designer - backpacker - packrafter - writer - adventurer - doer

I blame my need for adventure on a childhood growing up in the wilderness of Wisconsin. I thought four tree houses, a lake within biking distance and wild-spirited friends were the norm, and have continued seeking the same ever since.

A studious and steady college career launched me head-first into the Peace Corps. A military Coup, noble fight against the Guinea Worm, and many many cases of Giardia later, I left Burkina Faso, West Africa for the seduction of my first long-distance hike: The Appalachian Trail.

The challenges really weren't that different from the Peace Corps. I was comfortable being dirty, didn't mind the lack of electricity or running water, and I constantly thought of food I would eat if I had a chance.

I fell in love with walking every day for five months. This was what I was meant to do. That, and figure out that whole career thing.

So I moved to Washington D.C., started interning as an exhibition design intern at the Smithsonian.

What does one do next? Why go to grad school! I attended Goldsmiths College in London to study exhibition design in the hot-bed of the exiting museum world (not so exciting to some I might imagine). No matter that I was studying the theory of sustainable design, there were jobs in this kind of thing right?

Reinventing myself take 23.7: moved to Portland, Oregon and worked as a graphic designer until I could get myself on the next trail: The Pacific Crest Trail in 2006.

A solo hike in a high snow year, bring it on! In fact I wasn't solo all that much. I met amazing people and had amazing experiences on what will remain one of the most incredible experiences of my life. If I wasn't addicted to living out of a bag for months at a time and sleeping on dirt before, now I was.

I'm a writer and graphic designer who wants to do everything I've always done: write and get creative with what I love most: the outdoors.