about

I first saw the grizzly bear's giant head half a kilometer downstream on the river bar. I knew by the way he snapped it toward me that my day had just shifted in intensity. His eyes were human and even from that distance I could see how disapproving they were. We stopped in our tracks, talking each other through a hasty decision matrix. Luckily, after several minutes he ambled off into the willows, and after half an hour, my partner and I moved down the braided riverbed.

 

As we passed the cut bank that he had climbed to enter into the woods, we heard grunts and crashing branches. He shot out of the woods, splashing into the river toward us. He covered the 100 yards in 9 seconds. Faster than the fastest olympic sprinter. His approach was feral and confused and time slowed as I noticed the water shaking from the fur behind his intense hazel eyes. I looked at the sky and noticed a plane's contrail, a fireweed bloom and  my own heart beating its final few hardest beats. It was incredibly calm and peaceful. I remember thinking, the next few moments will be painful. He will swat at me with his long claws then pounce on my back as I try to stay stomach down, guarding my vital organs and trying to keep my ears from being torn from my scalp. He will crunch my skull and if I am lucky he will leave my hiking partner alone as he works me over. After 3 or 4 long moments it will be over. He stopped 7 feet from us, popped his jaw, woofed, lunged back and forth, swinging his neck low and high, then smelled the ground and turned, sprinting away as fast as he had come.

That was during my first summer as a Backcountry Ranger in Denali National Park, Alaska. I had other encounters with bears, was involved in search and rescues, led guided hikes, and patrolled the backcountry to check on hikers and climbers. It was the greatest job. "I liked it, and I was good at it."

What I found over the subsequent seasons as a Hut Warden in New Zealand, an Outdoor Educator and Life Guard on the North Shore of Oahu and a Ranger in Denali, is that I loved sharing with people my zest for the beauty I was experiencing. I wanted to show people where the little nooks and crannies were and I wanted to make sure they were safe, well fed, taken care of. More than anything, I wanted to bring them joy.

 

After 5 years, I made the fateful error of entering corporate surgical device sales and muddled through what became drudgery and later, real existential dread. Then it was over, and I pushed all my chips to the middle of the table, took a deep breath, spent a lot of savings, and started Travel-Well. It is the single greatest decision of my entire life—besides marrying my wife. I could finally get back to what provides joy in my life, which is providing joy in other's lives.

 

I hope you enjoy the website and the idea of doing active and adventure travel differently. I hope you enjoy the concept of a firm that cares, that is independent, that does the right things, and cherishes its integrity because it is the only thing that really matters in the end.

Why should you care, and why should you use our service? I am a travel savant. I’m not kidding. I have synesthesia. It is a gift for taking in visual and sensory data, analyzing it, synthesizing it, and packaging it to effectively communicate a concept. I know more about the world, its geography, places, spaces, rivers, beaches, brights spots and low points, than most anyone. It works pretty well for owning a luxury travel business.

The real deal is that everyone says they are unique, unforgettable, and off the beaten path, etc. Very few are. Travel-Well actually is, and it is simply because that is how my wife and I like to travel—that is it. I have tried packaging travel that the masses love, and I just can't  do it. We have been all over the world, started as Backcountry Rangers in Alaska, and still have the deep, heartfelt need to guide clients to what is good. That is it. Simple. You want to go somewhere cool and have a good time, and we know the great places and the cool people to make it happen. No pressure, no hidden fees, no B.S. We just like to show our clients how to have fun and make it easy for them. Check us out.