MountNbarreL guests ride through a local orchard on a guided tour.
Contributed photo
Electric bicycle wine tours recognized for sustainability
National Geographic recently released their “Best of the World” list for 2022, a list of 25 must-go places for the year. With incredible locations around the globe including places like an Ecuadorian national park and the Seine River in France, it’s extra incredible to see our home on the list. Under Best Places Championing Sustainability, the Columbia River Gorge is fourth.
Not only that, but the segment includes quotes from Troutdale-raised Ali McLaughlin, who runs MountNbarreL, a Hood River business focusing on sustainable tourism. Through MountNbarreL, they are able to conduct guided bike or shuttle tours across the Gorge, through the vineyards and orchards.
MountNbarreL is a little different from what you might expect from a tourism company, McLaughlin said. Their goal is to bring tourists into the Gorge and educate them, while being respectful of the area and all of the people living here.
“Visitors are our second source of funding for our city,” McLaughlin said. “So it’s huge, and we need the tourists, but at the same time we don’t want them to love us to death, you know? We want to make sure that we’re still able to keep the place safe and make sure that the local people aren’t inundated everywhere they go.”
An important piece of MountNbarreL’s model is their relationship with their partners. All the vineyards they ride through have given them explicit permission to do so, and have partnered with them to provide guests with a chance to taste their wines. The same goes for the orchards.
McLaughlin said the great thing about going through the orchards is the opportunity to educate the tourists.
“The biggest thing is you educate them so you say, ‘We have commercial orchards and then we have you-pick orchards,'” she said. “So when you see a sign that has fruit on it, or it says blueberries, you know that’s a you-pick farm, so we’re welcome to go in there. And we always do one seasonal you-pick. But then we’ll kind of explain that the commercial orchards aren’t that way. When you go on the property, you’re actually a contaminant and a liability.”
By educating tourists and ensuring that they know the do’s and don’ts of visiting the Gorge, it helps keep the Gorge thriving and prevents tourists from causing harm.
McLaughlin said the great part about MountNbarreL is that everything is guided. Tourists never go through vineyards or orchards on their own, they’re always accompanied. Guides ensure that all safety rules are followed and that everyone is treating the places they visit with respect.
MountNbarreL also provides visitors with a place to stay through hotel partnerships, to make sure they’re safe and taken care of, McLaughlin said. The most important thing is just seeing to it that everyone has a good time without negatively impacting the Gorge.
“It’s just setting everybody up for success,” she said. “We try to control the experience in a way where they get to really get a really good feel for what we have to offer here, but in a safe way and in a way where we’re all kind of winning.”
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