About ExplorOFF

ExplorOFF plans outdoor trips in the United States and Canada. Every trip is written out day by day, with the permits, the campgrounds and the drive times already found, so the planning is done before you open the page.

148day-by-day itineraries
625supporting guides
29permit windows tracked

What ExplorOFF does

Most trip content stops at a list of places. The part that actually decides whether a trip happens is the logistics: which permit opens in November for a hike you want to do in July, which campground books six months out to the day, how long the drive between two trailheads really takes. ExplorOFF writes that part down.

Each itinerary is a working plan. It names the trailheads, the nights, the mileage and the elevation, and it says plainly when a section is harder than it looks or when a permit is a lottery most people lose. Where a trip has no good answer, the page says that too.

Who writes them

Yulia Vasilyeva is the co-founder, lead planner and guide. She has three years leading guided hikes in the Pacific Northwest, is rated 5.0 by more than 20 verified guests, and she builds every custom itinerary herself. She is based in Seattle.

Margarita Christafore is the other co-founder. She designs the site and contributes trips.

Trips are written from being there where possible, and from the managing agency where not. Permit dates come from recreation.gov and the agency that runs each permit, resolved per permit rather than typed once and left to rot. When a permit runs a rolling or daily release with no published calendar, the page says so instead of inventing a date.

How it stays free

Planning costs the traveller nothing. ExplorOFF is paid by the provider when a booking is made, and it does not mark up the lodging, tours or permits it links to. You book each item at its source, at the source price.

Where it covers

The catalogue is built around the United States and Canada, from the Sierra and the North Cascades to the Ozarks, the Upper Peninsula and the Kenai Peninsula. A handful of trips go further, including the Tour du Mont Blanc, Kilimanjaro and Everest Base Camp.

Getting in touch

For a trip that is not in the catalogue, use the custom plan request. To browse what already exists, start at the itineraries or the guides. Permit release dates and the alerts that go with them live on the permit page.

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One tap. It goes straight to Yulia and Margarita.

Free permit watch

You can't hike it if you can't get the permit.

The best hikes in America run on lotteries that open once a year and sell out in minutes. Every trail runs on its own calendar. Pick the ones you want and we do the watching.

29 trails watched daily

How it works

  • An email the morning each window opens, never the day after.
  • A 14-day heads-up so you can line up your group and dates.
  • Win odds and a ranked backup plan for every trail you pick.

Didn't win? We keep watching. We check recreation.gov every day for The Enchantments, Half Dome and Angels Landing, and email you the moment a sold-out date frees up. Cancellations are the second chance most people never hear about.

Hikers we've helped
L
Liudmila S.New
Local Guide · 10 reviews
BookedChain Lakes Loop
★★★★★

“I’ve requested to book a Chain Lakes Loop guide on ExplorOFF, and it was the best idea ever! I highly recommend going with their guided option since you get a real human connection on the trail and don’t have to worry about a thing. Yulia was great to talk to!”

The turquoise water of Iceberg Lake on the Chain Lakes Loop below Mount BakerFireweed in bloom on the slope below Table Mountain on the Chain Lakes Loop
Verified Google review