Community Partner Spotlight: RightOnTrek

In 2017, a group of friends from Silicon Valley set out to hike the 211 mile, John Muir Trail in California. Prior to the trip the group spent months planning and debating a day-by-day itinerary, food, gear and travel logistics. While on the trail the group talked about their experience planning the trip and the challenges it presented. It was then they decided to create RightOnTrek, a social portal for collaborative adventure planning and for curated access to essential backcountry products and services – their hope is this portal would enable millions of people to have the transformative, healing and empowering experiences the outdoors so generously provide.

Today, RightOnTrek offers a suite of services for outdoor adventures who have both spent lots of time in the backcountry and those new to backpacking experiences. This includes a database of destinations and itineraries for multi-day trips in National Parks, Wilderness areas and long distance trails across the country. They also serve as a hub for groups to collaborate and plan their adventures and offer lightweight, healthy backpacking meals. RightOnTrek serves everyone from hikers and backpackers ,to hunters and fisherman with an emphasis on folks who are new to these activities. They also support rangers, search and rescue teams and others who work or volunteer in the backcountry.

From the start RightOnTrek recognized the importance of sharing Leave No Trace’s mission through their business. We spoke with RightOnTrek to learn more about the work they are doing to promote Leave No Trace skills and ethics to their customers.

Top accomplishment of your organization (can be related to Leave No Trace or not)?

We are a young company that’s only getting started. Our accomplishments to date include a number of big ideas and “industry-first” products that redefine how people discover, plan and complete their wilderness adventures.

We are deeply committed to the preservation of the environment, especially the wilderness areas and fighting climate change. We are proud to announce the establishment of the partnership with Leave No Trace and 1% for the Planet. We are also happy to lead the industry in the adoption of 100% compostable packaging for all of our backcountry meal products.

How does Leave No Trace add to the well-being of your organization?

RightOnTrek is focused on sharing information about wilderness areas and spreading out usership across them. Of course the caveat is ensuring our users are aware of their potential impacts and how to minimize them.

Partnering with Leave No Trace is an incredible opportunity to train our staff using Leave No Trace’s outstanding resources and implement those new skill and knowledge sets into our products and services. In turn, our offerings will incorporate the 7 Principles of Leave No Trace and we will be better able to educate and inspire our users to be aware of their actions when adventuring. Being a part of the Leave No Trace community is not only the responsible thing to do but is critical for conservation efforts and long-term sustainability.

Describe specific ways your business or organization is promoting or incorporating Leave No Trace into your work. If you have unique ways you are promoting Leave No Trace, please include that information.

On an organizational level, RightOnTrek wants to be self-aware of how our endeavors impact our surroundings. We created the leadership role of Chief Sustainability Officer to remain true to our commitment to protect and restore our environment. From eco-friendly paper, ink, and cleaners, to sustainably sourced meal ingredients and compostable, resealable packaging, our CSO takes a hard look at the products and practices we use.

RightOnTrek works to incorporate Leave No Trace research, educational content, and the 7 Principles into our adventure planning tools. One of RightOnTrek’s utmost goals is to provide high quality and thoughtful preparation content to our site guests so they are able to make informed, less impactful decisions about their wilderness trips. Within our trip planner’s area pages we share information on dispersed camping sustainably and exhaustively list what fragile sections should be avoided. Also included in our resources, we strongly advocate for and explain responsible fire use, as well as the importance of not disturbing wildlife for both their safety and ours. On this front, we are always striving to do better and look forward to further incorporating Leave No Trace ideals into all of the information we put out there.

One unique thing we do, and really love doing, is facilitating educational workshops and webinars with local non profit organizations to ensure safe and sustainable activities in the wilderness. Topics include food preparation and storage, camping, interacting with wildlife, and maintaining personal hygiene among others. We are sure our partnership with Leave No Trace will only enhance the quality of these events, broadening their reach and building a stronger community – a win-win for wilderness areas and adventurers everywhere!

One tip you would like to share with other Community Partners for incorporating Leave No Trace into their work or programming. We find the best way to incorporate Leave No Trace principles into our work is to slow down when it comes time to make potentially impactful decisions, and ask ourselves: what do we want to achieve and what options are available to us? Then we’ll think through different outcomes and the scale at which they will affect the environment, especially when adopted by our users. By taking a moment to walk through the process and envision the end user experience, we are able to better align our choices with Leave No Trace and make it easier for our community to get onboard. One thing we would like the community to take away from interacting with the RightOnTrek brand, is choosing products that promote sustainability such as compostable packaging, Earth- friendly materials, reusable/ multi purpose containers responsible sourcing, green cleaners and energy. Understanding our commitment to the environment does not stop at philanthropic donations but is at the core of every decision the leadership team makes, and as a user you can feel pride in knowing we are completely transparent in our efforts.

One tip you would like to share with other Community Partners for incorporating Leave No Trace into their work or programming.

We find the best way to incorporate Leave No Trace principles into our work is to slow down when it comes time to make potentially impactful decisions, and ask ourselves: what do we want to achieve and what options are available to us? Then we’ll think through different outcomes and the scale at which they will affect the environment, especially when adopted by our users. By taking a moment to walk through the process and envision the end user experience, we are able to better align our choices with Leave No Trace and make it easier for our community to get onboard. One thing we would like the community to take away from interacting with the RightOnTrek brand, is choosing products that promote sustainability such as compostable packaging, Earth- friendly materials, reusable/ multi purpose containers responsible sourcing, green cleaners and energy. Understanding our commitment to the environment does not stop at philanthropic donations but is at the core of every decision the leadership team makes, and as a user you can feel pride in knowing we are completely transparent in our efforts.

What do you value most about your partnership with the Center?

We are very grateful for the training and educational materials that the Leave No Trace Center has developed and the opportunity to access and share their resources. With the Center’s guidance and partnership, we can further empower the people we serve to protect the parks and wilderness areas we all love.

To learn more about RightOnTrek and the products and services they offer visit https://rightontrek.com/. Use this link and the code LeaveNoTrace50 for a 50% discount on your first order and LeaveNoTrace10 for 10% off future orders. Some of the profits from these products will go to supporting the Center’s mission.