Happy New Year!

‘Baby New Year’ is a common symbol used for the New Year holiday. You know the image, it is of a baby dressed in a diaper, a hat, and a sash. Mythology has it that this baby grows through the year, all the way to old age by years end, where he then hands over his role to the next ‘Baby New Year.’

Symbolic to be sure. But isn’t ‘symbolic’ a poignant way to describe the New Years holiday?

Each new year celebration is a time for symbolic gestures towards contemplation and anticipation. We often think about how the past year turned out, noting significant events of our lives. The pending new year is also a time we make resolutions. How might we be better next year, and beyond? We humans enjoy thinking about things at the beginning, and at the end of things. In the New Year holiday, we have both an end and beginning at the same time – it feels like the perfect time for introspection.

Ahh, 2019!! … A truly GREAT year for Backcountry Journeys! 

As we contemplate this year gone-by, we give thanks to all those who made it such. 

We are thankful for the amazing folks who chose to travel with us, as our collection of photographic adventures means very little without you coming with us! You are the reason we are able pay homage to places like Zion and Bryce Canyon; land in a float plane on Naknek Lake, in remote Alaska in order to see the Katmai bears, or journey through the jungles of Costa Rica alongside the monkeys and macaws. For you we are thankful!

We are thankful for those who work tirelessly as stewards to the places we visit. Keeping our natural world, and those places set aside to preserve and protect it, is an enormous job. To those who care for our special places, we are thankful!

Our tours rely heavily on all sorts of people at different service capacities: hotel workers, airport/airline employees, car rental folks, boat captains … the list goes on and on. The success of our photo tours depend a great deal on so many other people doing their jobs well. To those service industry folks who help along the way, we are thankful! 

Backcountry Journeys experienced unprecedented success in 2019. We had more tours run than ever before, we welcomed a couple wonderful new Photography Guides to our family, and we introduced a handful of new trip itineraries (some of these new tours were run for the very first time in 2019, some we are anxiously awaiting in 2020. 

Among our successful new trips/locations in 2019 were Canyons of Utah: Arches & Canyonlands, Southwest Monsoon: Grand Canyon Country, The Best of Iceland – Autumn, as well as Resplendent Quetzals of Costa Rica (trip extension). 

The adventure level goes through the proverbial roof in 2020, as we will travel the globe to some of the more remote, and interesting locations in the world! If you are even considering joining us, you should. The following new tours are set to run for the first time in 2020: Tiger Safari: India, Olympic National Park, Coastal Oregon & California Redwoods, Jaguars of Brazil’s Pantanal, Ultimate Botswana Wildlife Safari,  Botswana: Land of Giants, Autumn in Grand Canyon Country, Iceland in Winter, Iceland: Remote Westfjords & Puffins, and Canyons of Utah: Grand Staircase-Escalante.

While reflecting on 2019 we not only celebrate our successes, we also consider how we can constantly improve on what we provide, which is a world-class and seamless adventure travel experience built around your photography. Engrained in all of our excitement for 2020 (and beyond), we do what we do – in ‘the field’ and behind the scenes – with the best interests of our guests in the forefront. 

This is our way of treating the new year holiday appropriately, with considerate contemplation of what has been, and deliberate anticipation of what is to come. Our proverbial Backcountry Journeys ‘Baby New Year,’ now fully grown from the experiences of 2019, will tonight hand things off to next year, and we couldn’t be more thrilled. We look forward to seeing all of you on a 2020 Backcountry Journeys tour, and now for an official ‘toast’ to all of the adventures that await us!

Happy New Year Wish

Our Happy New Year wish for you

Is for your best year yet,

A year where life is peaceful,

And what you want, you get.

A year in which you cherish

The past year’s memories,

And live your life each new day,

Full of bright expectancies.

I wish for you a holiday

With happiness galore;

And when it’s done, I wish you

Happy New Year, and many more.

                                                                                     -Joanna Fuchs

Happy New Year from Backcountry Journeys!

Kenton Krueger

Kenton Krueger has spent the past several years guiding backpackers, hikers and photographers into the wild places of the American West such as Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Glacier, Katmai, Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks, as well as internationally in Costa Rica & Brazil. In addition to backpacking and camping, his adventures include rock climbing, exploring the slot canyons of southern Utah, mountain biking, and bagging 14ers in Colorado’s San Juan Mountain Mountain Range. Kenton is a trail runner, former pilot, and has had several of his writings and photographs published in the Omaha World-Herald newspaper. Kenton looks forward to utilizing his years of guiding experience, combined with his passion and experience behind the lens to provide memorable and unforgettable experiences at the wild places we will visit together.