Editor's note: The following is advertiser-supported content from National Parks Traveler's Essential Park Guide, Fall 2016.
Staying hydrated and reducing waste. Those are two keys to a vacation in the National Park System, particularly during the months when you’re more active in the outdoors.
While more and more lodgings in the park system welcome you into their rooms with a plastic bottle or two of water to quench your thirst, the bottles are a good, but not the best, solution to either hydration or reducing waste. The problem with those in-room bottles is that all of them will not stand up to multiple uses, especially if you stuff them into a daypack. They soon wind up in the garbage.
To both help you stay hydrated while you’re hiking through Yellowstone National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, or Grand Canyon National Park, and to reduce waste, Vapur is working with various companies to place commemorative, collapsible bottles in guest rooms or gift shops for purchase, and by installing water refill stations in the parks for free tap water refills.
At Yellowstone, for instance, Vapur and Xanterra Parks and Resorts have made available to guests half-liter water bottles, emblazoned with a bison, for just $10. These bottles are convenient as well as more sustainable than disposable bottles, as the durable plastic Vapur withstands countless uses. And the handy clip on the lid lets you attach the bottle to your pack so you won’t lose it.
“Yellowstone National Park Lodges is thrilled to be working with Vapur to install water bottle filling stations throughout our operations here in the park,” said Dylan Hoffman, who works for the lodging company. “We believe that by providing easily accessible hydration opportunities, combined with access to a variety of reusable bottles for purchase in our retail and lodging operations, is a perfect fit for keeping our guests hydrated while working to minimize the waste associated with single-use disposable plastic water bottles.
When you check into your lodge room in Yellowstone National Park, you’ll have the option of buying a half-liter Vapur bottle for just $10.
“Our newest program has expanded the breadth of the Vapur program by putting specially branded Yellowstone Vapur ‘anti-bottles’ in our guest rooms and charging the guest on their room bill if they decide to take one of the bottles with them to fuel their Yellowstone adventures,” he added. “We believe this program is a great mix of guest service and environmental protection in order to achieve our mission of Legendary Hospitality with a Softer Footprint.”
When Vapur created its Hydration Program, lodges and hotels were a logical fit for the company. The company slowly is working with partners to expand the program throughout the park system. Already it can be found in Bryce Canyon, Yellowstone, Sequoia and Glacier, to name a few national parks.
Also expanding along with the hydration program is Vapur’s line of products and accessories for staying hydrated. New this summer is the company’s 1.5-liter collapsible bottle and its DrinkLink Hydration System, a 36-inch-long hydration tube with bite valve that turns any of their bottles with a SuperCap (the .7L or 1.0L Element and Eclipse designs, as well as the .5L and 1.5L Shades) into a bladder system. Attach the DrinkLink and you can stash your filled bottle in your pack and have the bite valve within easy reach for a drink while you’re hiking; no need to stop.
Of course, there’s no need or reason to stash these bottles and DrinkLink tubes into your gear closet at the end of the summer, as hydration is something to keep in mind year-round. In winter months growing dehydrated can be deceptive, as you’re not sweating as much as during the hotter summer months. But outdoor activities still drain your body of life-saving fluids.
The approach Vapur has taken with combatting litter and helping public lands visitors stay hydrated was recognized earlier this year by the Public Lands Alliance, which awarded the company its Corporate Stewardship Award.
The Alliance, a coalition of nonprofit partners of America’s public lands, bestows the award on companies that have “demonstrated exceptional achievement to enhance the quality of the visitor experience in America’s public lands. Because of Vapur’s commitment to reducing plastic waste on public lands through partnerships, the Alliance deemed them highly worthy of this award.”
Add comment