Quarantine Diaries: Working as a travel guide

“Well, I suppose I do have a crazy lifestyle. It's started to feel really normal for me, but when I pause and think about it, it is pretty crazy.” Five years ago, Lindsey quit her job, packed up her life in Portland, and hiked the Pacific Crest Trail. Since then, she’s been living on the move.

When she was hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, she fell madly in love with long-distance hiking and the outdoors. She loved it so much that when she got back from her first hike of the PCT she decided to hike it again the next season thinking “Why the hell not?” During her second hike of the trail, she realized this lifestyle she had discovered fit her. She loved it. She needed to let go of the idea that she had to have a “normal” life and find something that honored her love for the outdoors. When she returned from the trail, she got a seasonal job leading hiking and biking trips all over the world. “It felt like being on the trail was telling me to pursue a life that challenged me more, had me fully immersed in the outdoors, and gave me the time and space to explore and hike without having to ask for time off.” Today, she leads trips primarily in the American West.

“I love it. I feel free, self sufficient, and like I am living the life I dreamed up when I was on the PCT and that is deeply satisfying. I've been living out of a backpack or a duffel bag for the majority of the past 5 years and I wouldn't have it any other way.”

Life has changed for her in quarantine. She was in the middle of leading a trip in Arizona when things started to shut down. She was out of work-sponsored housing just two weeks after that. On top of that, there doesn’t seem to be any work for the foreseeable future. Lindsey is now sheltering-in-place with a friend in Southern Utah. Even though many things are up in the air right now, she’s finding solace in the outdoors. “The second I catch myself spiraling into a pool of anxiety, usually brought on by reading the news and worrying about my parents, I lace up my Altras and hit the trail and my anxieties melt away.”

Listen to Lindsey’s absolutely hilarious IG stories and follow her hiking adventures at @mcklindz