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Most of what we want to tell you about The Road Less Traveled is threaded throughout this website. Before you begin delving into our adventures there are a few things – things central to our vision of this great task – we’d like you to know at the outset.  These are the things we believe set us apart.

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The Road Less Traveled Family

Your child is our child. From our first day of business we as directors, Jim and Donna, have always operated with the belief that the young people who come on our programs are no different than our own. This conviction has empowered and inspired us to provide only the best in training, emergency preparedness, and staffing over the years.

On RLT you become part of our family. We remain committed to providing unique, irreplaceable experiences for each individual participant. We’ve carefully designed our programs with a progressive itinerary with specific goals for each student, activity and area in which we travel. We will not vary the order of activities or the integrity of our programming to accommodate large numbers of people.

Experience

We have learned a lot about the world and about young people in our two decades of work. We know there is no substitute for experience.

Because of these years of experience, we understand that safety is the most important aspect of travel, and we have an exceptional record to prove it. The physical and emotional well being of our young travelers is the most important aspect of our work, and we live it and breathe it 24/7.

Safety

We encourage you to ask the tough questions. Compare our standards, policies and procedures with our ostensibly similar competitors. We at RLT set the standard for the industry.

Our safety, quality and experience are unrivaled. We encourage you to compare us to our competitors. It’s one thing to discover an interesting web site, call and book your summer, but it’s another to know the people with whom you’ve entrusted your child’s health and well-being. In a perfect world, everyone would choose a summer experience with the same scrutiny as they would a preschool. Realistically, we know that’s not always possible. With The Road Less Traveled, we’ll be with you from beginning to end.

Many years ago we set the standard in the industry for safety as the first company serving young people to require that all of our leaders have a Wilderness First Responder Certification. The Road Less Traveled’s philosophy is that caring for travelers in remote and foreign destinations around the world is serious business. Medical training is essential. All community service learning, global perspectives and adventure expedition leaders, co-leaders and interns are required to have a minimum of 72 hours of advanced first¬ aid training in the form of WEMT (Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician), WFR (Wilderness First Responder), or EMT Certification.

We have designated evacuation routes and medical facilities in every area in which we operate. Extensive first-aid kits, including antibiotics and epinephrine, are carried on all programs. Contents and protocols are updated according to annually-reviewed standing orders and current wilderness medical protocols.

Our equipment is top quality and impeccably maintained. All participants wear life jackets, safety harnesses, and helmets as appropriate for participation in specific adventure activities.  On our service programs, participants use safety goggles, masks, and other protective gear as necessary to ensure their safety.

Since our inception, RLT has been on the cutting edge of technological advances in communications. We were the first to carry Iridium satellite phones on all of our programs as soon as they were available. Today we continue to carry the latest in emergency communication systems. According to geographic location, programs are equipped with satellite phones, ground-to-air radios and/or cellular phones providing access to 24-hour medical help in case of emergency. Technology permitting, leaders can consult the directors, Jim and Donna Stein, anytime of the day or night.

Quality

From our very beginnings, we made a decision to dedicate ourselves to providing engaging and enriching experiences. It is easy to say this, but you should know that we truly mean it. There is a steady pull in the industry toward quantity, and not quality. We encourage you to question us, and then others, to make certain the depth and breadth of your child’s experience is everything you expect it to be.

The Road Less Traveled is accredited by the American Camp Association. Our accreditation indicates that we have voluntarily allowed our practices to be compared with over 300 standards established by professionals in the camp industry and that we have met or exceeded those standards. Courts of law and government regulators recognize the ACA standards, which often go beyond the requirements of state and federal laws, as the standards of the camp industry.

Through the accreditation process, outside teams of trained camp professionals observe the camp in session to verify compliance with standards in the areas of health, safety, and program quality, including emergency procedures, program practices and design, health care, personnel policies, vehicle safety, goals, and administration.

The Road Less Traveled has been accredited since our first year of operation, and we continue to be committed to measuring the standard of our professionalism through the process of accreditation.

In addition to being an ACA-accredited camp and a member of the Midwest Association of Independent Camps, we are a licensed child-care facility in the state of Colorado. We travel in the most spectacular, extraordinary regions of the world and are fully permitted to operate in all the areas we travel.

Responsibility

You will have the support of us, both Jim and Donna Stein, along with our remarkable, tireless, compassionate core staff in Chicago throughout the summer. We will be by your side in providing a life-changing experience for your child from start to finish.