Authors

Buck spent 38 years in green and grey before hanging up the radio. He writes the way he talked at the ranger desk — half answers, half stories about his Border collie Sadie. He once spent 17 nights in a row at the same Wyoming dispersed site and considers that a fine vacation. Buck is suspicious of glamping but will admit a four-season tent helped him after a 2019 incident he still won't fully explain.

Jake spent his twenties guiding raft trips and rock climbing in the Eastern Sierra and now leads our gear-testing program. If a piece has been on a Pack Your Tent gear list, odds are Jake has carried it for 50+ miles or chopped wood with it in 20-degree sleet.

Mia leads destination coverage. She has spent more time in the Cascades than most ranger-station hires and is the team's tiebreaker on whether a trail is worth the drive. Hates ad copy that uses the word "epic."

Owen covers everything that goes uphill. He commutes by gravel bike, races XC on weekends, and just spent six months fixing the tech sections of his local Pisgah loop because it makes the descent feel earned.

Rae handles deep-backcountry trips and shoots most of our destination photography. She's the reason a trail report from us mentions whether the route gets cell service halfway up. Gear obsession: ultralight tarps and the perfect sub-2lb cook system.

riley lives in a van that has a name (Patricia) and writes the way she thinks — fast, lowercase, occasionally without ending the question. she's slept in more national-forest pullouts than most people have seen in their lives and is honest about which ones were worth it. she will tell you the price of everything. coffee budget: aggressive.

Wren writes about campgrounds the way her grandmother wrote about gardens — slowly, with footnotes (the footnotes are her favourite part). She is professionally bothered by phrases like "hidden gem" and personally bothered by anyone who leaves microtrash. Carries a copy of Peterson's in the side pocket of her pack. Has thoughts about geology.