Hello Tyrone,
A friend of mine often travels with the Sierra Club to places like the Grand Canyon/Havasupi Falls, Mt. Rushmore, and many more places I can't remember at the moment. My friend loves the Sierra Club trips. She also hikes with the Sierra Club one evening each week after work. Personally, I've stayed at the huts such as Harwood and Keller huts in Southern California......you can't beat the price per night and the accommodations are good too, plus they're equipped with community kitchens where you can prepare your own hot meals which is a great savings. The huts operate similar to a hostel in that you sleep in a dorm room with other members and everyone pitches in by doing a chore in the hut in the morning before you depart. You'll generally meet friendly people with the same interests. You can learn a lot about hiking conversing with other Sierra Club members at the hut. Another good place to look for organized outings is on the REI or Adventure 16 websites. If you're not familiar with Adventure 16, it's a recreational equipment store similar to REI. Following is REI and Adventure 16's links to wilderness outings and other events:
REI:
http://www.rei.com/learnAdventure 16:
http://www.adventure16.com/events.asp?itemid=56I look forward to reading your Trip Reports on the Whitney Zone soon.
Happy Thanksgiving
