TERMS & CONDITIONS
DEPOSIT AND FINAL PAYMENT
Yosemite & Yellowstone Backpacking Trips
• A non-refundable deposit of $400 is required to reserve your spot on an open trip.
• Final payment is due 90 days prior to trip departure.
Alaska Backpacking Trips
• A non-refundable deposit of $500 is required to reserve your spot on an open trip.
• Final payment is due 120 days prior to trip departure.
Private/Custom Backpacking trips
• Private and custom trips require a non-refundable deposit equal to 50% of the trip’s cost.
• Final payment is due 120 days prior to trip departure.
CANCELLATION POLICY
Yosemite & Yellowstone Backpacking Trips:
Final payment is due 90 days prior to trip departure.
• If you cancel your trip 61 or more days prior to trip departure, you will receive a full refund, excluding the non-refundable deposit, booking platform fee, and credit card processing fee.
• If you cancel your trip 31-60 days prior to trip departure, you will receive a 50% refund, excluding the non-refundable deposit, booking platform fee, and credit card processing fee.
• If you cancel your trip 0-30 days prior to trip departure, no refund is given.
• Upon failure to meet final payment deadline, customer reservation will be released with no refund given.
• No refund is given for any unused portions of a trip.
Alaska Backpacking Trips:
Final payment is due 120 days prior to trip departure.
• If you cancel your trip 91-120 days prior to trip departure, you will receive a 50% refund, excluding the non-refundable deposit, booking platform fee, and credit card processing fee.
• If you cancel your trip 0-90 days prior to trip departure, no refund is given.
• Upon failure to meet final payment deadline, customer reservation will be released with no refund given.
• No refund is given for any unused portions of a trip, including due to flight delays from weather.
Private and Custom Backpacking Trips:
Final payment is due 120 days prior to trip departure.
Yosemite & Yellowstone Private Backpacking Trips
• If you cancel your trip 91 or more days prior to trip departure, you will receive a full refund, minus the non-refundable deposit, booking platform fee, and credit card processing fee.
• If you cancel your trip 61-90 days prior to trip departure, you will receive a 50% refund, excluding the non-refundable deposit, booking platform fee, and credit card processing fee.
• If you cancel your trip 0-60 days prior to trip departure, no refund will be given.
• Upon failure to meet final payment deadline, customer reservation will be released with no refund given.
• No refund is given for any unused portion of a trip.
Alaska Private Backpacking Trips
• If you cancel your trip 91-120 days prior to trip departure, you will receive a 50% refund, excluding the non-refundable deposit, booking platform fee, and credit card processing fee.
• If you cancel your trip 0-90 days prior to trip departure, no refund is given.
• Upon failure to meet final payment deadline, customer reservation will be released with no refund given.
• No refund is given for any unused portions of a trip, including due to flight delays from weather.
“Cancel for Any Reason” travel insurance is highly recommended, particularly for Alaska trips, in which our backcountry flight may be impacted by weather.
Failure to Secure Permit
Sometimes it is necessary to book a backpacking trip before the national park grants the official trail permit. In these cases, the deposit will be collected as normal.
If it comes to be that the national park does not grant the permit, or if it grants a permit for dates different than originally planned, the participant will have the ability to shift the funds towards another open trip. If there is no other trip desired by the participant, a full refund will be given, including a refund of the deposit.
After being notified, the participate shall have one week to use the funds towards a new trip or claim a refund. Once the funds are put towards a new trip, the “Deposit and Final Payment,” and “Cancellation Policy,” shall apply from that date onwards.
ALTERNATE ROUTES
National Park permitting lotteries are highly competitive. Therefore, we can not guarantee that we will receive a permit for the exact backpacking itinerary listed on the trip page. In some cases, it is necessary to start a trip from an alternate trailhead or complete the route differently than as listed on the website.
When a permit is granted that alters our route, a refund is not offered. For example, if a participant has booked a trip to Half Dome, and we receive a permit for the Mono Meadows trailhead instead of Happy Isles, the trip will go ahead with the new trailhead, and no refund will be granted. If there is space on a different trip date, however, a participant may request to move their trip date, and we will try to accomodate.
Trail/Park Closures, Weather, and Natural Disasters
Despite thoughtful planning, nature can sometimes create unsafe weather or trail conditions at any time of the year. It is very uncommon, although possible, that your trip will need to be re-routed or postponed due to dangerous trails, high snow levels, impassable roads, forest fires, disease outbreaks and park closures. If a trip is unable to operate, or if The Lamplighters deems a trip unsafe due to circumstances out of our control, there will be no refund given.
Instead of issuing a refund, we will devise an alternative itinerary as close as possible to the original trip planned. Although we will try as hard as we can to create an alternative trip similar to the original, it may be possible that very little, or none, of your original trip will be accessible when using our alternative itinerary. Sometimes an alternative itinerary may require driving further, with no public transportation, to reach the starting point. Sometimes an alternative itinerary will be shorter in days than your original trip, particularly in Alaska, if there is a bush plane delay. In this case, the trip will be shortened when the weather clears, and no refund shall be given for any unused portion of the trip.
Although it has never come to this, if we are unable to offer an alternative trip of any kind, instead of a refund, you will be issued a full credit for use on a future trip.
You never know when nature or the National Park Service will throw a curveball. Please protect yourself by purchasing “Cancel for Any Reason” travel insurance.
EARLY DEPARTURES AND EVACUATIONS
Whether voluntarily, or due to emergency or safety concerns, it is possible that a client may need to evacuate a trip before the planned finish date.
We will help you arrange your evacuation and see to your safety and comfort. Shuttles, lodges, helicopter and medical transportation, medical care, meals, shipping and many other factors can all play a role in getting you out safely and expeditiously. There will be costs associated with your evacuation, and all costs will be solely your responsibility.
We strongly recommend you purchase a travel insurance plan that covers medical and other expenses incurred during an evacuation.
Travel Insurance
It is imperative that you purchase travel insurance, as most adventurers do. Sometimes a traveler, or loved one, will get sick or injured and need to cancel a trip too late to receive a partial refund. Insurance may also cover canceled trips and costs associated with canceled flights, rental car damage, delays, reroutes, natural disasters and medical evacuations.
It is recommended that you purchase travel insurance which includes evacuation costs and the “cancel for any reason” add-on. We recommend starting your search at SquareMouth and also comparing with IMGlobal.
Minimum Participants
The Lamplighters purposely sets our minimum number of participants so low that we have never needed to cancel a trip. Even so, The Lamplighters reserves the right to cancel any trip which has not met the minimum number of participants and is not economically viable.
Last minute sign-ups are quite frequent, and due to this, we will not cancel a trip until 30 days before trip departure. If we do need to cancel a trip due to low participation, you will receive a full refund, including a refund of your deposit. We will also work with you to find a solution, which could include joining a different trip, using your funds on a future trip, or splitting the surcharge among all participants and keeping the same trip available.
It is your own responsibility to pay for any costs incurred, such as pre-paid travel expenses, due to a canceled trip with too few participants. Please purchase travel insurance which will protect you in such cases.
If you have any questions, or if you need further explanation, please don’t hesitate to contact us!
