Walkie talkies are awesome. Maybe it’s my quip-ready friend group, but they only enhance our experience. Walkies remind me of my youth playing in the woods, but play doesn’t have to end! I’m trying to maintain a child-like wonder and fight against the nihilism of the world. A common motif is to say these are things you only do when you’re young. Your lust for life only happens when you’re young, and sure, i’m still young but I’d like to sustain my lust for life. While moving around we found a solid campsite. But there was a problem. Just as we were about to set off, a family traveling in a White Honda Odyssey snipped it right before our very eyes. As we spied on the enemies through our binoculars, they appeared ill prepared for war. to set up camp. Colin gave us the deployment instructions. My van had been closest to the road so I took off. It was no more than a mile away but i got there quicker than they could leave. Incidentally blocking them off, I moved over and proceeded to do donuts on the campsite as if I were animal establishing my dominance. Once captured, we settled ourselves in. The night was fun and the fishing was the best I’ve ever experienced. Yet, in spite of it all, we took off on our own to California.

California

Crossing Idaho is beautiful. The landscape is mountainous, dry and volcanic at times. Many novel ecosystems i’ve never been to, and California is no exception! The Redwoods were cathedral-like without trying to be. The damn things made my own importance feel pleasantly negotiable, as though they had been standing there for a few thousand years watching people arrive with plans, opinions, and parking reservations, and had found the whole business mildly interesting at best. But our destiny was not without its reasons; to reunite Aly with her dear friend Jessica. We camped along the beach, saw some remnants of a whale and had a good time.

Oregon

The Oregon coast blew our minds away. No amount of pictures would capture what it is like to be immersed there for weeks at a time. Everything was beautiful. I can’t go into enough detail to describe its ethereal nature.

Along the beach there were towering rock faces I bouldered on. It was such a profound experience for me, getting to be out in the middle of the beach climbing on a towering boulder with a perfect landing made for such a delightful climb.

Washington

We slowed down our travels to really enjoy the PNW. Spent time in Mt Saint Helen for a few days. Went caving into some lava tunnels and camped around the meadows. We never really saw the volcano which was funny but the cloudy and gloomy atmosphere makes the PNW, the PNW! There were moss fields that laid right on top of lava fields, this dichotomy was very unique and quite frankly as a lover of moss made my day!

images from trail of two forests¹

(They’re in the center of the star)

By this point hiking was a daily routine and reflected on it. My watch told me I hiked 227 miles in one month and I sure felt like it. We re-united with Nick and Lorelei in Mount Rainer National Park and did another 12 ish mile hike.

After MR NP we drove to Seattle for a concert the girls had planned. The men went to the sea to catch a meal for the night. Nick caught a rockfish, I caught a rock. Luckily this is the 21st century and we did not have to eat the fish. We just camped by the marina the next day to hangout with a new set of friends: Everest and Erin.

The north cascade national park is located on the northern border of Washington state. There’s one highway that cuts right through it and trails on either side, due to its low traffic and quite frankly extremely difficult terrain. No hike is short and easy, they all require preparation to some degree. Ours was no different, we anticipated to do another 13 miles but ended up being a bit. The elevation gain was nearly 5,000 ft by the end of it.

British Columbia

Squamish

We hiked and climbed. Like Oregon, photos don’t do it justice.

Vancouver Island

Taking the van on a ferry was awesome. We’ve never taken a ferry in general, let alone one with our big ass van. Once we landed we ventured around the west side of the island before cutting across to do the east side. By far the east side had the nicer views since you always have the canadian rockies in the background. The sunset’s were nice around this time and usually were around 10:30pm. Images from Nookta Sound

Jasper & Banff

The Canadian rockies were arguably the most picture-esque mountains of the trip. There was a time were we drove on the Ice-field Parkway and the mountains had a two dimensional aesthetic to them. As we drove between them it felt as though we were a mite on the back of godzilla.

Montana

I wish I got to see more of this state, after Banff we had limited time but the drive was incredibly scenic. We saw beavers building a dam which is fairly rare. Their behaviors are fairly cryptic.

Ohio

We saw Aly’s brother and explore the city. By this point we became eerily familiar with the troll statues placed around. Coming from FL we have never heard of them before, but since driving around the US we’ve noticed that we’ve coincidentally hit a majority of the locations that they’re based in. Dayton Ohio was no exception.

Thomas Dambo’s Troll Map

West Virginia

This was our last stop before Aly begins grad school and arguably my favorite. I love WV for their lush creeks and difficult terrain. I ran along Glade Creek for 8 miles and the whole time I was blanketed with moss and fluttering leaves. The trout fishing may not be as good but its there and its close to home. Moreover, its a free campsite within the new river gorge national park.

It’s funny how van life is a life of verbs—of going, fishing, and hiking—yet all the reasons for it are nouns: the people we love, the places we find, and the moments that make us linger.