Frequently Asked Questions

About This Website

This site is maintained by volunteers from the San Diego Chapter of the Sierra Club.  We believe you will find this site informative and easy to use.  As it is volunteer maintained, we are not equipped nor available to offer individual technical support should you experience an issue or have questions.  It has been our experience, however, that most issues can be resolved by reading the rest of these frequently asked questions and paying close attention to the material presented during the registration process.  Thank you for your understanding and support.

How to Sign Up for a Bus Trip

• We accept sign ups on a first-come, first-served basis. We offer easy to strenuous trips depending on the location. Please select your trip based on your physical condition and the trip’s level of difficulty.
• Registration is available online through this website only.
• See the Trip Sign Up Process page for more details.

What If the Trip I Want is Full?

• Sign up for the Priority Wait List trip for the particular outing you are interested in (e.g. Grand Canyon National Parks).
• If you already have a user account on the website, login and click the Register button on the Priority Wait List on the outing you are interested in.  Only Individual registrations will be processed - no Group registrations.  Completing this puts you on the Priority Wait List for the trip you selected - you must complete the PayPal process and pay for the outing for your registration to be processed.
• Should a spot become available for the particular trip you have asked to be wait listed on, we will automatically move the first person in line for that trip to the outing and send out a notification.
• If you have already signed up and paid for another trip but would like to move to another trip, and if there are no Priority Wait list individuals for that trip, notify the coordinator under the Contact Us tab that you would like to be moved to the other trip.
• See our Trip Sign Up Process page for more details.

Want to know who has already signed up for the Priority Wait List and where you are in order?

• Log in - you will need to be a registered user on the website - and go to the Bus Trip Sign Up page.
• You will see an Attendees button for the Priority Wait List trip.  Click Attendees and you can see everyone who has registered and for what trip.

Can't Remember What Trips You Have Signed Up For or Wait Listed on? 

• Scroll down the Home page and Log in.
• Once you have logged in, notice there is now a Member Menu displaying.
• Click on Your Event Registrations

Do you want to know if your friends have signed up yet?

• Log in - you will need to be a registered user on the website - and go to the Bus Trip Sign Up page.
• You will see an Attendees button for each open trip.  Click that and you can see everyone who has registered for the trip.

Next Steps

• Download and complete the Participant Profile, Sierra Club Individual Liability Waiver, and Sierra Club Medical Form.  Please return the forms within 14 days of registration by either scanning and emailing the documents to your Trip Coordinator found under Contact Us or mailing them to Sierra Club San Diego, Attn: Bus Trips, 8304 Clairemont Mesa Blvd, Suite 101, San Diego, CA 92111.
• All trip reservations are subject to the approval by the trip leader. The trip leader will review these forms and make sure each trip participant has the appropriate equipment, experience, and physical conditioning needed for the outing.  If you are not leader approved, we will refund any trip fee payments you have made or we can transfer you to a more suitable trip, if available.
• Contact your Outings Coordinator with any questions or concerns about your upcoming adventure.
• Join our Facebook group! 

Departure and other Trip Details

• Within a few weeks of the bus trip date, you will be notified of a pre-trip meeting date and location.  You will get a chance to meet your leader and receive additional about your specific outing.
• You will also get to meet the other participants on your trip and talk about gear sharing opportunities.
• Details about when and where the bus will depart and what you should expect will also be discussed.

Travel insurance

• Travel Insurance can be purchased through many online companies to cover the costs of cancellation as well as medical expenses incurred on a bus trip and the cost of a possible medical evacuation from a trip if required.

Medical Insurance & Emergency Care

• In the case of accident, illness, or a missing trip member, Sierra Club Outings—through its trip leaders—will attempt to provide appropriate first aid, and will try to arrange for search and evacuation assistance when the trip leader determines it is necessary or desirable. Please note that our trip leaders don't always carry communication devices (due to the remote nature of certain areas and lack of reception), and that emergency help or evacuation may be difficult to arrange. Costs of an evacuation and/or search (e.g., helicopter), and of medical care beyond basic first aid, are the financial responsibility of the ill or injured person. Backcountry medical aid is costly, and Sierra Club Outings does not provide this coverage for participants on any of its trips. Therefore, we advise you to obtain medical and evacuation insurance: you can usually purchase it as part of a travel insurance package.

Suitability for a trip

• At the trip leader's discretion, you may be asked to locate another trip, if available, if the trip leader feels that your further participation may be detrimental to you, the trip, or to other participants on the trip.  You will receive a full refund if we are not able to accommodate you.

Items not allowed

• Radios, sound equipment, firearms, and pets (except for seeing-eye dogs and other service dogs) are not allowed on any Sierra Club Outings trips. Phones are allowed on the bus trips but we request them to be silenced.

Electronic devices

• Electronic devices are discouraged but may be used as long as, in the judgment of the trip leader, they do not impair the safety, serenity, or enjoyment of any trip member, or cohesiveness of the group.

Transportation

• We travel on coach buses and sometimes use other modes of transportation. Seating is first-come, first-served based on when you signed up for the trip and your presence at the time of seating.