Q: Hi Christopher! Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started with Southwest Adventure Tours.
A: I've been with Southwest Adventure Tours for the past five years. So I started in travel and tourism approximately 21 years ago driving from the airport to the ski resorts during the 2002 winter games. That was my intro into travel and tourism. About 12 years ago I started as a motorcoach tour guide and has slowly segued into small group tours; 8-12 people, a very intimate and engaging experience with wonderful folks from all over the world. Primarily the folks that I've traveled with have been from east of the Mississippi River, though I have had the opportunity to host people from all over the world. It's such an immersive experience for folks who have never been west of the Mississippi. What a treat to come to a landscape like this.
Q: What do you think sets Southwest Adventure Tours apart from other tour companies?
A: I think it's the small group, backcountry, hiking, and engaging experience that's much more immersive.
Q: What would you say makes you special as a guide?
A: I think they thing that you'll find when you have the opportunity to be on a tour with myself is that I thoroughly enjoy helping people connect to the place. And connecting people with place is so much of what the National Park Service, that started in 1916 after the creation of our first national park back in 1872, is about. The whole mission is just to do two things: 1. preserve and protect and 2. have a place where people can come and enjoy the outdoors in a protected way. So you'll learn about the environment, the habitat, and you'll explore. We will sightsee, we will photograph, and we will engage with the landscape in a very immersive fashion.
Q: So which is your favorite national park to visit?
A: Whichever one I'm in.
Q: What would you say to someone who is thinking of booking with Southwest Adventure Tours?
A: I would encourage you to explore, do some research, and expect to be blown away. The experience that you'll have with any of our guides, myself or anyone else, will be bar none a step above the rest.
