If you want to know how to get paid to hike, this article will really help.
It reveals how getting paid to hike works, how you can get involved and the very best companies that pay you to hike or help you.
Table of Contents
Why Get Paid to Hike?
Why not, right?
Especially if you really love hiking!
First, this company has paid $25+ million to members:
SurveyJunkie (only USA, Canada, Australia residents allowed). You can earn money sharing your thoughts. They have already paid $25+ million to their 20+ million members just for sharing their thoughts and opinions. Click here to join SurveyJunkie for FREE
The great philosopher, Mark Twain once said, “Find that one job you love doing, and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.”
This quote has been around for a while and some people consider it a cliché, but Mr. Twain wasn’t lying, even when the individuals in he’s referring to are hikers.
It’s very possible to get paid to lace up your boots, get paid to take naps under the stars, and explore several trails, and majority of the time, it won’t feel like an heavy task.
Let’s go through the process of earning from hikes, and guiding you through the best hiking companies in the world.
5 Best Ways to Earn Off Hiking Jobs
There are several ways one can earn cash through hiking, let’s walk you through some of these ways:
- Start a travel or hiking blog
- Publish a book about your hiking experience
- Being a park ranger
- Becoming a Firefighter on wildlands
- Becoming a social media trekker
1. Start a Travel & Hiking Blog
This can’t be adequately explained without getting an insight on how one can get paid to hike.
You can decide to start off the blog as more of a hobby than a source of income, by doing this, you might not really accrue good pay however, you’re gradually developing passion.
With your passion for blogging developed, experience and patience will come running in, and with both virtues, you will earn cash off your blog.
How exactly will the blog pay?
Create content relating to hiking and travels and try to link your readers with products and services that will be needed for these adventures.
When your readers click the links, you provide and make purchases from the vendor you link them to, you’ll get to receive small commission from the vendor.
Also See: How to Earn Money on Upwork and Earn Money as an Illustrator.
2. Publish a Book About Your Hiking Experience
Hiking and backpacking are quite interesting, and this explains why many outdoor lovers find it very interesting writing about their expeditions into the wildlands.
A comprehensive account of your hiking experience will provide your readers with an intimate glimpse into your adventure outdoors.
The more thrilling, life-changing, and challenging your story is, the more money you’ll earn.
3. Being a Park Ranger
If you’re passionate about hiking or staying outdoors and at the same time also looking to protect your national parks, why not make a living out of it?
Consider taking on the job of a park ranger.
A bit of schooling is involved, and one of the brighter parts of this job is that it’s less competitive, however, that’s absolutely normal for a job like this.
If you want to be a park ranger, here are some of your responsibilities:
- Leading hikes on park grounds
- Controlling rescue and search missions
- Controlling park restoration efforts
- Enforcing park rules and regulations
Park rangers get paid handsomely for protecting the park, and one thing for sure, hiking will be a big part of the job.
Also See: Get Paid to Upload Receipts for Cash and Get Paid to Pick up Litter.
4. Being a Wildland Firefighter
Are you a fan of unpredictable travels?
Exploring natures for days, and at the same time protecting the environment?
Why not be a wildland firefighter?
A teacher of mine once defined wildland firefighting as high-speed type of landscaping. His definition wasn’t encompassing as a wildland firefighter has other duties which include:
- Digging out fire lines
- Backcountry navigation
- Route finding
- Maintain firefight equipment, and lots more
Wildland firefighters are capable of earning an annual income in under 4-6 months, and because of this, the job is quite competitive.
Also See: Best Companies that Pay You to Teach English Language Online.
5. Becoming a Social Media Trekker
Trail experiences are the best to embark on, and they are also good for content creation.
Ever been to any National Forest?
Well, if yes, you must have seen stretches of forest, terrains, and wildlife, you can testify that the view was amazing.
You could also confidently leverage this amazing view to build your social media account.
Believe it or not, you can make a fortune off a large number of social media followers.
Related: How to Make Money and Get Paid for Your Social Media Posts.
10 Best Companies that Pay Hikers or Help with Hiking Jobs
For a while now, people have been rendered jobless, and this is due to devastating occurrences happening around the world.
To survive this unfortunate situation companies across the world are either retrenching their workers or introducing pay cuts in their organizations.
However in the midst of this crises, where several companies are trying to save up funds for the future, there are still some companies who are willing to help the unemployed who sees hiking as a hobby.
It’s rare to find these kinds of companies because, why pay someone to hike?
Well, these companies see a reason to pay hikers. Let’s outline these companies:
1. The Wildland Trekking Company
Based on almost every criteria for objection, Wildland Trekking company short for WTC is unarguably one of the best hiking companies in the world.
This company specializes in hiking vacations and trips, Wildland Trekking company has also earned #1 spot in several national parks.
To crown it all up, this trekking company also pay hikers handsomely as they tour around any of the company’s 50+ world-class destinations.
Looking to check them out? Click here.
2. Glacier Guides
This is one of the world’s most amazing hiking companies, offering thrilling mountain trekking destinations.
Want to work with a company that has all it trips guided? Glacier is your ticket.
With several years of experience, positive reviews online, good staff payroll, and a great safety record, this travel company is no doubts, one of the best in the United States.
Thinking of working with Glacier Guides? Click here.
Also See: How to Start a Doggy Daycare and How to Start a Home Daycare.
3. Exum Guides
Exum Mountain Guides is one of the names you’ll mention when talking about thrilling outdoor adventure.
It’s one of the few companies allowed to lead hiking and mountaineering in the Grand Teton National Park.
This company has been in operation for more than 75 years. Their members of staff are treated nicely and are paid handsomely.
If you’re interested in the Teton adventure, click here.
4. The Mountain Guides
Similar to Exum Guides, this company also focuses on climbing adventures, they require trekking and hiking.
As a worker, you get to lead canyon, mountaineering projects and desert in the United States.
They also engage in old-fashioned walking and hiking.
As a worker, there’s a high possibility that you’ll discover the viertical world as you’ll exploring America’s most veteran mountain.
Again, this company has paid $25+ million to members:
SurveyJunkie (only USA, Canada, Australia residents allowed). You can earn money sharing your thoughts. They have already paid $25+ million to their 20+ million members just for sharing their thoughts and opinions. Click here to join SurveyJunkie for FREE
Want to start off with that? Click here.
Also See: How to Get Paid to Live or Work in Alaska and even Get Paid to Get Your CDL.
5. Inn Walking
Inn Walking focuses on self-guided treks in France, Switzerland, Croatia, Germany, Slovenia, Turkey, Ireland, Portugal, and lots more.
If you’re actively interested in taking self-guided trips, situations where the company will take responsibility of transportation, logistics, and lodging, the Inn walking is your best bet.
Click here for more info.
6. Devils Backbone Brewing Company
This company is based in Virginia, and recently it was rumored that the company was willing to pay $20,000 to a lucky hiker willing to hike the Appalachian Trail.
They considered this task to be an aspect of the ultimate “workcation.”
This company is also looking to hire a Chief Hiking Officer, this individual’s job will be, hiking through 14 states, from Maine to Georgia and the hike is going to be during spring.
Looking to take on this job? Click here.
Also See: Immediate Hire Working at Home Jobs including Paid Handwriting Gigs.
7. The North Face
The North face is organizing a program “The Live your Dream Grant.”
This program is North Face’s way of funding adventurers and also reducing unemployment rate.
It’s seen as a conscious effort to push boundaries of mountains an trails exploration.
Have in it mind that there’s an income for every participant of this program.
Basically it’s a great start for earning from your hobby.
Want to give it a try? Click here.
8. Black Diamond
Black diamond is also a renowned company that’s ready to pay hikers.
The first step to getting on this company’s radar is to apply for their recent “PRO.”
This program is seen as an equipment access where individuals can acquire less expensive gear.
For more information on their PRO application and other details, click here.
9. Garmin
This company is also keen on paying hikers.
They are operating a sponsorship program which will require hikers to have a non-profit organization to receive payments.
This company is ranked because their sponsorship program is quite feasible as most hikers and adventurers are running non-profit organizations.
Looking to learn more about Garmin Sponsorship Application? Click here.
10. Suunto
Suunto a watch manufacturing company has achieved a huge name in the watch industry.
This is because of the company’s conscious effort to aiding outdoor activities.
They’ve provided several routes to sponsorship and one of these routes is the Suunto Multi-sport Team Application.
This program will comprise of several outdoor activities of which hiking is one of these activities.
Click here to find out more about the application.
Although, the list of companies above isn’t really extensive as only ten were mentioned.
Well, the ten companies enumerated are part of the best in the world, so this is a good head start for where you can gain support in your efforts as an hiker.
Getting Paid Hiking Jobs Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What Happens If a Trail Is Closed Due to Shut down or Environmental Disaster?
In extreme situations that humans can’t control, these companies offer 100% trip credits, enabling hikers to reschedule their trips at a future date.
These situations we’re talking about include forest fires, earthquakes, emergencies, shutdowns, floods, and more.
I’ve No Experience in Hiking- Will That be a Problem?
Absolutely Not.
This is because prior experience in hiking is not needed when these companies are looking to hire new hikers.
The most important thing is that your physical fitness meets up with the standard requirements and ultimately matches the difficulty of the trip you opt in for.
It’s smart to check for the rating system and possibly match the rating system with your endurance range.
I Have a Disability. Will I Be Hired?
Every company has basic eligibility requirements to join hiking tasks.
Make sure to go through the company’s eligibility requirements before applying for a hiking job.
Do I Need to Bring Everything Listed on The Company’s Packing List?
Every company’s packing list is geared toward helping hikers prepare themselves for all environmental situations or weather irregularities.
There’s a high possibility that not everything you bring will be needed for the adventure, but it’s better to have it than lack it.
Every company also has a guide that will put you through the basic things you’ll need for a successful trip.
The guide will do this based on seasonal irregularities and weather forecast.
Also See: How to Be a Professional Organizer or even Be a Freelance Model.
How should I Train for My Adventure?
These companies have training sections that help put hikers through on how best they can prepare for adventure.
The training section is categorized into hiking and backpacking, both sections explaining their headlines adequately.
How Herculean is Hiking?
The difficulty of hiking depends on where you intend taking the hike and how long you want the hike to be.
The shorter Trekking tend to be way easier while the longer trekking requires endurance and some level of physical fitness.
Also, be readily prepared for steep trails which will lead to thrilling views. Your hike pace is dependent on you.
Some companies have jovial and reliable porters to help hikers with personal gear.
The Hiking is for How Long?
Generally, the duration for trekking solely depends on the hiker’s interest and the hiking location.
Your trek can last for as long as 2-3 days or even months depending on your preference. Companies accept day hikes, visit to villages, and trek rest days.
The decision is up to the hiker. It’s difficult to give a reply when you’re asked how far you can trek but it’s smart to answer in time than distance.
Mileage as we know is dictated by altitude and terrain. Most companies don’t have hard and fast rules.
Conclusion
It might seem too good to be true, but you can earn huge from hiking, camping and backpacking.
In as much as there are individuals buying outdoor gear, and taking long treks, there will always be companies willing to hire hikers and pay them accordingly.
Again, this company has paid $25+ million to members:
SurveyJunkie (only USA, Canada, Australia residents allowed). You can earn money sharing your thoughts. They have already paid $25+ million to their 20+ million members just for sharing their thoughts and opinions. Click here to join SurveyJunkie for FREE