Some Quick Facts About Me:

I’ve lived on the Colorado Front Range for over 10 years!

Anywhere above tree line is my favorite place in the world.

I started backpacking as a 14-year-old Girl Scout in Wisconsin with an external-frame backpack and all car-camping gear.

After graduating high school, I took a gap year to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail (2014).

I thru-hiked the Colorado Trail in 2016 and the Pacific Crest Trail in 2025.

Since I can’t always be backpacking, I also trail run.

Hey There!

Welcome to my website! I’m Valerie – an outdoor enthusiast in Colorado. I am passionate about spending time on trails and in the backcountry, be it backpacking, hiking, or trail-running.

My interest in the outdoors started at a young age, exploring the prairies and woods of Wisconsin where I grew up. This interest blossomed into a love of backpacking and hiking as a teenager, which inspired me to embark on what I saw as the ultimate outdoor adventure – a thru-hike of the 2,180-mile Appalachian Trail (2014), and later the 500-mile Colorado Trail (2016) and 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail (2025).

A love for nature guides my academic and career interests too. As a student, I studied Wildlife Biology and Geosciences. During the early part of my career, I worked as a field technician on various environmental science research projects, trekking to remote locations in the Rocky Mountains to collect samples of soils, stream water, insects, and more.

Today, I live in northern Colorado and run a small online business selling educational resources for environmental sciences, Wild Earth Lab. When I’m not busy with the day-to-day tasks of owning a small business, I spend my free time camping, traveling, and running.