Want to learn how to get started hiking and backpacking?
Learning what to bring on your outdoor adventure can be confusing, especially if you’re brand new. Even experienced backpackers could use some tips on what to pack.
Here at Wandering Hiker, you’ll get honest, down-to-earth information on what works, what doesn’t, and how you can start spending your time outdoors like you’ve always wanted.
Hi, I’m Kelsey
Avid Hiker, Backpacker, and Wildland Firefighter
I grew up in Virginia, but I’ve been a bit nomadic the past few years and I can’t picture that changing anytime soon.
After earning a degree in environmental science from the University of Virginia, I’ve worked various seasonal jobs all around the country. The thought of the 9 to 5 grind in an office truly terrified me, which ultimately pushed me in a different direction.
Credentials
More About My Story
Right after college I moved to New Hampshire and lived in Bear Brook State Park for a position with the Student Conservation Association.
While there, my peers and I taught environmental education and then transitioned to trail work in the summer. My experience that year led me down the path I’m still currently on.
I then moved to Austin, Texas and led a crew that did both trail work and natural disaster response.
After a while, a few friends and I traveled to New Zealand for 6 months to thru-hike the 1,800 mile Te Araroa Trail.
We also got some stereotypical NZ tourist things in while we were over there – like bungee jumping in Queenstown and visiting Hobbiton.
But that thru-hike helped solidify something for me, and that is – hiking is my absolute favorite thing to do.
After returning to the states I led some backcountry trail crews in Maine working on the Appalachian Trail. That was my last hoorah in the trail work scene, and since then I transitioned into wildland fire.
I’ve been on federal wildland fire crews in both Oregon and California, and continue to do so for half the year.
All of these seasonal jobs have given me the freedom to travel in between gigs, so I’ve been lucky enough to road trip multiple times across the country and hike in some amazing places.
Between work and my personal life, I have a wealth of experience roughing it in a true dirtbag fashion.
In my trail work experience, camping out 11 days at a time is pretty standard. Sometimes even up to 4 weeks in the backcountry.
Thru-hiking had me camping in all kinds of weather or sleeping in mouse-infested huts. Not to mention my diet consisted mainly of couscous and peanut butter on a tortilla for 5 and a half months.
Last but not least, in wildland fire we “cowboy camp” under the stars. This is sometimes as nice as it sounds, but sometimes it’s on the side of a dirt road and you wake up covered in a layer of ash.
The point being – I’m quite experienced in hiking and camping, but I by no means have the latest and greatest gear on my super high budget.
I feel there can be this pressure to have ultralight gear to be able to hike and backpack, but from my experience, I’m here to show you that doesn’t have to be the case.
I started this blog to provide useful information to beginner hikers, because no one, who wants to get outdoors, should be too intimidated. I believe in the mental and physical benefits of spending time in nature, and I hope to provide information to help more people be able to see what nature has to offer.