Trek & Trail Adventure Travel

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We Invite You to Explore

While you browse through our web site, we hope you’ll eagerly anticipate becoming a part of our domestic and international exploratory learning adventures. Trek & Trail has been running adventure travel programs for over 20 years. All of our employees are eager to share their intimate knowledge and enthusiasm for our areas of travel with you, as well as their technical expertise. Our guides and instructors are highly trained in First-Aid and CPR. Some instructors are certified by the American Canoe Association, British Canoe Union, and Wilderness Medical Associates. We are committed to ensuring a safe, quality experience for you, as well as preserving the natural history and culture of each region we explore. Trek & Trail works closely with the Inland Sea Society to preserve Lake Superior’s pristine waters, and the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve to encourage the protection of vulnerable international areas. We incorporate our philosophy of preservation into our extended forays to exotic environments: the Apostle Islands, Alaska’s Kenai Fjords, Siberia’s Lake Baikal, Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, Ireland’s Blasket Islands, and Scotland’s West Coast. We invite you to join us in our explorations

Trek & Trail's business headquarters are located at

7 Washington Ave., Bayfield, WI.

Company Statements

Mission: It is the mission of Trek & Trail to create economic value in the pristine natural resources that sustain our communities, through profitable recreational and educational business activities.

Purpose: To provide integrated access to those seeking outdoor experiences by offering quality outfitting, education, guiding and retail services.

Philosophy: To do business that provides a healthy livelihood for employees while maintaining a sense of commitment to the earth. More is not necessarily better. Quality, farsighted, responsible, caring and simple are words to be thought of as we make decisions and carry out our jobs.

Value priorities:

Interact with the planet with respect for its present and future capacity to care for human kind.
Maintain a work environment that enhances the quality of life for our customers and ourselves while respecting the carrying capacity of the areas in which we work.
Maintain a healthy profit that will provide for and sustain the above.

Trek & Trail History

Trek & Trail was founded in November 1978. It began as a small retail x-c ski shop in Bessemer Michigan that also provided outdoor winter adventure. It operated as a Sole Proprietorship until 1986 when it incorporated as a Class C Michigan Corporation. During its first ten years of business, Trek & Trail was at the leading edge of outdoor trends in X-C skiing, Mt. Biking and Kayaking. In 1986 it opened a retail store and sea kayaking center in Bayfield, WI. Since that time Trek & Trail has grown and switched from a predominantly retail based company to a purveyor of Adventure Travel and experiential programming, running trips throughout the Apostle Islands, Alaska, Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, the British Isles and Siberia's Lake Baikal. In 1988 Trek & Trail founded the Inland Sea Society, a 501-C3 not-for-profit corporation that is involved in watershed management of Lake Superior's basin. The Inland Sea Symposium, an annual event, brings recreational users together to kayak and learn more about management issues facing Lake Superior. In 1991, Trek & Trail opened a sea kayaking outpost at Rowley Bay in Wisconsin's Door Country and a second outpost in Duluth, MN the following year. In 1992 the company ran its first dog sledding program in the Apostle Islands. The company sold its ski business in Bessemer, MI in 1993, and in the same year a license to use the Trek & Trail trademark to Dave & Terry Johnson. Dave and Terry recently built a new building in Ironwood, MI and operate the first Trek & Trail license. To better serve educational institutions, camps and other nonprofit organizations, the company established a special educational program with special terms and pricing in 1994. This program now accounts for over 50% of the company's user days.

To better concentrate on Trek & Trail's growing adventure travel business, the company closed its Door County Outpost in 1995 and its Duluth Outpost in 1996. Most recently, Trek & Trail formed a Mexican Corporation based in Playa del Carmen, Mexico and is expanding its Mexico-based program offerings and services to replicate its Bayfield operation. To augment Trek & Trail's international expansion, the company has initiated a dealership program which offers tour operators, travel agents, and outdoor retailers opportunities to enter the growing Adventure Travel Business.

Staff

Trek & Trail currently has eight year-round employees of which four are full-time and four are part-time. During our summer season, Memorial Day through Labor Day, our staff grows to 30 full-time staff members. The average tenure for seasonal staff is 2.5 years. Year-round positions are usually chosen from seasonal staff members.

Mary Sweval - Owner. She has provided balance and restraint to many wild ideas. Her integrity and straightforward style provide direction and stability in a sometime hectic work environment. She is a fiercely committed mother and is dedicated to the long-term success of the company. She is the one who keeps everyone's account straight, and makes sure that the bills are paid. If you have a legitimate problem she will take care of it -- but whiners beware. Mary enjoys the tropics and likes to assist our guides with obtaining food and other essential concerns. In Mary's spare time she likes to practice yoga, sew, quilt and garden.

Scott Nesvold - Head Guide. He has proved to be one of Trek & Trail's greatest assets and most active employees. His prime task is training and supervising guides. His attention to detail and ability to grasp the overall picture makes his time much in demand from all areas of the company. He graduated from Carleton College with a B.A. in Geology then spent 8 years pursuing his outdoor interests in Paddle sports and XC-skiing. The strong competitor in him encouraged him to invest thirteen years in canoe racing; he is able to boast several national titles and is a two time USCA Junior National Canoeing Marathon Champion. Scott is also a highly accredited British Canoe Union Instructor (Coach 3). His other interests include: reading, mountain and dog biking, making banana chocolate chip pancakes, and playing with his dog Mukluk.

Trek & Trail, Inc. 7 Washington Ave. Bayfield, WI 54814
1-800-354-8735