“Unlikely Hikers: An Invitation to the Outdoors”

Tagg Magazine is a magazine for “everything lesbian, queer and under the rainbow,” and they graciously interviewed me for a piece about @UnlikelyHikers. This came out weeks ago, but my head has been too up my butt to share it. I was in a deep grief brain fog when they interviewed me, but they skillfully […]

Cape Horn (+ writing)

“I look around and try to notice everything I possibly can, something I do when I need to get out of my head. Drenched neon mosses and licorice ferns growing off every alder trunk. The remaining leaves, a yellow deserving of new definition. The fog swirls thicker. Gratitude for green. All year, the seasons haven’t […]

Ape Canyon (+ writing)

(Trail specs at the end) My body’s been a mess and my head even worse, but when my alarm goes off I’m up. The only thing that can get me out of bed after working late and only getting five-and-a-half hours of sleep is an all day hiking adventure. I wake up feeling different. Not […]

The Unapologetic Fat Girl’s Guide to Exercise and Other Incendiary Acts – Hanne Blank

The idea of exercise has gotten completely screwed up. None of us are exempt from this culture of body shame, even people who have the “right” bodies and do all of the “right” things. We are told our bodies need to be “fixed” and we can do that with exercise. We aren’t told it just feels […]

The Adventure Gap – James Edward Mills

The central story follows Expedition Denali, the first all Black mountaineering team to attempt summiting Denali, but it is so much more than that. Mills is a talented chronologer and historian who exposes the missing and even hidden history of Black people in the outdoors and the ways that has lead to disinterest in outdoor […]

Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls – Jes Baker

I was wrong to not prioritize this book the way I would’ve years ago when every new fat/body-positive book became my New Favorite. I got kind of bored with how similar the POV always is (white/middle-class/so quirky your teeth ache). HOWEVER, Jes Baker is a ass-kicking cyclone of fresh air coming to fuck up our […]

The Journey is Good, Too.

A few days ago, I returned to one of my first and favorite hikes, the Mirror Lake trail to Tom Dick & Harry Mountain on Mt. Hood. I’ve done so many incredible trails and have the longest list of ones I have yet to do, but some call me back over and over. This is […]

Trekking Poles

Gear posts are often horribly condescending (Hiking in hiking boots? You’re doing it WRONG!) Or, just plain financially inaccessible to most of us. However, I have something to say: TREKKING POLES!!!! Oh shit, am I really doing a gear post?

Gear + How to

The outdoors is for everyone! True, we generally don’t see a lot of diversity in outdoorsy ads and when we don’t see ourselves represented, sometimes, consciously or subconsciously, we decide something isn’t for us. If you were waiting for an invitation, consider this it! When I started hiking, I was so intimidated by the “how-to’s” […]

Growing Pains

Growing pains are real. Doing this blog has led me to answering some very big questions about myself and my life, which is exactly what I was asking for when I started it, but of course things can’t conveniently stop there. I’ve always been a creative person. A writer, specifically, though I’ve given many creative […]