About Timberline Adventures

In the course of the 26 (about to become 27) years of doing this sort of thing, we’ve learned the importance of the development of new programs. We never lose sight of how fortunate we are to have an ever-growing family of vets who travel with us as often as they can scrape up the money to do so. We hope that our creativity reflected in the new adventures that we present each season, at least in part, justifies your attachment to us.

After 26 years, though, one might wonder if we’re beginning to exhaust our reservoir of new ideas. We’ll leave it to you to judge—in the season ahead, we are about to launch no less than 10 new bicycle tours and two new hiking programs. Have we finally taken that proverbial “plunge off the deep end”? You have to know, though, that for “ma and pa” of this little ma and pa group, the process of creating these new programs is the second most fun thing that we do, second only to the opportunity ultimately to be out there with all of you sharing these new experiences.

And so, what’s new for 2009? Odyssey 2009 journeys to the Pacific Northwest for a 17-day bicycle touring expedition along the spine of the High Cascades from North Cascades National Park in northern Washington to Crater Lake National Park in southern Oregon. We’ve also dramatically restructured our cycling program in the Yellowstone Country to resurrect the concept of bicycling in that area. The completion of the Great Allegheny Passage in western Pennsylvania, creating a 335-mile traffic-free corridor from Pittsburgh to Washington, is irresistible for us, and we’re there for a new 8-day rails-to-trails experience.

We’re headed to southern Oregon for a new wilderness hiking adventure in the heart of the Rogue River Wilderness along the Rogue River National Recreation Trail. Our overnights are planned for a series of lodges along this Wild and Scenic river that are accessible only by boat or foot. We’re also going back to England this season for one final 105-mile walk along the Cotswold Way as our Hikers’ Odyssey 2009.

Anyway, this is just a hint of our plans for the immediate future. Want a peek beyond 2009? In 2010, once and for all (and we need to get it out of our system),we’re cycling across the continent from the tip of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula to Bar Harbor, ME. Look for future hiking odysseys along the Coast-to-Coast Trail in England and the Dolomites of northern Italy.

As we look to the future, our philosophy that has evolved over the past quarter-century remains unchanged. It has always been, and always will be, our hope that the content of our programs and the experiences that all of you share with us will define who and what we are as an organization.
We cling to the belief that our audience is one that loves to cycle and hike as much as we do and that they plan their cycling and hiking vacations to do those sort of things. For all of these reasons, we’re content to permit our programs and the experiences that we share to speak for us, and we’ll trust to your judgment as to whether or not ours is a program for you.

The content of our programs provides only a portion of our profile as an organization. From Day 1 to the present, we always have been and always will be Carol and Dick, “ma and pa,” along with our kids, both real and presumptive (our family of tour leaders) until they outgrow us. It’s us you’re talking to on the phone during the off-season; and it’s us out there on the road and trail cycling and hiking with you—whining with you in the headwinds, the rain, and, yes, in the snow, and sharing the joy, exhilaration and utter sense of accomplishment that is a part of every aspect of our program. In other words, don’t ever look to us to boast about how many computers we have accumulated in our office, or how many reservationists and specialists we have added to our staff—it’s just not going to happen here and it never will be the means by which we measure our success. For us, we’ll only measure our success by the quality of your experience that you’ve shared with us.

For better or worse, that’s who we are. We’re cyclists and hikers to the core. We’re also westerners, first and last; the West today, as in the past and as it will be in the future, is our primary focus, even if we push the eastern boundary a bit at times. And we truly believe that you’ve never really experienced an area until you’ve experienced the joy and pride of doing so as the product of your own power and spirit. The cyclist and hiker alike, not only sees the breathtaking beauty of a region; each also feels the land, senses the crispness of the air, the sound of rushing waters, the scent of alpine flora. The West is our home and we feel that this land is special—its undulating terrain, its majestic grandeur, the challenge of its mountains and the incomparable peace and solitude of its isolated valleys. Accept our invitation to share with us the beauty of this land and the incomparable experiences and excitement in the season ahead.  

Carol & Dick Gottsegen

E-Mail: timber@earthnet.net

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