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

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 tall, black, high-heeled boots up to the knees and an olive-colored wrap dress that blends perfectly with the varied, Earth-colored hues of the surrounding Arizona desert landscape. Her voluminous waves of copper-red hair, meanwhile, cascade 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 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.

And 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 conclude the trips with a better idea of how to help advocate for protection of the national parks themselves.

A New Line of Intrepid Trips Is Born

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, courtesy of Intrepid. It's the company'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 had very little idea who she (or Wyn Wiley) was. 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 and excited about what, specifically, I would learn about environmental activism as it related to 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 showed up for 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 as a Form of Activism

The first stop on our five-night Adventure to Zion & The Grand Canyon trip was iconic Zion National Park in Utah, where our group hiked the popular Emerald Pools trail. This outing started with a group lunch with Wiley (who wouldn't appear as Pattie Gonia until later in our trip) just outside Zion's entrance. And after chatting and getting to know each other over deli sandwiches, we headed to the park.

Zion's entrance booths were shuttered when we arrived 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 this majestic and beautiful landscape known for its slot canyons and sandstone cliffs, there weren't any rangers around or ranger-led programs to participate in. Public bathrooms were all locked, and trash cans in more than a few places were overflowing with garbage.

As someone who grew up visiting Zion, I have incredibly fond memories of summers spent exploring its majestic beauty, which made its current state of neglect feel very unsettling, enraging and heartbreaking. Zion is one of many parks in the American southwest where my passion for nature, in all of its beauty and diversity, was born. And I'm sure I'm not alone in that.

I also had another feeling wash over me as we walked around that first day, one I've felt all to often 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—a practice that was far more commonplace during my twenties and thirties under previous administrations.

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

With few 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 we were passing through and later touched on how 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 taking back these spaces and 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, is important. What's more, as Wiley (who worked to get BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ and femmes into the outdoors) explained to our group, if you don't love something, you're not going to take the time to fight for it.

There was yet another important point Wiley made that day: You don't have to travel all the way to national parks to make a difference for the environment. It's also possible to do so locally, by getting involved in organizations where you live that are

And though there were very few visitors at Zion that day, a handful of those who passed by us clearly did a double-take as Wiley strode along with our group, recognizing the popular activist.

Bryce Canyon, Utah

The next morning, we departed before sunrise for the two-hour drive to Bryce Canyon National Park, 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 was visiting with grave concern for my friend.

Years ago, to celebrate a milestone birthday, I booked a cabin right 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 oneself in the park's beauty. Each morning during that stay years ago, I rose early, before the crowds arrived, to walk through the alpine forests and among the striking red-rock hoodoos 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.

During my more recent visit with Intrepid, despite the government shutdown, Bryce's fans were out in abundance (and here, too, more than a few visitors were thrilled to see Wiley).

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. 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 three hours wandering along Bryce's Navajo Loop, Queen's Garden and Wall Street trails. At the bottom of the canyon, we paused for a picnic lunch among the towering Ponderosa Pines and Douglas Fir trees before continuing on, taking group photos and chatting along the way.

Navajo Nation, Arizona

After Bryce, our tour moved immediately onward to the iconic Horseshoe Bend area, 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 as iconic and beloved Pattie Gonia, hiking and exploring with us in her olive-colored wrap dress and black high-heeled boots, her voluminous 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?" meaning where did we find Gonia.

But Gonia was not at all put off. 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.

Later, as our tour 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.

And then, further reinforcing that point, 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.

Final Farewell

On our last afternoon together as a group, we sat outside a fast-food restaurant en route back to Las Vegas, participating in a learning exercise led by Wiley that involved designing our own personalized action plan for activism. It was perhaps the most formal or structured activism moment of our trip. As Wiley led us through 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 a variety of categories, including Identity, Community, Privileges, Talents, Joy and Goals.

The exercise reminded me of passions related to the outdoors and the environment that I had long forgotten, things I wanted to do within my own community and even in my own backyard–proactive steps to engage with the environment and help nurture it. The activity also reminded me (as it was meant to), of the unique power each of us possesses and the agency we each have to take action and fight back against scorched-earth policies.

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 even days spent volunteering at a non-profit, for example. I found myself pondering what we were learning about activism.

But somewhere along the way, a shift in my thinking took place. And my mind gradually opened the lessons that were being delivered, both directly and indirectly, by the trip and by Gonia.

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 and by showing up in a place, connecting with it, learning more about it and learning to love it. And activism arrives through building connections with others and forming supportive communities.

Wiley and I discussed these very ideas one night during the trip over pizza, when I asked him what inspired him to take part in Intrepid's Active-ism trips and what lessons the trips are conveying.

"One, everyone wants to start somewhere, but no-one knows where to start," Wiley began. "Two, everyone wants community and is looking for a way to find that. And three, I think we all know the power that small steps can make to add up to big change."

"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."

"If you don't know how beautiful something is and how worth it is to save, why would you ever fight for it?" he adds. "And I think capitalism knows this."

Wiley also reminded me of a very important principle about the environment and how it relates to activism. In nature, ecosystems that are connected thrive, he pointed out. "They support each other. They know what each other's needs are." Conversely, ecosystems in nature that do not communicate and that are not connected die.

All of which is to say that Wiley's definition of activism is, in fact, the forming of powerful communities and relationships. And to that point, he added "I also think people feel weird about taking action for people or places when they don't have a relationship."

And all of that is the lesson and the power of Intrepid's Active-ism trips.

In the days after the trip concluded and I had returned to my daily life, Wiley's words and way of living remained in my mind. And I began to realize that one of the biggest gifts Wiley gave me, and the message I will take away from the trip, is one of hope. The trip was an important reminder that we all have power. We can all make a difference in our own way.

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. As Wiley himself pointed out, simply learning to connect with a place and love it matters deeply.

And then take that love back to your communities and give it shape there too, and find local ways to make a difference whenever and wherever you can.

"I think when we think of activism, a lot of people, think that means stopping doing everything you enjoy doing or that your good doing and starting to do this obscure thing we think of as activism," he told me.

"I want to people to show up to protests and to donate money where they can," he added. "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."

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 Active-ism trips still available with some of the other leading environmental voices that Intrepid has enlisted. You can find more information about those trips here.

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