Ever since I wandered the Arizona desert with my father (mostly looking for rocks!), I’ve loved the outdoors.
In the summer of 1978-1979, I worked as a maid in Old Faithful Inn at Yellowstone National Park. On my days off, I hitchhiked to different trailheads and hiked (almost always alone) in the park. (This was before the reintroduction of wolves and the return of grizzly bears.)
I served as the Washington State Advocate for Leave No Trace between 2002 and 2005 and was the High Adventure coordinator and assistant scoutmaster for my son’s scout troop. We went to Philmont Scout Ranch in 2000.
In 2005, I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail with my youngest son, Alex. We kept our trail journal at the outdated site, TrailJournals.com. As a 20th anniversary commemoration, I created a PDF version with additional photos. You can download that here.
It took me 18 years, but I did manage to hike the Wonderland Trail around Mount Rainier, and you can read about that here.
In 2008 (with another visit in 2011), my husband and I did the Coast to Coast walk across England. Our trail journal is here.
I’ve been backpacking in Alaska (the Iditarod Trail near Anchorage and in Denali National Park) and the mountains outside of Almaty, Kazakhstan in addition to the United States and Canada.