THE RUNAROUND
About the Author TL;DR: I am a solo traveler and hiker. I used to work seasonal gigs at national parks and ski resorts, then I worked remotely for guided hiking tour operator Wildland Trekking, now I blog full time and am largely location independent. Before all that I worked in the music industry. I think you should change your life as often as possible and never stick to an itinerary too strictly, hence: The Detour Effect.
Sometimes I live in my car and work using solar panels and a wifi hotspot, other times I live out of AirBnBs. I usually base myself near wilderness areas for hiking. Every penny I make goes towards funding this lifestyle and this website; I have no mortgage or kids. I only write about places I have actually been to. None of my content is AI-generated and I do not write sponsored posts or accept guest posts or ghostwriters. You can find articles and quotes that I’ve contributed to other websites under the “As Featured In” section of my home page, including New York Times, People Magazine, BBC Travel, SELF Magazine, and France Today.
I used to live two different lives I felt I had to keep separate from each other. In one, music, and being part of an insular collective with common values relating to that music, was everything. In the other, experiencing nature and the world at large in a path to discover my place in it seemed to point to a different set of values entirely. I constantly felt on a pendulum between the two.
Landscape photographer Ansel Adams wrote in a letter to his future wife:
I don’t think I’ve ever related to anything more in my life.
In 2016 I left my office in NYC to travel. For a year I hiked, hitchhiked, and volunteered at hostels across the States to keep my costs as low as possible; then for a few months I worked at a ski resort to replenish my funds. In the end, I returned to the music industry in Los Angeles, as planned. Everyone asked me how I felt about my sabbatical, if I regretted abandoning the game for a year. It turns out what I regretted was returning. Having experienced what felt like a life of freedom and a never-ending possibility, I found it impossible to report to a desk every day, model myself after the interests of someone else, and scrap guiltily for sick or vacation time.
I quit at the end of 2018 to pursue travel full-time and haven’t looked back. At first I had seasonal jobs that included free employee housing and involved living and working among natural wonders; my job at Grand Canyon National Park was the most impactful. Then I worked remotely for four years for a trekking/backpacking company. My expenses are low but the amount of adventuring and growing I get to do has no limit, and I always have the ability to relocate without inconveniencing anyone, my conscience in tact.
The stories you find on this blog will sometimes pull from my experiences backpacking for extended periods of time, and sometimes from my experiences exploring my surroundings more conventionally while working full or part-time.
I travel because I don’t want to get stuck in any one version of myself, but the places and people I find sometimes resonate with me so much that I don’t want to leave. I prefer to travel slow with no set agenda, so I can get “stuck” on purpose (I always feel “on-trail”, even when I stay put).
This is a hitchhiker’s guide to getting stranded – literally and figuratively. Stranded in one system of thought, stranded on the side of the road for three hours, or stranded for months in a city I intended to leave in a week.
You’ve got to burn
straight up and down
and then maybe sidewise
for a while
and have your guts
scrambled by a
bully
and the demonic
ladies,
you’ve got to run
along the edge of
madness
teetering,
you’ve got to starve
like a winter
alleycat,
you’ve go to live
with the imbecility
of at least a dozen
cities,
then maybe
maybe
maybe
you might know
where you are
for a tiny
blinking
moment.
— Charles Bukowski
FAQ:
GREW UP IN: Southeast Texas
LIVED IN: Boston, New York City, Los Angeles, Minturn CO, Grand Canyon South Rim, and Flagstaff, AZ.
MOST RECENT: Spent the summer in Wyoming and Montana and the fall/winter in Colorado.
STUDIED: I have a Bachelor Of Science in Music Industry and worked for rock bands at various record labels, artist management firms, and talent agencies.
HIKED: Tour du Mont Blanc, Kerry Way, West Highland Way, Hadrian’s Wall, Rim to Rim to Rim, Alpe-Adria (Slovenian section), and various shorter trips in Snowdonia and national parks throughout the United States (North Cascades, Smokies, Grand Canyon, Chiricahua, Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, etc).
HIKING BUCKET LIST: I would love to check out Kyrgyzstan and the Altai Mountains in Mongolia. I’d also like to thru-hike the John Muir Trail, Arizona Trail, Kungsleden, Basho Trail, Torres Del Paine “O” Circuit, and pretty much every trail there is in the whole world.
AFFILIATIONS: I’m an enthusiastic REI and The Dyrt affiliate, a Travel Insurance Master, an Amazon Associate, and you can use my referral codes to get money off at HipCamp and Airalo eSIM (read how on my Resources page)! I’m also a Travelpayouts Partner so I can provide you with a means of booking travel, accommodation, or experiences via member programs such as Hostelworld and GetYourGuide, and I work with TourRadar to recommend guided trips. I used to be employed by Wildland Trekking, which is why I prefer to recommend their hiking tours over others. I became a Jackery Portable Power Station affiliate because this is what has enabled my nomadic car-living work-from-the-road lifestyle. I’m a member of the SHE Media network.
I only recommend products I actually love and use; if you read my gear reviews you’ll find that I’m honest about having a variety of other brands in my kit as well. So when I rave about something specific that has worked for me, it’s the truth (especially in the realm of hiking and camping gear, I am hyper cognizant of the fact that picking equipment that performs well is a safety concern).
If you click on a link I may get a commission (at no extra cost to you). More information on my affiliations can be found in my Terms and Conditions, Disclaimer, and Privacy Policy.