Terms & Conditions

A booking is created when you submit the booking form and complete payment (deposit or in full) through our payment processor, Stripe. Your booking is confirmed once payment is verified and you receive a confirmation email with your booking number.

Draft note — needs a real decision: TCT has not yet set a minimum age or explicit fitness self-certification requirement in writing. Common approaches: a minimum age (e.g. 18, or a younger age permitted with a parent/guardian also booking or providing written consent) and a statement that participants self-certify they can complete the trek's stated mileage/difficulty. This needs Katie's actual decision — see docs/LEGAL_CONTENT_REQUIREMENTS.md.

Trips can be booked with a $250 deposit or paid in full at booking. If you pay a deposit, the remaining balance is due 45 days before your departure date. All payments are processed securely through Stripe; TCT never receives or stores your card information directly.

If a balance payment is not received by its due date,

Draft note — needs a real decision: TCT has not documented a specific consequence (automatic cancellation? a grace period and follow-up? loss of spot to a waitlisted hiker?). This needs a real answer — see the Cancellation & Refund Policy's open items.

Cancellation terms, refund eligibility, and TCT's own right to cancel or modify a trip are covered in our Cancellation & Refund Policy, which is part of these Terms.

By joining a TCT trip, you agree to:

• Follow your guides' instructions, including on matters of safety and pace.
• Practice Leave No Trace principles on trail.
• Come prepared with appropriate personal gear for the trek's conditions — TCT partners with outside gear-rental providers for hikers who don't own their own equipment, but bringing suitable gear is your responsibility.
• Conduct yourself respectfully toward guides and fellow participants.
• Honestly represent your fitness level and any relevant medical conditions.

Weather, trail conditions, permitting, and group safety can change quickly on a multi-day backpacking trip. TCT may adjust an itinerary, campsite, or route — including on short notice — when we judge it necessary for group safety. We'll communicate changes as clearly and as early as we reasonably can.

Draft note — needs a real decision: TCT currently collects a separate liability waiver, medical information, and emergency contact information through an external tool (not this website). This section needs to clearly state the relationship between agreeing to these website Terms and signing that external waiver — for example, whether completing the external waiver is a condition of participating (regardless of having paid), and whether these Terms independently include any risk-acknowledgment language of their own or defer entirely to the external waiver. This is a real legal-structure decision, not just wording, and should be resolved with counsel before this page is published.

Draft note — needs a real decision: TCT regularly uses trip photography and video (including images of participants) in its marketing. There's currently no documented photo/video release language or opt-out mechanism. This needs a real decision: is appearing in TCT's marketing photography covered by agreeing to these Terms, addressed in the separate liability waiver, or handled with its own explicit consent/opt-out?

The TCT name, logo, and the content of this website (text, photography, itineraries, design) belong to Triple Crown Treks LLC and may not be copied or reused without permission.

You agree to use this website only for its intended purpose — learning about and booking TCT trips — and not to attempt to disrupt it, access data that isn't yours, or misuse the booking, contact, or waitlist forms.

Draft note — needs a real decision: Backpacking is an outdoor activity with inherent risk. Standard limitation-of-liability language for an activity of this kind needs to be drafted (or reviewed) by counsel specifically — this is exactly the kind of clause this draft should not invent on its own, since getting it wrong has real consequences for both TCT and its customers.

Draft note — needs a real decision: Governing state/jurisdiction and dispute-resolution process (litigation vs. arbitration, venue) is counsel's call — not assumed here even though TCT's current operating base is Southern California.

We may update these terms as TCT's trips or policies change.

Draft note — needs a real decision: Effective date to be set when this is actually approved and published.

Questions about booking or these terms: hello@triplecrowntreks.com.