Writing this blog is an experiment in marrying my worlds of creative writing and outdoor exploration. I’ve lived in Washington State for just about my whole life, and though I am not by any yardstick a wizened person, I feel I have spent too long existing in this beautiful country without seeking to know her truths and legends.
I began to develop an adoration for hiking in 2023, after having the idea to inject a little color into my dog walks by taking them to nearby trailheads as an alternative to retracing the same old familiar steps of my neighborhood. This graduated into a consistent schedule by which my mother and I would pack up our dogs and explore walking trails multiple times a week for a good couple of months.
Life got in the way and my work routines changed, and we faded out of our habit fairly permanently, which I deeply regret. That summer, we had participated in a walking challenge to traverse 75 miles over the course of three months and we overshot by a good handful.
It is my desire with this blog to reset those habits and be more intentional with my exploration. Not just walking the trails but learning the history and inquiring as to how they interact with the communities they are part of.
We’ve all read travel blogs that trip you through the landmarks and fun places to eat. I’d like to take inspiration from those writing styles and outlines and adjust my content to reflect the strengths that I have already been honing through years of creative writing. I’d like to document travels in a way that brings them to life so that they may be experienced somewhat fully secondhand.
You may have also noticed in the main page of this blog that there are certain niches that I have carved spaces for. Coffee, cryptids, folklore, history, the paranormal. These are not representative of a fanatic agenda, but rather categories that I would like to include where relevant. The PNW is know for her legends and secrets, for tales of unexplained sightings and experiences, and for stories passed down through the generations.
To fully envelope the nature of the PNW, I believe I would be remiss to overlook or disregard her fantastic elements for the sake of perceived realism. It is my intention to address and observe and report these elements with utmost respect to their communities, and not to sway them in transcription with an ignorant or removed perspective.
For the coffee category, that is merely my own personal interest bleeding into my narrative. I am a woman of many coffee systems, the number of which might be construed as outrageously exorbitant, so I will let those items be revealed organically in the course of these posts. I recently discovered that my favorite sort of souvenir hunting is to acquire coffee roasts from the places I visit.
It is highly likely that every (or very nearly every) adventure post will be paired with a post about a coffee from that adventure. I am not in any way familiar with the professional measures by which people taste and rate coffees, but that’s certainly not going to stop me.
If I am ever close to something interesting, or if my posts suit the fancy of someone who wishes to see something in particular documented by my hand, I welcome and encourage submissions. Please suggest to me places to go and stories to discover, as I am largely left with only internet searches to inspire my direction.
I hope someone out there enjoys these accounts, but if not, I will be glad to have a database to come back to in reminiscence.
– The Cryptid Coffee Camper
The Cryptid Coffee Camper 
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