Explore Responsibly
LEARN ABOUT exploring responsibly & SHARE YOUR KNOWLEDGE BELOW FOR THE CHANCE TO SCORE a copy of Ineffable!
For over a quarter century, Wanderlust Tours has been caring for the beautiful Central Oregon landscape and bringing our community together through volunteer events.
Every year Central Oregon’s outdoor spaces see an increase in cherished use. To preserve these special places, there are many easy actions we can all take. We have shared a few to build awareness. We ask you to please share below your stewardship practices and consider signing up for one of our Volunteer Events which bolsters ecosystems!
Snow Melting
Spring has sprung and the snow is melting. Whether you are mourning the lack of fresh powder under your snowshoes, or reveling in the soft spring corn snow-the fact is that it is disappearing quickly!
This means new wildlife previously unable to move, live and survive in the deep snow are coming back, soon to be snacking on the buds of the trees and shrubs. While we find joy in the melting snow and newly emerging wildlife, we also find other hidden treasures, one less appealing.
Post snow-melt trash is a huge component of living in a snowy world. While our community is great about picking up micro-trash on the trails or accidentally left dog poop bags, once a new layer of snow falls, the trash is buried. As spring unfurls, each layer of melting winter snowfall reveals a layer of unintentional debris.
Now is the time to scour the snowmelt, to sniff out the candy wrappers, to find the used hand warmers before the wildlife does! And if you find a cell phone on Tumalo Mountain, please give me a call!
Paddling Central Oregon Lakes & Rivers
Paddling canoes and kayaks on our tours mimics the original form of North American travel beyond one’s own two feet! Native Americans modeled this mode of transport and we so love the Americana associated with paddling!
Because we use our boats on different lakes, rather than sinking them after use to preserve them for future use, we clean them after every trip to ensure our waters stay clean and free of invasive species.
Subterranean Adventures
Photo by Chaney Swiney
Our local caves have seen varied use over the years by Native Americans and Euro-Americans. From shelter to ice collection to exploration, human use has always affected the caves. Current culture, for some crazy reason, includes marring our caves with sprayed graffiti.
Wanderlust partners with the High Desert Grotto to sustainably sandblast graffiti away as well as our yearly cave clean ups, picking up trash for everyone’s enhanced cave experience. We so enjoy when volunteers from the public join us on our clean-up efforts!
WHITE NOSE SYNDROME IN NORTH AMERICA
We operate year-round cave tours in caves where our bats do not hibernate. WNS does not affect humans in any way. Learn about WNS in the United State here.
Photo by Drew Pick
WANDERLUST TRIVIA
Test your knowledge below for the chance to score a copy of Ineffable!
"Ineffable," is a stunning photo book supporting Pledge For The Wild.
Winner will be announced in our May Newsletter
VOLUNTOURISM
Central Oregon is a special place. We do our best to keep it that way.
We organize regular clean-ups with small groups and company outings. Join Us!