Photo by: Tony Trinks

When trip planning, you have a few important questions to ask yourself. You need to determine the degree of difficulty of the route or tour you…

When trip planning, you have a few important questions to ask yourself. You need to determine the degree of difficulty of the route or tour you plan to take, the length of the trip, and whether you will need a local guide or not. Most tour operators offer an array of trips for different skill levels and time limits. Operators vary greatly, especially when hiking. Some are lead by expert naturalists, have porters and horses to carry the equipment, serve gourmet meals, and may even stay in posh lodges or tent camps. Other operators offer the bare bones treatment. The food will be simple, the guide may not even speak your language, and the amenities are minimal, but you’ll walk the same terrain as the pricier groups.

Hiking/Trekking Tour Operators

ElderTreks (http://www.eldertreks.com, Tel. +800-741-7956)
Adventure tours for the 50 plus traveler includes hiking and trekking routes on every continent.
KE Adventure Travel (http://www.keadventure.com, Tel. +800-497-9675)
This highly regarded adventure travel specialist offers trekking, biking, wildlife, climbing, skiing, and combination tours all over the globe.
Mountain Travel Sobek (http://www.mtsobek.com, Tel. +888-687-6235)
Highly respected adventure tour operator offers hiking and trekking excursions around the globe, including the luxury lodge to lodge trek on Peru’s Salkantay trail to Machu Picchu. Choose from their classic trips or build your own.

Do-It-Yourself Options

Many hikers act as their own tour operators and will get a group of hikers together, hire a guide at the start of their trek along with horses, bring their own food and cooking utensils, and set off into the unknown.

You will need to know how difficult a route is and if you will have any trouble completing it. The most difficult terrain is not always the most beautiful, which is why you’ll find long time hikers on the easiest, most traveled trails. The length of the trip depends on the location, the route you will take, the degree of difficulty, and other factors. Since you are not going with a tour operator, search the internet to find out if a trial has ever been hiked before and how that person went about it and how long it took. The Net has revealed new trails and locations that were never before known.

Click here for Preparing for Your Hiking / Trekking Trip