Responsible travel is important to Backroads. We’ve said it many times: Traveling on two feet or two wheels is the ultimate minimal-impact approach to traveling. Still, we recognize that any travel has an impact. So, in addition to creating wonderful walking trips, hiking tours and biking adventures, we also find ways to support the communities in which we travel to offset a little of the small footprint we leave behind.

Here are some of our favorite ways to travel responsibly. We hope you adopt these principles when you’re on a Backroads tour, as well as when you set out on your own vacation adventures, and even during daily life when your next vacation is just in the planning stages:

-          Buy locally grown products and donate leftover foods to charities.

-          Shop at local retail stores.

-          Recycle where recycling exists.

-          One of the easiest things to do is remember the motto: Leave No Trace. This especially applies to camping. If you pack it in, be sure to pack it out.

Here are a few of the organizations Backroads supports. In recent years, we’ve donated more than $1 million to causes or organizations like these:

National Parks Conservation Association

This group has been around since 1919 and sparked a nationwide effort to preserve our national parks. Chances are, if you’ve visited a scenic vista, a vast landscape or even historic sites, the National Parks Conservation Association has had something to do with preserving the integrity of that area. Backroads is proud to offer active national park vacations, including Wrangell-St. Elias, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Glacier, Maine’s Acadia and Alaska’s Glacier Bay. For more information about NPCA, call 800-628-7275 or visit www.npca.org.

The International Ecotourism Society (TIES)

This organization aims to make tourism a viable tool for conservation and sustainable development. It works with outdoor travel entrepreneurs, researchers and conservationists. Every year, the International Ecotourism Society picks an ecotourism issue and works with its network to not just raise awareness, but bring about change.

Costa Rica and Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands - two favorite Backroads destinations – are just two areas benefiting from TIES attention. For more information about TIES, call 202-347-9203 or visit www.ecotourism.org.

Leave No Trace

What we love about traveling the back roads is that there is so much beauty. Sure, we travel in and to a few big cities, but we always try to take the road less traveled. We have a number of trips that involve camping and it’s the Leave No Trace motto that we make sure everyone in the group understands. This motto was developed in the late 1970s and is a cooperative effort among the U.S National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service and dozens of other private partners such as Backroads.

“Leave No Trace” principles include:

• Camping and traveling on durable surfaces: On our walking, hiking and mountain biking trips, we avoid and discourage cutting switchbacks, creating new trails or adding new trail markers. Minimal impact on the trails and surrounding areas is key.

• Pack it in, pack it out: While we aren’t doing any backpacking on our trips, we are very conscientious about picking up all our food and trash items when we are picnicking, camping or stopping for refreshments.

• Leaving what you find behind: We discourage the urge to take away even a small souvenir piece of lava or coral or wildflowers. We need to leave things the way they were when we found them, so others can enjoy the same beauty we did. For more information about Leave No Trace, call 800-332-4100 or visit www.Lnt.org.

So enjoy your adventure tour with Backroads but be mindful of your environment and the impact you leave behind.

Photo Credit: Warren Zelman

Thousands of adventurers take Backroads trips every year and we want to see what you are seeing out there. Send us pictures of those countless breathtaking sights you encountered on one of our active travel trips and you could earn up to $3,000 in credit on your next Backroads adventure!

Backroads guarantees you excitement and challenges while you explore our world’s history and landscapes and we’re looking for pictures of your trip’s most memorable moments. Send us those shots of you and your family taking in the timeless beauty found at one of our national parks, of sweeping landscapes as you bike through Europe or pictures of you and your group rafting down a river.

Past and present guests are invited to participate and may submit photos from more than one trip. Simply submit up to 25 high-quality, digital shots per trip.

There will be three grand prize winners awarded annually: 1st place wins $3,000 in trip credit, 2nd place wins $2,000 in trip credit and 3rd place wins $1,000 in trip credit.

In addition to the three grand prize winners, additional photo contest entries may be chosen to appear in Backroads Award Winning publications or on our website at any time during the year. Photographers will be reimbursed $250 in trip credit by Backroads for unlimited usage of that image. Please see the Backroads photo contest terms and conditions for more details on the contest.

We look forward to seeing pictures of your Backroads trip. And, that photo might help get you closer to your next adventure!

On earlier posts, we’ve talked about our Backroads bike fleet for adults, as well as options for traveling with kids. Today, we’ll focus on the gear we provide for our biking trips:

Helmets — All riders are required to wear bicycle helmets for Backroads biking and multisport trips. You’re welcome to bring your own, or you can use one of our high-quality helmets. Three adult sizes are available, all fitted with an easily adjustable retention system.

Navigation – We provide riders with self-navigable directions and improved elevation profiles, as well as cyclometers and downloadable GPS directions in Europe and North America.

Storage — When you’re on the bike, you’ll need places to stash sunscreen, a camera, maybe a little cash, etc. Our titanium and tandem bikes include handlebar and/or rear rack bags. For Roubaix/Ruby riders, there are no bags on the bike, so you may want to bring a lightweight pack to use when your jersey pockets aren’t quite enough.

Extras — All of our bikes are equipped with a safety triangle, two water bottles and for those who want it: a combination lock, hand pump, inner tube, tire levers or patch kit for use on your trip. For those who don’t, see below.

Service and convenience – In addition to all the great equipment and handy gadgets we offer, Backroads also prides itself on its great trip leaders, who offer each rider service and convenience. On the very first day of your trip, your leaders will show you how to ride safely and efficiently. Beginners need not worry, as they’ll offer plenty of tips on shifting, braking and they’ll check your bike daily to make adjustments needed. Plus, if you have a flat tire, they’ll fix it for you! How’s that for service?

Pit crew — Our trip leaders are like a traveling pit crew. They have everything they need to operate a mobile bike shop, including spare chains, tubes, derailleurs, stems, risers, spacers and cranks.

So when it comes to bike gear here at Outfitters, it’s safe to say we’ve got you covered so you can focus on the beauty that surrounds you!

When you sign up for a bicycle trip with Backroads, you can rest assured that the bike fleet we provide is, we think, the best in the world.

Here’s a quick look at some of the bikes featured in our fleet of 4,000 bikes. Feel free to picture yourself on one of these beauties coasting down a scenic back road through Napa Valley on the U.S. West Coast or at the top of a challenging Alpine pass in Northern Italy on a bicycle tour of Europe.

Backroads Titanium Road Bike

This bike is custom-built and we offer different models based on the type of terrain you’ll be riding on. The frame is made of lightweight titanium and it features an ergonomic saddle and adjustable handlebar. This bike is included in the price of your trip.

Specialized S-Works Roubaix

Want to ride like the pros? Well, the S-Works Roubaix is the way to do it. This feather-light carbon bike features the legendary Shimano Dura-Ace drive train and brakes, as well as the top-of-line DT Swiss Tricon wheel set. It’s a three-time winner of the Paris-Roubaix and not only offers top-of-the-line performance, it also provides a pretty comfy ride. Reserving the S-Works Roubaix requires an additional $400 fee.

Specialized Ruby Pro

The Specialized Ruby Pro is precisely designed for women with short-reach brake levers, anatomically contoured Body Geometry saddles, and all-new handlebars designed with a short reach and shallow drop. This agile speed machine features customized tubing and geometry to the upgraded DT Swiss Tricon wheel set and the vibration-dampening carbon fork with Zertz inserts. It is also an additional $400 fee.

Co-Motion Torpedo Tandem

This bicycle made for two features a hand-built frame with a custom cro-moly (high carbon) steel. It has powerful Avid disc brakes and many more features that make this bike a perfect way for tandem riders to experience flat terrain. The Torpedo is an additional $500 fee.

Backroads Titanium Mountain Bike

For trips that cover dirt roads and rougher paved roads, the titanium mountain bikes are custom designed for a more comfortable ride. They are used on biking trips in Argentina, China, India and Thailand and on multi-sport trips in Costa Rica, Dolomites, Ecuador, Galápagos and South Africa. This bike is included in the price of your trip.

Click on the links above for full descriptions of our bikes, including measurements and other specifications.

Traveling with kids? Backroads also features bikes, trailer cycles and carriers just for family travel.

We can’t wait to see you on the back roads! For more information about our gear and tours, please visit www.backroads.com.