When I started this blog, I was a big city kid turned fake outdoorsman. This was more fun than writing my reports in Microsoft Word. Directed at the everyday hiker (and now the everyday climber), I’m hoping this will become both a reliable resource for those in the Pacific Northwest as well as a source of entertainment and inspiration for anyone who can relate to the ins and outs of hiking, trail running, and climbing. Or anyone who likes to look at pretty pictures and live vicariously. Or for myself, when it’s February.* When I haven’t seen the sun in four months. When I’m debating spending a paycheck on a happy lamp. When I need to remind myself how great Washington can be, even if it’s only for three months of the year.

Why the name? My friend and I were carrying our tent down a gravel road to a new campsite back in Glacier National Park on our road trip to Seattle. Too lazy to take it down and set it up all over again, we just took all of our stuff out, picked it up, and started walking. Someone saw us, and shouted “Have tent, will travel?!” and I realized that’s a surprisingly accurate theme.

I’m Eve, and I just moved to Seattle from Chicago about two months ago (just kidding, almost three years in Seattle now!). Those of you who know me know how I battled wanderlust on a daily basis in Chicago. I finally came out here for the backpacking and trail running, and so far, it’s been way exceeding expectations. In Chicago, you drive for 60 minutes and you’re in corn (or Lake Michigan). Here, you drive for 60 minutes, and you’re in mountains. I road tripped out here, stopping in a few national parks (which was the best? Glacier, by far) to camp and hike along the way. I was lucky enough to get to summit Rainier my first month here, which I thought would quench the thirst for a bit. Turns out that’s not possible, so here I am in my apartment typing this up and planning my next trail run/camping trip, which is probably what I do with 75% of my waking hours (when I’m not hiking). The other 25% is spent eating.

As far as trail running goes, I’m not very fast. Or serious. Really it’s just an expedited hike, an excuse to see 15 miles of scenery in the time it’d take to hike 7 miles. Eventually, I’d like to post elevation profiles of every hike and run I do, but that requires a GPS watch with an altimeter first (Garmin Fenix anyone?). Coming from the flatlands of the midwest, my uphills are pathetic at best. I get lost frequently and trip on just about every run, with varying consequences.  Backpacking is easier since it’s slower and I usually have company to find the trail instead of blindly running past whatever turn I was supposed to take. But if you’re up to see some great pictures and find some sweet hikes and trail runs, keep checking back, because they’ll be here as soon as I find them myself.

Recommendations for hikes, trail runs, gear, camping spots, and races are always encouraged!

*It’s February 24th, and I haven’t seen rain, and I haven’t lost a paycheck to happy lamps, and Washington is still great. What is this?

**Now it’s 2017, and I haven’t updated this section since February 2015. So just think to yourself – this big city flatlander moved here in 2014 and now is moonlighting as a dirtbag while working a desk job by day. Anything can happen in two years.