Just “Wow”. My wife and I did an overnight trip to Great Basin with Elite Custom Adventures, and we’re so glad that we did. While it’s a premium product, they really go above and beyond to deliver. Not only do they help manage all aspects of the trip (we basically just needed to show up), but also, in addition to being guides, they're professional photographers who capture every memorable moment of the experience. This feels like a cost-competitive differentiator.
Prior to the trip, we made a custom itinerary and did a pre-trip preparation session
with Ryan over Zoom that left us feeling fully prepared for the adventure. When the day came, all we needed were the proper clothes and shoes, and Elite Custom Adventures took care of the
rest.
Great Basin is really out there, but we had learned that this was THE park for stargazing and had always wanted to visit. Ryan made sure that we were going under ideal conditions (no moon), and even allowed flexibility if there was cloud cover (luckily there wasn’t). After the drive up, we started in the desert and wrapped up on top of the 13,000ft. Wheeler Peak. We then found a tremendous camping spot away from any other groups, and had a spectacular showing of the
Milky Way all to ourselves.
On the second day, we warmed up at some of the easier to reach areas, then wrapped up with a serious hike to see the Bristlecone Pines. Ryan made sure we
were tremendously safe throughout the experience, and we had smiles plastered on our face for the entire ride back to Las Vegas.
While the day itself was amazing, as mentioned previously, what really sets Elite Custom Adventures apart is the photography. In less than a week we received over 50 digital photos from our experience, including astrophotography shots of the Milky Way, and these simply couldn’t be duplicated on an iPhone. We are so happy that we’ll have these memories forever, not just in our mind, but on our computer backgrounds, hanging on our walls across our house and on future holiday cards to come.