That’s Right! No doubt about it. Ask anyone. I am one of the Hardest-Working, Fun-Seeking, Glass-Full, Patagonia-Loving, Volunteer Leaders you will ever know! And I love Torres del Paine! I took my first trip to Patagonia in 2004. At the time I was taking a vacation from my job as District Ranger on the Inyo…
I feel very blessed to have been able to travel with purpose with ConservationVIP to the ends of the earth, also known as Torres Del Paine National Park in the Patagonia region of Chile. First, I will talk about the joys experienced followed by some of the practical aspects of the trip. The joys were…
In 2015, CONAF – the Chilean agency entrusted to manage Torres del Paine National Park – asked ConservationVIP® about the viability of converting a horse trail in the park into a hiking trail. A new trail would relieve severe overcrowding on a section of the hiking trail known as “the W”. We responded that it…
A Human Waste Problem! Probably not the first thought that came to your mind, right? Seriously, we hikers love remote wilderness areas. But our love has an impact. At Torres del Paine National Park in Patagonia, more than 150,000 visitors make an impact each year. For more than ten years, ConservationVIP® volunteers have been repairing…
What kind of person would spend more than ten years volunteering thousands of hours for an environmental nonprofit, without drawing attention to himself and his contributions? We have such a person in our organization, and I decided this is the right time to call him out. Behind his back some people have called him John…
The journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step. Patagonia is much further from my home than 1,000 miles. From the San Francisco Bay Area, it requires two days of travel to reach this iconic hiking destination and my personal journey there was complicated by much more than distance. For many years, I thought…
