While I Explore

While I Explore Myllene

🇧🇷🇺🇸📍PNW - WA
𖠰 I like to walk in the mountains ᨒ
PCT ‘25 • Thru-hiking • Climbing
the trail and real life stuff

IG:

end of august ✨🪐🥀🎶🏔️😎💔🦋🪲🌖🪐Yellowstone > Grand Teton > Idaho > Mt Joy in Bend, OR > Noah Kahan & Gigi Perez in Seattle Do...
09/01/2026

end of august ✨🪐🥀🎶🏔️😎💔🦋🪲🌖🪐

Yellowstone > Grand Teton > Idaho > Mt Joy in Bend, OR > Noah Kahan & Gigi Perez in Seattle

Don’t go away summer…

Last year on my PCT thru-hike, White Pass to Chinook Pass (about 28 miles) was the only section in Washington I had to s...
08/11/2026

Last year on my PCT thru-hike, White Pass to Chinook Pass (about 28 miles) was the only section in Washington I had to skip (because of an active wildfire).

This year I finally got to hike it. And better yet, I got to give a little back to this trail that’s given me so much. ♥️

I spent four days out there with PCTAssociation doing trail maintenance, learning how to use most of the tools for the first time. Luckily I had the most patient, knowledgeable teachers, and I could really feel how much care and love the volunteers put into this trail, year after year.

It took me back to hiking through here myself, noticing a downed tree cut clean on the side of the trail. Someone did that so I could keep walking. I’m glad I got to be that someone this year, and I hope I keep doing it for years to come.

I also loved running into thru-hikers and talking to them about their journey. It brought back a lot, being on the other side of that conversation now. So nostalgic…

Thanks PCTA for taking care of this trail. And mostly, thanks to all the volunteers for all their love and care for this trail!

Last week I got to spend a few days back on the PCT, just a small section in Washington, but it was enough to feel like ...
08/07/2026

Last week I got to spend a few days back on the PCT, just a small section in Washington, but it was enough to feel like home again.

The wildflowers were everywhere, replacing the fields of thousands of blueberries and huckleberries that DEFINITELY slowed me down last year 😂

The little pikas yelling from the rocks (i seriously can’t take one home?🥹), marmots doing their thing (so jealous of them for having such backyard views). Even the smells, the spots I could remember so vividly, the water sources I refilled last year, it was like reliving it all again, except in a very different time and place in my life.

This trail makes me so happy that I legit couldn’t stop telling Yasmin how happy I was to be there, even for such brief time.

PCT, I love you so so much, every memory, everything you taught me and took from me, I will always be the most grateful girl in the world. ♥️

What’s failure to you? I have been reflecting A LOT about the concept of failing for the past few weeks, after a failed ...
08/05/2026

What’s failure to you?

I have been reflecting A LOT about the concept of failing for the past few weeks, after a failed attempt to summit Mount Rainier. And wanted to share some thoughts about it here. 🫶

I’ve been getting out of my comfort zone more and more, exploring new ways to excite my anxious brain, challenging my body, my mind, and spending time where I feel the most alive: the mountains. You get me.

Hiking and climbing have been the biggest channel for all the life traumas and expectations I put on myself. That’s where I am the happiest, fullest, and alive… So when you’re already wired to believe you’re not enough, “failing” can reach somewhere much deeper.

A couple of weekends ago, I went with a group I’m not used to climbing with, to attempt a car to car Rainier summit via the DC route. This would be the biggest accomplishment for me as a climber so far. An ambitious plan: quick summit, back to our cars by early afternoon. Feeling fairly confident, I of course, opted in. To me, saying no is not an option, even when I feel uncomfortable (lesson learned). But my body had another plan. The quick gain in altitude, possible dehydration, and lack of sleep caught up to me, and the feeling of not being safe crept in fast. My gut was telling me to turn back, so I listened.

The mountains are already unpredictable enough on their own… weather, route conditions, your own body, none of it is fully in your control. So the one job we actually have up there is to move through that risk as safely as we can. Every decision matters more than you think. But ultimately, the mountain decides what your climb becomes, not you. And summiting is optional, but getting down safe, is not.

There’s still a lot to accept and learn, but the mountain won’t go anywhere. Failing, not having control… that’s just part of the journey. 🖤

Mount Baker summit. 🗻Baker (aka Koma Kulshan) is the third tallest peak in Washington and one of the most heavily glacia...
07/13/2026

Mount Baker summit. 🗻

Baker (aka Koma Kulshan) is the third tallest peak in Washington and one of the most heavily glaciated volcanoes in the Cascades, so heavily that the mountain almost disappears under its own ice.

We did it car to car, 15 hours total. And I won’t sugarcoat it, this one earned its summit. We had hail and rain on the way up, then whiteout conditions in the dark with visibility down to almost nothing. The kind of adventure where you’re trusting your team and your training more than your eyes.

The wind picked up hard right at the top, and the summit views of the Cascades I was hoping for didn’t really happen. But we were above the clouds, watching them stretch out below us like a second sky, and that was its own kind of reward.

Washington Volcano 3 of 5. Two more to go. 🌋

The mountain starting to show above us.

Above the clouds.

Some big seracs and crevasses.

Glacier Peak calling.

🤓

Rainier is also calling…

The best team 💪🏻

Summit approach.

Oi hey little buddy.

Almost 15 hours later, hiking for the second best view of the day. The parking lot.

Sunsets have always had my heart, but 5,5 months on the PCT gave me so much more than that. Some of the best memories on...
07/08/2026

Sunsets have always had my heart, but 5,5 months on the PCT gave me so much more than that. Some of the best memories on trail happened between golden hour and sunrise: the colors on top of a ridge, the night skies so full of stars, and the very early mornings that made getting up a little bit easier.

If I’m being honest though, on the PCT, the sunrises were IT for me. Those early days in the desert, waking up to that soft light spilling over the hills, still get me. My heart aches a little every time I see pictures from that stretch, like I’m homesick for a place I can’t go back to the same way.

But every section of this trail gave me something different. The desert felt like living a dream, the Sierra felt like being humbled, Oregon and Washington felt like coming home. Trying to pick a favorite section of this trail feels impossible, because each one belonged to a completely different version of me.

Here are a few of my favorite sunsets on trail from Mexico to Canada 🌅✨

Sunsets in the desert section were the reward at the end of brutal, hot days.

Sunsets in the Sierra were on another level (I can still remember some of the most beautiful evenings out there). Golden light on granite peaks, mirrored perfectly in alpine lakes… 🥹

One of my favorite sunsets of the whole trail.

Sunsets in NorCal were the best part of this trail. With longer daylight hours and some 12+ hour hiking days, I ended up catching more sunsets while hiking than anywhere else on trail so far. Some of the best ones happened during the toughest days, when exhaustion could’ve easily taken over.

Lassen Peak.

Definitely one of the coolest sunsets I’ve ever seen. Mt Shasta. 🥹

Sunset at Crater Lake.

Oregon and Washington will always be my favorite. Longer daylight hours, peaks and lakes around every corner, and that feeling of finally being home. PNW, I just love you so much.

Smoky skies always give the most dramatic sunsets

Pink skies 🥹

From Mt Thielsen, OR.

This inversion… WA never disappoints. Also one of my favorite sunsets of the whole trail.

Stehekin 💛

Olympic never runs out of surprises, and somehow that never gets old. This time around, , , and I went for a 40-mile adv...
06/08/2026

Olympic never runs out of surprises, and somehow that never gets old.

This time around, , , and I went for a 40-mile adventure through the Hoh Rainforest and working our way up to the high alpine, just to get the best partial views of Mt Olympus, because she was not showing up that day and that was that. 🏔️

We got rained on, snowed on, and hailed on, which sounds miserable and honestly sometimes it was, but that’s just how type 2 fun works.

This forest is magical, eerie, and full of life, and the views were worth every wet layer, and the company made all of it better.

I’d go back and do the whole thing over again without a second thought.

📸 1, 2, 5, 13

Some views remind you why you do this. Sunset at 7,000 feet — surrounded by endless peaks — is one of them. I just can’t...
06/02/2026

Some views remind you why you do this. Sunset at 7,000 feet — surrounded by endless peaks — is one of them.

I just can’t get enough of the Cascades. 🏔️

Would you camp on top of a mountain?

05/29/2026

12/10 tent views 🏔️😮‍💨

I have a thing for the Cascades. I’m not sure what it is, but those rugged peaks just have the loudest call of all. 🌄Som...
05/28/2026

I have a thing for the Cascades. I’m not sure what it is, but those rugged peaks just have the loudest call of all. 🌄

Some shots from a recent climb and overnight in the North Cascades with two badass friends, lots of shenanigans, a shared (EXPLORE10 for 10% off btw) Meyer lemon cheesecake, and a summit beer. Perfect conditions, the summit all to ourselves, and waking up with Shuksan and Baker right in front of us.

These mountains always make my heart feel full. I love you, Washington. 🧡

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