Six ways I’m preparing for my Colorado Trail thru-hike

This post was first published on The Trek on July 27, 2022. I ditched Washington, DC, for the Appalachian Trail (AT) and then Colorado over four years ago, but the Type A habits I picked up there live on. While I certainly can fly by the seat of pants, I typically don’t. The truth is,

Appalachian Trail memories surface as Colorado Trail thru-hike draws near

This post first appeared on TheTrek.co on July 17, 2022. As my Colorado Trail (CT) thru-hike start date approaches, I find myself looking in the rearview mirror at how profoundly my 2018 Appalachian Trail (AT) thru-hike changed my life. Whenever I think of my trek, the Lord Huron song, “Meet Me in the Woods” comes

Nine Vegetarian and Vegan Recipes to Try on Your Next Backpacking Trip

I’ve reached out to the social media universe for their favorite vegan and vegetarian recipes to cook while backpacking. Here are the recipes that they shared!

The Land Before Time

So, I have this problem. Every winter, and I mean every winter, I get cabin fever. Real bad. To cope with said cabin fever, I book up my entire summer with mini-trips for a combination of nature, fitness and summer partying (the best kind of partying). It’s only the end of May, and I’m already

Mountains and Tall Trees and Bear Tracks, Oh My!

The Payne family is an outdoorsy people. I grew up in the country, in a house with a giant yard surrounded by woods, reading Ranger Rick magazine. I couldn’t see our nearest neighbor’s houses through the trees and there were no sidewalks for miles. My favorite hiking spot was (and probably still is) directly behind

Vicious Goats and World Famous Coffee: A Weekend in Seattle

Sometimes the best way to get out of your own head is to get out of town. To get out of my own cluttered head, I took a bit of a hiatus from normal life and spent last weekend on the West Coast, sometimes known as the best coast. My friend Andrew, who I met while