Meet Deirdre Butler | Owner of Big Round World

We had the good fortune of connecting with Deirdre Butler and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Deirdre, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
The perception of risk is a personal notion, each of us having differing tolerance levels. Your concept of risk might be my opportunity, and vice versa. I’m a Brit by birth and spent my childhood living on the edge of Dartmoor National Park in southwest England. The farm next door had horses, and I learned to ride on Blossom, the cart horse. I remember the day she cantered for me – she knew I’d mastered the ability to hang on. From the age of 8, Blossom and I would disappear alone for all-day rides up on the moor. Many years later, I heard that adults in our village would shake their heads at my antics. They perhaps saw my actions as risky, while I knew that Blossom would keep me safe and if I became disoriented, she knew her way home.

Fast forward to my early working career. As a Product Manager for surgical equipment, my job included teaching surgeons how to best use our products in surgery. Traveling throughout the Far East extensively, and alone, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and drew great satisfaction from my work helping surgeons help their patients. One is never truly alone when traveling; there are always others on the road and talking to strangers expands one’s horizons.

In 1997, I had an opportunity (notice? Not a risk) to take a 2-year placement in America. As the first employee ever to be placed abroad by my company, I leapt at this opportunity. Living and working in a different country, and trying something new, did not feel risky. As the saying goes, life happens, and two years turned into taking US citizenship, establishing a home in Lyons, Colorado, and taking early retirement from my corporate job. This final transition was financially risky perhaps, but I lean toward a “life is too short” philosophy. Also, this chapter allowed me room to start my own travel business leading international hiking trips.

On my second ascent of Mt Kilimanjaro, an older gentleman named Jim signed up for my trip. He admitted he had heart issues, likely exacerbated by being overweight. I gave him a provisional acceptance to join the trip – provisional on him proving to me he could get fit, lose weight, and get his cardiologist’s approval. Jim took on the fitness program I designed with gusto and changed his eating habits, losing 30+ pounds before the trip. He pushed himself beyond my prescribed program, working every day covering 8+ miles. After our successful summit of Kili, Jim told me during our descent I had saved his life. My risk at accepting such a traveler? Jim’s literal life-saving opportunity.

Taking calculated risks and having the tolerance for such has shaped my life and my career, and continues to do so.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Big Round World – where great trips happen! We offer mostly international hiking and sightseeing tours embracing a sustainable, local-centric approach relishing natural beauty and local culture. Our focus is on personal connections and building lasting relationships. We specialize in small group sizes (10-14) giving our participants a more intimate and fulfilling experience as our travelers describe in their accolades. Our deep and abiding passion for natural environments, fauna and flora, compels us to actively practice Leave No Trace on all our trips. Picking up trash along the trail is a natural habit for us. We believe in responsible travel.

While I have been leading hiking trips for over 22 years, I founded my business in 2018 spending the first full year designing, planning and setting up trips to run in 2019. We had a stellar year and by January 2020, we had more sign-ups for the coming year than we did for the prior 18 months. We were on a roll! Then we all know what happened – the pandemic hit.

We have spent the last 2 years offering trips which subsequently needed to be cancelled/ postponed. We are thankful and truly grateful for the loyal support of our followers who have stuck with us. As I’m often heard saying, while we start a trip as a group of strangers, albeit with a shared love of travel adventure and being out in Nature, we always end our mutual adventure as a family. Many lifelong friendships have been forged on our trips as people knit with their shared experiences and go on to enjoy future travels together.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’m a country girl by nature so I don’t really have any favorite spots in a city. If an out of town visitor arrived, I’d give them a couple of days to get acclimated to the altitude (we are a mile high here after all) doing some flattish hikes, perhaps one at Hall Ranch on the outskirts of Lyons, followed by a well deserved beer and a bite to eat at Oscar Blues Brew Pub. Another favorite hike is at Button Rock Preserve walking next to the North St Vrain River, then up Sleepy Lion trail to the Ralph Price Reservoir. We should soon be seeing Pasque flowers with their delicate shade of purple, and form which reminds me of Anemones, to which they are related. After these first two days and more importantly nights sleeping “at altitude”, we would be off to Rocky Mountain National Park. Here we are spoiled for choice with a wealth of trails and adventures and the chance to see deer, elk, perhaps a moose, Gray and Stellar jays and, if we’re lucky, perhaps animal tracks of fox, coyote or bobcat. A visit to RMNP is not complete without a peek into the Stanley Hotel, remember the movie The Shining and Jack Nicholson? Gives me goosebumps!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My shoutout is dedicated primarily to my mother and my husband, but there are so many people who have helped and mentored me along my Way. I have fond memories from when I was five years old, of my mother taking me for walks along country lanes near our home in Jersey, Channel Islands, England. We would walk slowly, (I had short legs!) and she would identify all the wildflowers in the hedgerow with delightful names such as Ragged-robin, Snake’s head fritillary and Lesser celandine. My mother was a keen naturalist and her early introduction of Nature, flora and fauna, inspired a passion I still hold today. And today, the kind help and support of my husband enables me to continue exploring this big round world of ours.

Website: www.bigroundworld.com

Instagram: bigroundworld.walking

Facebook: Big Round World @wheregreattripshappen

Other: Enjoy being first to learn about new trips? Snag a deal? Know about special offers before everyone else? Sign-up for our periodic free newsletter on tours, travels trips and more – https://bit.ly/BRWNewsletter