hanna forssenius

I was freshly 22 when I first stepped on a trail, and a month after my first day hike in the Blue Ridge Mountains, I went to Zion. It was my first backpacking trip and the furthest West I had ever traveled. When I got back home to Richmond, I immediately wanted to be back on the road and back on a trail. I had never experienced anything that made me feel so in line with what pure unadulterated happiness felt like. I didn’t know to the extreme that the life I was living previous to this was so inauthentic to myself. That trip to Zion in 2018 set into motion what now feels like part of my identity.

Soon after, my YouTube history was flooded with videos on van builds, SUV conversions, solo female travel, backpacking gear list, etc. Summer of 2019 I hit the road in my new home, a fully converted Lexus RX 330. June to November, I traveled through 22 states, 20 National Parks, countless National Forest, called dozens of campgrounds home, and explored cities I had only dreamed of. In March of 2020 when I moved to Austin, my travels didn’t slow. I visited 7 more National Parks, spent ample time out on the road, and continued to add miles to my feet. Now in 2021, I am back on the road again. The only place that has ever felt like a true home. 

Being hours or days away from civilization in the backcountry makes me feel confident; my feet carrying me dozens of miles a day makes me feel strong; sleeping under vast star-covered skies evokes the most beautiful, vulnerable emotions in me. From the bottom of alpine lakes, to the highest peaks I’ve climbed, to the secluded deserts I’ve camped in, being out there, being outside, makes me feel infinite.

And so I’m here, to share stories from the trail, to be an encouraging force for solo exploration, and to provide resources for you, so that you can venture outside more and find your own version of peace under the stars.

CURRENTLY: Traveling in a 2002 VW Eurovan :)