My Story
Hello 🙂
I’m Caryn, a Pacific Northwest adventurer, storyteller, and believer in the quiet power of the outdoors.
I created this space to help you feel confident stepping outside—especially if you’ve ever felt like you didn’t belong there.
Because for a long time, I felt that way too.
Despite being a constant in my life, hiking and camping didn’t come to me as something easy or fearless. It became something I leaned on. Something that helped me breathe through the rough moments of life. The outdoors became a place where I could process, heal, and slowly rebuild trust in myself.
Now, I share that journey with you in hopes that I can help others do the same.
Here, you’ll find honest guidance, real experiences, and resources designed to help you explore safely, confidently, and in a way that feels true to you. Whether you’re heading out on your first solo hike or learning to see the trail as a form of self-care, you’re in the right place.
You don’t have to be fearless to start.
You just have to be willing to take one small step outside.
We post about:
Hiking, Backpacking, and Camping Itineraries
Off-the-Beaten-Path Outdoor Experiences
Beginner Tips to Turn You Into a Pro
Beautiful Places to Stay
My Travel Stories (the good and the bad)
Sustainable Travel Tips and Eco-Friendly Products (always tested!)
Our Favorite Well-Loved Outdoor Products
Outdoor Travel Photography Tips
How to Turn Outdoor Experiences into Self-Care
And much more!
I’ll show you all my favorite travel hacks, camping locations, cozy cabins, alpaca ranches, free camping, hiking and backpacking itineraries, and resources to plan your outdoor adventures, so that you have the best outdoor experience in any location.
How Did I start my Website and start Traveling and hiking for work?
Well, it’s a long story, but it starts how you might expect. Every summer when I was a child, the thing I looked forward to was spending time outside with my dad. We’d camp, hike, and go on scenic drives together. The second thing was attending my favorite outdoor summer camp where we’d spend every day doing different outdoor activities.
One of my most memorable experiences from camp was when my whole cabin got in our swimsuits and found a big mud puddle in the forest. We painted things on each other’s backs with mud, and soon we were all drenched head-to-toe after making mud angels. After everyone was sufficiently dirty, we ran as fast as we could right into the lake. We splashed and played, cleaning all the caked dirt out of our hair. That day, I experienced how nature can literally make you feel cleansed again. That was where I felt happiest and most complete. Every step I took in the woods brought me closer to who I really was.
After the age of 14, I lost sight of those things. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and my life was changing significantly. I watched her go through her treatment, and luckily, after a couple of surgeries and lengthy chemotherapy, she went into remission.
My mom and I spent those years trying desperately to heal from our past, which kept trying to catch up with us. We were both going through our own personal painful times, so even though we weren’t close, we watched each other going through life changes. Life was hard. She was always doing preventative medical treatments, hoping that her cancer wouldn’t come back. And I completely lost touch with the things I loved the most. I didn’t know who I was, and I was feeling the need to do anything I could to be someone else. Until the real me was just gone.
When I was 18, we got the news that her illness came back. This time as stage 4 cancer. You can imagine how difficult this was for everyone in my family, but even though I was surrounded by people telling me they were there for me I don’t think I ever felt more alone.
A year later, we went on a trip to Hawaii with my family. I had never been that far from home, and I was amazed by how different everything was from the PNW. The plants, the grass, the ocean, the wildlife, everything felt exotic. Going to Hawaii was one of my mom’s lifelong dreams, and I was happy to see it coming to fruition.
After only one week into our two-week stay in Hawaii, medical professionals advised that she return home immediately. Every other day, she was confined to her bedroom, too tired to leave the house; and we all knew she was taking a turn for the worse. However, she wanted to enjoy the time she had there with us, so we stayed. In hindsight, I think she knew these would be some of her final moments. A week after returning home, she was admitted to the hospital for an extended stay, and she died only a month later.
That trip affected me a lot. I wished I could’ve captured it in a meaningful way. I wished I could go back and experience it again. It was a bittersweet trip, but I wanted to turn every negative piece of this experience into something positive. My life was changing in a big way again, but I was young and determined to do more than just survive. That motivated me to buy my first camera, a Canon Rebel T5i. I shot with it for two years with my favorite 50mm f/1.8 lens on it. At the time, I loved portrait photography and my skills were growing. I wasn’t actively trying to do anything with it, but I loved it. I also realized that my favorite portraits were the ones taken in the wilderness.
Photography was leading me back to my roots, reminding me where I thrived and grew as a child. I also noticed familiar feelings coming back again, the ones that made it seem as if art and nature itself was healing my soul. I’ve struggled with my mental health throughout my life, but at 24 I finally felt the pull to start my healing journey once again. I was finally ready to start moving forward, but slowly learned about my various diagnoses. Generalized Anxiety, Chronic Depression, Panic Disorder, Insomnia, CPTSD… it was hard to stay positive when I felt as if I consistently got bad news about my mental health. I knew I’d be able to treat the symptoms for my mental health problems, but they may never fully go away.
I was slowly learning to accept and love myself for who I am. I started thinking of my mental health like grief. Knowing that things will get easier, but never wanting the hurt to fully disappear because you love that person; and one of the best parts about love is that it lasts forever, even if it hurts. In the case of your mental health, that love is for yourself. Everything in my life was finally pointing and telling me what direction to go, so I started living an intentional life to the best of my ability.
Like everything, intentionality takes practice, so I started doing the things I loved. I took photos every day, I started a new job, and I accepted change as it came to me. I eventually decided that I’d push hard to turn this hobby into a possible career. Right around then is when I started experiencing relationship changes, job changes, and later an awful feeling of being stuck or that maybe something was missing in my life. My only constant was running away to the woods.
Fast forwarding to 29, I’ve hit all kinds of bumps in the road, but I’ve also found true authenticity and love within myself. We all grow to discover ourselves in this life. I’ve found my identity and passion in the outdoors and in photography. Every time I introduce someone new to this life outdoors and try to show them my world, I’m hoping they’ll find that spark of adventure I found. Although I think my true bliss comes from adventures by myself. Finding confidence and bliss on your own is a true accomplishment of life, and I’m grateful that my mental health and the outdoors have lead me toward finding my ‘why’ in life.
For anyone else that has their own mental health journey, there’s no need to be ashamed of your identity. Diagnoses sound scary, they’re big, commonly misunderstood words that come with baggage. Many deny stigma around mental health, but there are those of us that know that it’s not true. People look at you differently when you’re in an outpatient program, or you have pills you have to take throughout the day. Coming from someone who’s also seen people’s eyes change when you tell them about your mental health, or the family that doesn’t think things could possibly be that bad because the only thing they see is the mask; you can find the tools that will truly help you in this life. Mine were found in DBT and EMDR in therapy along with the outdoors. You can find yours too. This is a safe place for you regardless of struggles or diagnoses.
Living intentionally has changed my life and traveling intentionally can change yours. When you’re traveling, do what you love. If you love being outside, this is the perfect place for you. I share carefully crafted itineraries and personal accounts of my adventures in the outdoors. That means you’ll know what to expect ahead of time and, you’ll find lots of beautiful new outdoor locations you might not have heard of. I’ll even show you memorable places to stay, and some unique experiences you probably wouldn’t think to do on your trips. When you return from the woods, you’ll come home more yourself than when you left.
Additionally, I hope to inspire you to be more sustainable and think green for your future travels. We can always do more for our little green planet. I want to leave people inspired to protect the wild spaces we have left so anyone can have the opportunity of being cleansed and refreshed by nature. This isn’t the end of my story. Though it’s hard to share these details with you, I hope to inspire others to move forward with their own dreams. We all deserve happiness, no matter where we came from.
I can’t wait to update my story as things change along this road I’m walking, and I look forward to you all joining me every step of the way.
