campsites vary tremendously by destination, trip and even by the individual day of a trip. However, you can expect to camp in beautiful areas that put you right in the action to make the most of your backpacking adventure. We carefully design our itineraries with campsites in mind.

Hygieneprotocol

Since the beginning, our commitment has been to provide life-enriching hiking experiences with safety always at the forefront. In this spirit, when we reopened after the 2020 shutdown, we implemented new transportation logistics, behavior guidelines, sanitization practices, and booking terms that preserved the core nature of the Wildland experience while increasing safety and reducing risk. Between June 2020 and May 2021, we accommodated nearly 6,000 guests without a single verified or suspected case of COVID-19 transmission on a Wildland trip. Due to the success of the guidelines and the ever-evolving situation with COVID-19, we will continue with necessary protocols as long as necessary to protect our guests and staff to the greatest extent possible. We invite you to contact us for our full list of our new hygiene protocols.

Others

Clothes, raingear, and footwear - please contact our Travel Experts for a packing list Sunscreen, toiletries, and personal items Water bottles and a headlamp or flashlight Alcoholic beverages Tipping (industry recommendation is 10-20% of trip cost) Pre and post-tour accommodation - available on request

Optional

Optional experiences are not available on this tour

Insurance

This tour does not include travel insurance. Please make sure you are adequately covered. You can arrange travel insurance with your preferred provider, or our Travel Experts can recommend a provider for you.

Flights

As we have travelers from all over the world, flights before and after the tour are not included in the tour price and you need to arrange these separately by yourself once your tour is guaranteed. As we specialize in organizing the best tours around the world for you, we are unable to advise on flight prices or book flights on your behalf. We recommend that you do not book your flights until your place on the tour has been confirmed.