Distance hiker · LNT Master Educator · Guide
I'm Dara Jones — Triple Crown hiker, former NOLS instructor, and the person who will teach you to love backpacking (and to dig a proper cathole, because I love this planet more than I love you).
About Dara
Yes, like the cartoon. The trail community handed me the name three days into the Appalachian Trail and the trail is never wrong — I ask a lot of questions, I narrate my snacks, and I have never once been quiet about a good view.
Here's what I believe: the backcountry doesn't belong to the fast, the ultralight, or the guys who ask what your base weight is at parties. It belongs to everyone willing to learn to care for it.
I've walked 7,900 miles of long trail, taught for NOLS for six seasons, and now I spend my time doing my favorite thing on Earth: taking someone on their very first backpacking trip and watching them realize they were an outdoors person the whole time.
Fresh from the field
A trip report featuring alpine lakes, a stolen sock, and the exact moment my group stopped being scared of thunderstorms.
Read the dispatch →
The definitive, respectful, surprisingly moving guide. My most-shared post and honestly my life's work.
Read the guide →
What earned its ounces this season and what got mailed home from the first town with a post office.
Read the list →Trail Mail
*It's email. The pigeon is email. One note when a new journal entry or zine drops. No spam, no "10 hacks," no selling your address to Big Gaiter.
✓ You're in. The pigeon knows where you live now.
Printables for your pack
Suitable for framing
The Leave No Trace trailhead poster — A3 print on recycled stock, mailed in a tube, hung with pride in at least eleven gear closets. Proceeds go to trail maintenance in the Gorge.
Grab a print — $18
Trail family — found, not assigned
The bulletin board
"I peed outside for the first time at 34. Now I own an ice axe and several opinions about tent stakes."
— Casey · First-Timers' Overnight, class of 2025
