02 / Where culture meets wilderness.

Guiding responsible expeditions since 2015

01 / A walk that turned into a company.

Drafted in a Sherpa teahouse, signed in Boulder, audited annually since.

We started Adventure Trails Hikes after one trek through Nepal made us question every other operator we'd booked with.

In 2014, Maria Rodriguez and David Chen finished a 21-day Annapurna circuit. Maria was an environmental scientist; David ran an early-stage tech consultancy. They'd been on a dozen guided hikes between them. None of them had felt like this one — co-led by a Sherpa family, four meals a day cooked on a wood stove, every village stop a real exchange instead of a photo op.

The flight home, they sketched out an operator that wouldn't do any of the things their previous trips had done: no extractive pricing that funneled money out of the region, no cultural performance for tourists, no carbon offsets bought after-the-fact as decoration. The pitch was built around three things their Nepal guide, Pemba Sherpa, had said over and over: intention, respect, and leaving less than you take.

Adventure Trails Hikes opened in Boulder, Colorado in March 2015 with three local guides — Pemba being the first — and a single route. Eleven years on we operate nine routes across six regions, partner with two hundred local guides, and keep at least 75% of revenue inside the regions where the trekking happens. We've been B-Corp certified since 2017 and carbon-negative since 2021.

None of those numbers are the point. The point is that the route briefing still gets written by the guide who lives at the trailhead — not in Boulder.

02 / Six things we won't compromise on.

Drafted 2015 · Reviewed annually · Last revision Jan 2026

  1. Local-First Economics

    Seventy-five percent of expedition revenue stays inside the region where the trek happens. Local guides are paid mountain-guide wages by Western standards, not local-tourism wages. We publish the revenue split on every route page; if we can't, we don't run that route.

    75% Local

  2. Carbon Negative, Verified

    Every expedition is offset 150% via verified reforestation projects we audit ourselves. No marketplace credits, no white-label brokers. Trees get counted by the people who plant them, and the count is published every January.

    150% Offset

  3. Cultural Hosts, Not Performers

    We don't book cultural performances. Communities host us, on terms they set, in their own language. If a host family decides this season is the wrong season — pregnancy, harvest, grief — we reroute or refund. The trip is not the priority.

    Host-Led

  4. Group Sizes That Don't Wreck the Trail

    Maximum of eight hikers per route. No exceptions for corporate bookings, retreats, or "exclusive" groups. The carrying capacity of the trail dictates the booking, not the booking page.

    8 Max

  5. Zero Landfill, Including Ours

    Every kit on every trip is reusable, repairable, or compostable. Our shared gear library has saved 14 tonnes of landfill since 2018. We publish what fails and how — failure transparency is not optional, it's load-bearing.

    Zero Waste

  6. Safety Above Schedule

    UIAGM-certified mountain guide on every route. Wilderness medicine, satellite communication, evacuation insurance — all baseline, no upsell. If conditions are wrong, we turn around. We've cancelled four expeditions for weather and refunded every guest in full.

    UIAGM Certified

03 / Eleven years on the trail.

Annotated company history. The ones we list are the ones we'd defend in a pub.

  1. 2015

    Doors Open

    Founded in Boulder by Maria & David after the Annapurna trek. Three guides, one route — Annapurna Circuit.

  2. 2017

    First International

    Peru and Morocco programs added. B-Corp certification achieved. Indigenous-community partnership model documented.

  3. 2019

    Carbon-Negative First

    First hiking operator to verifiably hit carbon-negative status. Community Water Project Initiative launched in Atlas region.

  4. 2021

    Digital Programs

    Virtual cultural workshops launched. Year-round connection to host communities; alumni network passes one thousand members.

  5. 2023

    Recognised

    National Geographic "Best Sustainable Tour Operator." 25 countries, 200+ local guide partners, nine active routes.

04 / Numbers we publish.

Audited annually by an independent third party. Last audit: January 2026.

50,000+

Trees Planted

25

Water Projects

200+

Local Guides

$2.1M

Invested Locally

15

Awards Won

25

Countries

98%

Satisfaction Rate

500+

Cultural Workshops

05 / Founders & field staff.

Three of the two-hundred-plus people who actually run the routes. The full guide directory is published with each itinerary.

Co-Founder & CEO

Environmental scientist turned operator. Designs every route's carbon ledger. Speaks Spanish, Quechua basics, conversational Nepali. Field season: 4 months a year.

Wilderness Medicine

Co-Founder & CTO

Builds the booking platform, the carbon-tracking dashboards, and the alumni network. Twelve seasons in the Himalayas. Spends every September in Pokhara.

Tech Innovation

Cultural Programs Director

Anthropologist running our community-partnership work across Asia and Africa. Negotiates host agreements, runs cultural briefings, audits the local-economics commitments.

Cultural Liaison

Press & Accolades

Featured In Selected coverage · 2018 — present
National Geographic
Outside
Sidetracked
Adventure Journal
Patagonia Provisions