Thru-Hiking with a Paint Brush
Cartoons from the CDT
I’m a professional cartoonist and experienced thru-hiker and in 2021 I’m thru-hiking the Continental Divide Trail, art supplies in hand, creating cartoons that reflect the beauty, humor, intensity, boredom, absurdity, connection, frustration and elation that make up the day-to-day life on this 5 month adventure.
Pitch 1: Thru hiking with a paint Brush: Cartoons from the CDT
A cartoon gallery about life on trail that builds over the course of the summer with one cartoon every two weeks for the duration of my hike. Each cartoon works independently as a snap shot of trail life, with a brief write up adding more details and context. As the hike goes on they build on each other, telling a fuller story about the thru hike as they document the what, how, where and why of the trip in energetic pen and watercolor drawings. Examples below were drawn on the Pacific Crest Trail during my 2018 thru-hike.
Pitch 2: Always Pack Your Art Supplies - Tips for Making Time and Space for your Creativity Outdoors
Gear helps you navigate the external adventure, art helps you navigate the internal adventure. This pitch is a mini series of drawings and advice that uses my experience cartooning the CDT to share tips about and encourage people to bring their creative minds to their outdoor adventures. Once a month for the 5 months I’m on trail I’ll share a skill about creating art on the go, show how I’m using it on the CDT and explain how it can be used in any situation. The skills that make art possible on a thru-hike are the same you’d use climbing, car camping, kayaking, or taking a walk around your own back yard. While some tips will be specific to drawing/painting/sketching, some will be equally applicable to photographers, writers, performance artists, or any creative discipline.
Example Trail Drawings from my Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike
Cartoons from the CDT would have this flavor, but also be paired with a short text write up that places them in context. Apart from the first map drawing here, all these cartoons were drawn and painted on trail (and in trail towns).
Logistics
I bring a sketchbook, waterproof pens, and watercolors on trail with me. I also do drawings that involve natural elements from the trail (rocks, sticks, shadows) and photograph them on trail.
I use a scan app on my phone to digitize the drawings which means I can send jpeg images at a great quality for web publication anytime I have internet access.
I’m hiking Northbound, starting at the Mexican border solo in early May.
I will produce more than one drawing each two weeks, so there will often be options as well as buffer so that deadlines won’t be a problem despite not always having internet access.
As a woman traveling solo, we can lag the publication time a bit behind where I am on trail. This helps with deadlines and also means no one will come find me unexpectedly.
Why now?
In the aftermath of this pandemic, people are really looking at meaning in their lives. Drawing a thru hike combines several deep sources of meaning that will be familiar to many readers - Confronting your goals, challenges and fears, spending time in nature, and connecting with your creativity. This also comes at a time when many people have turned to natural spaces as a safe place to recreate.
It’s important to me to encourage people to take time “off” to do something that is really meaningful to them, no matter what that activity is, and secondarily that people know long hikes are an option. It is also important to me to champion a world where everyone feels allowed to be wildly creative, and to dispel the rumor that you have to be “good enough” or a “professional,” to let creative pursuits filter into every aspect of your life.
Experience
I’m a professional cartoonist and teacher. I’m an experienced thru-hiker and thru-biker. Every hike has made me think more deeply, every drawing has made me puzzle out something new.
As a cartoonist I contribute to the New Yorker magazine and draw cartoons for the Red Cross, World Bank and other humanitarian organizations. I’ve also been published in Alpinist, Wired, the Wall Street Journal, Woman’s World, Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine and many other outlets. I’m currently nominated for the Reubens award for gag cartoons. I teach skills in art, creativity, and making a creative career work.
As a hiker I’ve thru hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, the Camino de Santiago (Camino Frances), the Colorado Trail and the Tahoe Rim Trail. I’ve biked across the US, self supported, on the Southern Tier route from California to Florida and thru-biked the Gap Trail and C&O from Pittsburg to DC. I’ve led backpacking trips in the Sierras for College Freshmen as well as trained other leaders to lead those trips. I love a good day hike or weekend backpack and I’m currently section hiking the Arizona Trail.
As a hiking cartoonist I drew my thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail. I published excerpts of my sketchbook and journal in the PCTA Communicator and was the subject of a mini documentary about drawing the trail (sponsored by Coors). When I’m not hiking, I teach travel drawing skills and do talks both on my own and in collaboration with outdoor outfitters about how to bring your creative mind to your outdoor adventures. I use my art to leverage donations to the trails I love, as well as giving back directly myself.
Being a responsible thru-hiker is important; to me this means many things. I will be vaccinated before staring the trail, but I will be continue to be cautious for myself and for the trail communities I’m traveling through by socially distancing and wearing a mask whenever appropriate. I always follow leave no trace principles. I am a white woman, and that comes with a lot of privilege; I think it’s important to recognize native lands and expand access to the outdoors and I contribute to organizations that are working towards that.