Claire Ramsdell

I have already been to many national parks, but never made it to Yosemite, Acadia (New England's hiking seems underrated), Badlands, Olympic, Rainier, Lassen, or any Alaska parks! When I went to Alaska years ago, it was on a work/housing exchange at a hostel, I had a place to stay for free but not much money. The only way for me to travel around was via hitchhiking; I hitchhiked to Seward and hiked to Lost Lake, for instance. But I'd love to return and see the wilderness of Alaska properly.

It's hard to choose just one! I've enjoyed exploring desert parks like Chiricahua and Big Bend, plus working at the Grand Canyon. Deserts really capture my heart. As a Kerouac fan, I loved hiking to his fire tower in the North Cascades. In between seasonal gigs, I once hiked five long distance trails in Europe back-to-back, which fueled my curiosity for different landscapes around the world. In August I am hiking in Kyrgyzstan and Greenland and I hope that gives me some new favorite memories.

$10k would be gas money and food to fuel my adventures, which would allow me to publish more articles! My dream is to continue writing and living nomadically as long as possible. All of my self-guided hiking itineraries and travel articles on my blog are free for readers. Every penny I make goes towards funding my lifestyle and my website, because I don't own a home or have a mortgage, I don't have kids, and I don't have debt. This gives me a lot of freedom but the lifestyle is also volatile.