An Inside Look at Intrepid’s New Active-Ism Tours Featuring Environmental Icon Pattie Gonia

by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 10:50 PM ET, Thu June 4, 2026

As she walks along the wide open, half-mile desert pathway leading to Horseshoe Bend National Monument's popular overlook, drag queen and environmental activist Pattie Gonia is a sight to behold.

While most visitors are clad in outdoor gear, Gonia strides onto the scene wearing black, high-heeled boots up to her knees and an olive-colored wrap dress that blends perfectly with the varied, Earth-colored hues of the surrounding Arizona desert. Gonia's signature waves of copper-red hair, meanwhile, cascade voluminously all the way down to the waist, perfectly styled.

The fact that her wardrobe palette aligns so well with today's backdrop is likely no accident for the always-on-point Gonia, who's been featured on numerous magazine covers and is known for donning vintage and upcycled garments. And her fashionable arrival at the national landmark just outside Page, Arizona, does not go unnoticed for long.

Two young girls, perhaps in their late teens, walk behind Gonia for several minutes, leaning into each other, hugging, obviously giddy with excitement to be within touching distance of the famed environmental icon and next-gen leader who is the alter ego of 32-year-old Wyn Wiley.

With over two million online followers across TikTok and Instagram and having raised nearly $4 million for environmental causes, Gonia has risen to icon status as an outspoken climate activist, defender of the environment and an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. It's a mission that's led to her being featured and written about in Time, Vogue, The New York Times, ABC News and more.

After a few minutes of trailing Gonia, the two young girls muster their courage and tap her on the back to ask for a picture together. Gonia obliges graciously, and after snapping a few selfies, the young Gonia fans thank her repeatedly for all she's doing to help protect the environment, promote inclusiveness and inspire change, particularly amid the Trump era.

Welcome to one of Intrepid Travel's newest product lines: Active-ism trips.

These unique new itineraries, launched late last year, blend adventure travel with social impact in a way I haven't quite witnessed before as a longtime travel writer. Participants from all walks of life are given the opportunity to explore America's iconic national parks with some of the most well-known and cutting-edge environmental influencers of the moment.

During the course of the new trips—as travelers hike, dine, and journey alongside leading thinkers—they learn about not only what goes into protecting America's irreplaceable national parks, but also the challenges these open spaces face under the current U.S. president. And if all goes well, participants return home with a better idea of how to help advocate for protection of the national parks themselves.

A New Line of Intrepid Trips Is Born

While it's not unusual for travel companies to enlist leading scientists, authors or naturalists to take part in journeys with everyday travelers, few, if any, do so in a way that is so immediately responsive to unfolding national policy.

Intrepid kicked off its Active-ism itineraries in the latter half of 2025 amid the Trump Administration's aggressive attacks on America's open spaces, as he embarked on slashing national park funding and laying off park staff. It's an effort that continues today. Trump's 2027 budget proposal, like last year's, guts the National Park Service, making sweeping cuts, including a $736 million reduction (over 25%) to park operations.

The mere creation of national park trips featuring some of the most outspoken environmental voices of this era was a not-so-subtle form of activism in its own right. It was Intrepid's way of standing up for iconic public spaces that belong to all of us, pushing back against Trump's efforts to undermine the beloved park system.

"When we launched Active-ism, the idea was pretty simple — travel can and should be a force for good," Leigh Barnes, Intrepid's president for The Americas, told TravelPulse. "The U.S. National Park Service is facing its largest ever budget cut, putting access, preservation and local communities that rely on tourism at risk. This is a moment where the industry needed to step up — and that's exactly what Intrepid has done."

Intrepid chose to take its stand by creating trips that Barnes says "go beyond merely ticking off destinations" and instead give travelers a chance to really connect with communities and the issues that matter on the ground, while also allowing travelers to spend time on those trips with prominent changemakers and engage in activist-led discussions.

In addition to Gonia, some of Intrepid's upcoming Active-ism itineraries feature climate activist and environmental educator Michael Mezzatesta; award-winning environmentalist Leah Thomas (also known as Green Girl Leah) and Wawa Gatheru, an environmental advocate and founder of Black Girl Environmentalist.

Exploring Environmental Activism With a Next-Gen Leader

In full transparency, when I showed up for Intrepid's Active-ism trip with Gonia, I knew very little about her or Wyn Wiley. I had no idea I'd be sharing the next week with a celebrity, someone who had just been included on the Time 100 list, as one of the most influential creators of 2025. Having spent the past year or more in my middle-aged mom bubble fighting breast cancer, I admit to having lost touch with many things, including the latest activism rock stars on social media.

I also arrived curious about what, specifically, I would learn surrounding environmental activism and our national parks. I've spent my life as a passionate environmentalist, volunteering for years with San Diego Democrats for Environmental Action, including serving as their communications director for a while. So, I embarked on the Intrepid trip thinking I had a pretty good grasp on what it meant to be an environmental activist.

Little did I know that the week ahead with Pattie Gonia would change me in ways that I didn't see coming.

Visiting National Parks Amid a Government Shutdown

The first stop on our five-night Adventure to Zion & The Grand Canyon trip was iconic Zion National Park in Utah, where our group would hike the popular three-mile Emerald Pools trail. The outing started with a group lunch with Wiley, who wouldn't appear as Pattie Gonia until later in our trip, hiking in drag for just one of the days on our itinerary. After chatting and getting to know each other over deli sandwiches, we headed to the park.

We arrived at Zion on a brilliant fall day. On the mountains around us, cottonwood and maple trees were awash in a dazzling fall palette of yellow and red leaves. It was an ideal day for exploring a beautiful landscape like Zion, one that would typically have attracted hordes of visitors. But as we passed by the park's entrance booths they were shuttered and there were no rangers to greet us. We were visiting during the first government funding shutdown of Trump's second term in office, which was especially symbolic in my mind.

It was a shutdown that would become the longest in U.S. history. And as it dragged on, national parks were unable to function as they normally would because there was no money, courtesy of Washington gridlock. Meaning, as we explored Zion's majestic landscape, known for its slot canyons and enormous sandstone cliffs of cream, pink, brown and red, there weren't any rangers around or ranger-led programs available. Public bathrooms were all locked, and trash cans in more than a few places were overflowing with garbage.

I grew up visiting Zion and have incredibly fond memories of summers spent exploring the park's awe-inspiring beauty. Those memories made Zion's current state of neglect especially heartbreaking and angering. Zion is one of many parks in the American southwest where my passion for nature, in all of its remarkable forms, was born and I'm sure I'm not alone in that.

Another feeling washed over me as we walked around as well, one I've felt almost daily since January 2025: That of total helplessness in this new era of highly partisan, divisive and environmentally destructive U.S. politics, where there's no more crossing the aisle to cooperate for the good of the country, as had been commonplace under nearly every previous administration.

But as those on the Intrepid trip were about to find out, in a world where activists like Wiley exist, there's still some reason for optimism and hope for a better future.

With only a smattering of other visitors in Zion that day, we had trails to ourselves in many places. As we walked along, Wiley pointed out some of the features of the fragile environment around us and explained how to be better stewards as we passed through these places. Later, the conversation turned to the fact that simply showing up at national parks amid a government shutdown and under the current administration can be a form of activism.

It's a way of connecting with these spaces and taking them back, making our love and passion for them known. Rather than letting national parks become neglected and unused, as it would seem those in power might want.

This is an important point, one that a previous version of myself might not have fully recognized. Simply continuing to patronize beloved spaces, making clear they matter to us, and supporting them with our dollars and donations, is important. What's more, as Wiley (who works to get BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ and femmes into the outdoors) explained, if people are unfamiliar with something and don't connect with it or love it, they're not going to take the time to fight for it.

Wiley also stressed the importance of looking for ways to make a difference in your own community, contributing your skills and talents to grassroots organizations that are tackling important issues and causes.

Bryce Canyon, Utah

The next morning, we departed before sunrise for the two-hour drive to Bryce Canyon National Park in southern Utah, yet another iconic and beloved national park.

Like Zion, I've spent many vacations over the years at Bryce and visiting once again felt like greeting an old friend. Except this time, I arrived with grave concern for that friend.

Years ago, to celebrate a milestone birthday, I booked a cabin on the canyon's rim. Part of the Lodge at Bryce Canyon (the only overnight accommodation within the park), the western-style cabins here provide an opportunity to truly immerse yourself in the park's beauty. Each morning during that stay, I rose early, before the crowds arrived, to walk through the alpine forests and among the striking red-rock hoodoo spires in near solitude, wondering if this was what it might have felt like thousands of years ago, when the first humans passed through the canyon. It was the kind of soul-nourishing and restorative vacation that these parks were created to offer Americans of all walks of life.

During my visit with Intrepid, Bryce's fans were out in abundance. It was heartening to see so many people present, clearly not swayed by the idea that there was a government shutdown or the notion that they should abandon these special places and allow them to be plundered by private interests. Though ominous feelings of concern were never far from mind as we explored yet another cherished public landscape that Trump has threatened to privatize.

Our group spent a peaceful three hours wandering along Bryce's famed Navajo Loop, Queen's Garden and Wall Street trails. The trails took us on a series of switchbacks, through towering slot canyons and deep into Bryce's otherworldly amphitheater. At the bottom of the canyon, we paused for a picnic lunch in the shade of the towering Ponderosa Pines and Douglas Fir trees before continuing on, taking group photos and chatting along the way. There were no deep conversations about activism as we hiked, but simply being here, acknowledging the beauty of this threatened space together, was meaningful. And as we hiked, Wiley took the time to get to know us all a little better.

Navajo Nation, Arizona

After Bryce, our tour moved immediately onward to the iconic Horseshoe Bend area in Arizona, where we spent a day exploring a series of much-photographed slot canyons that are part of the Navajo Nation—Rattlesnake & Owl Slot Canyon and Upper Antelope Canyon. Our local guides were from Black Streak Canyon Tours, a Navajo-owned company.

It was here that I witnessed one of the most powerful examples of Gonia's presence and unique brand of activism. On this day of our tour, Wiley came in drag, hiking and exploring with us as Gonia, in her olive-colored wrap dress and black high-heeled boots, her copper locks shining in the desert sun.

As we arrived at the Black Streak Canyon Tour company's offices, our driver for the day, Irene, a member of the Navajo Nation, upon seeing Gonia, said to the other members of our group: "Where did you get that?" as she glanced toward Gonia.

But Gonia didn't miss a beat. Instead, she immediately began engaging Irene, greeting her and continually chatting with her throughout our tour. And before long, Gonia and Irene were laughing at each other's jokes and pausing to snap selfies as we made our way through the picturesque, 200-million-year-old canyons, which are sacred to the Indigenous people of the region.

As we explored the narrow canyon pathways, Irene, a photo wizz, showed us how to capture Instagram-worthy photos of this striking landscape and pointed out a horned owl sitting on a ledge far above us.

Later, as our experience concluded, Gonia joked with Irene, saying: "Irene, this visit could have gone one of two ways…." meaning it could have been very uncomfortable or alternatively, it had the potential to turn out very well. And the latter was clearly the case. Gonia, famous for promoting inclusivity in the outdoors, had opened yet another person's mind with her presence, creating dialogue and bringing about new ways of thinking.

As we climbed back in our Intrepid van to depart, the manager of Black Streak Tours came running out of his office, effusively thanking Gonia for visiting.

Grand Canyon and Personalized Action Plans

The final stop on our tour brought us to the Grand Canyon for a rim walk on a blustery afternoon. When we arrived, the parking lots were nearly barren, the visitor center shuttered and I could practically count on one hand the number of fellow visitors we encountered. The silence at the Grand Canyon on that afternoon, a place that typically receives 5 million visitors annually, was the starkest reminder of the political climate our national parks are now struggling to survive within.

The next morning, our group returned to the canyon's rim for a sunrise visit and conversation with representatives from the Grand Canyon Conservancy (the official nonprofit partner of Grand Canyon National Park) and the Field Institute, which offers immersive, educational adventures at the canyon.

Later, en route back toward the airport in Las Vegas, our group paused for one last meal together and Wiley used the break to lead us through an exercise designed to help each of us create personalized action plans for activism. It was perhaps the most formal or structured activism moment of our trip. As Wiley kicked-off the activity, he explained: "Everyone possesses skills, resources, privileges, and access to communities."

He invited us to think about each of those things and write down in a journal whatever words came to mind in relation to categories like including Identity, Community, Privileges, Talents, Joy and Goals.

The exercise was meant to open our minds to the power and agency we each possess, and our ability to make a difference using our skills, community and talents. It reminded me of my own passions related to the outdoors and the environment that I had somehow forgotten, resurfacing things I wanted to do within my own community and even in my own backyard to engage with the environment and help nurture it.

Takeaways From Traveling With Pattie Gonia

At some point during the course of the Active-ism trip, it occurred to me that the traditional forms of activism I had grown up experiencing were not taking place. There were no protests, no signature-gathering drives for petitions, or days spent volunteering at a non-profit, for example. I found myself pondering what we were learning about activism.

But as the trip proceeded, a shift in my thinking took place. My mind opened the lessons that were being delivered, directly and indirectly, by the trip and by Gonia herself. The experience taught me to see activism in new ways, helping me to realize that it comes in many forms, both big and small. Including simply through your presence somewhere, connecting with that place, learning about it and learning to love it. And activism arrives through building connections with others and opening people's minds, as Gonia did with Irene during our slot canyon tours.

Wiley and I discussed some of these ideas over pizza one night after a hike. I had asked Wiley what inspired him to take part in Intrepid's Active-ism trips and what lessons he believes the trip offers participants. "Everyone wants to start somewhere, but no-one knows where to start," Wiley began.

"I think this trip is a way to do that. Specifically I think it's a way to get inspired. And what I mean by that is, I think you fight for what you love," added Wiley."If you don't know how beautiful something is and how worth it is to save, why would you ever fight for it?"

And that is the subtle 'Active-ism' taking place on Intrepid's trips: Connecting people with cherished landscapes, immersing them in the beauty of these remarkable places, and maybe even inspiring these same travelers to join the fight to protect the places they're experiencing.

"I think when we think of activism, a lot of people, think that means stopping doing everything you enjoy doing or that your good at doing and starting to do this obscure thing we think of as activism," Wiley explained, stressing that activism is not some rigid or narrowly defined activity or concept.

"I want to people to show up to protests and to donate money where they can," he said. "But what activism actually looks like in daily life are these little almost invisible one percent changes or actions to support a neighbor to support a local place to support a grassroots organizations, to use who you are and what your good at to fight for these things."

In the days after the trip concluded and I returned to my daily life, Wiley's words and outlook remained on my mind. I began to realize that one of the biggest gifts he gave me and the rest of us on the trip, and the message I will take away from the experience, is one of hope and a renewed belief in the power of the individual. We can all make a difference in our own way, working to bring about change.

Wiley wasted no time doing so himself. In the months after the Intrepid trip concluded, Pattie Gonia embarked on a 102-mile solo hike, in full drag, along the California coast to raise $1.2 million for climate and queer-led outdoors organizations—proving once again that we each can make a difference. Even if that means simply showing up to continue supporting and loving America's open spaces as a form of activism, fiercely refusing to abandon them. Or finding ways in your own community, to make a difference whenever and wherever you can.

Editor's Note: Intrepid's 2026 trip with Pattie Gonia sold out within minutes of being posted and reached 43,000 Instagram users within its first hour. It also sparked global conversation around inclusive, purpose-led travel. Future trip dates with Gonia have yet to be announced. But there are other Active-ism trips still available, led by some of the other environmental voices that Intrepid has enlisted. You can find more information about those trips here.

For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter.