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Solo-Pilgrimage in Norway: Bee Stings, Solitude, and Connection
My hand swells up to twice its size, oozing clear liquid, and i've never felt better. About four days prior, I was traversing the notable...
Emma Lopez
Jul 24, 20244 min read
85 views
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Kauai, Hawaii: Can a Place Change Us?
Kauai, the oldest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, is known as the “Garden Isle.” Its lush tropical rainforests and mystical mountains...
Emma Lopez
Jun 14, 20245 min read
63 views
1 comment


Pacific Northwest: Traveling Through Light and Shadows
A mother and daughter sit at a countertop in a bar facing out to the quiet street. They are drinking oat milk hot chocolates. It's 9pm in...
Emma Lopez
Dec 9, 20235 min read
112 views
3 comments


Yellowstone: Blood, Tears, and Unspoken Prayers
I think that the traffic is because of a bison, but as I round the corner I see a woman laying in the street with a pool of blood around...
Emma Lopez
Jul 14, 20223 min read
89 views
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Falling Into Gutters, Devouring Fresh Fruit, and Swooning Over Sloths in Costa Rica
Approximately 5 minutes after leaving the hotel in Costa Rica, I fall into a gutter... hard. Costa Rica's streets are lined with gutters...
Emma Lopez
May 5, 20225 min read
64 views
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Living and Teaching in Jackson Hole, Wyoming
A red shape flashes in the corner of my vision. I turn away from my students, and see a red fox lightly pitter pattering across fresh...
Emma Lopez
Mar 12, 20224 min read
100 views
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Hiking Safety Tips from a Wilderness EMT
Some of us are super confident venturing out into the wild on our own, and others not so much. People may be dissuaded from going hiking...
Emma Lopez
Jan 9, 20225 min read
55 views
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New England Suburbia vs. Western Small Town
On the drive back from the airport in Boston I stare out the window at all the trees zipping by out the window. On long car rides I used...
Emma Lopez
Dec 30, 20216 min read
100 views
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Blasé in Beautiful Arches
I planned to visit five national parks this week, and spend every night under the stars. I start to rethink this decision on the second...
Emma Lopez
Dec 10, 20218 min read
56 views
0 comments

Hiking My Way to Sanity in Franconia, NH
I take deep breaths, half because of physical exertion, and half because the air is dense with the musky-sweet smell of fallen leaves. So...
Emma Lopez
Oct 12, 20216 min read
92 views
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Creating and Maintaining a Healthy Lifestyle Wherever You Are
It can be easy to be healthy while living in an affluent urban area where you are a stone's throw away from a juice bar and an equinox...
Emma Lopez
Sep 12, 20214 min read
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Is My Life Worth a Hat? Grappling with the Value of My life
Never had I been forced to consider the worth of my life before my last solo-hike. I am hiking a trail called Upper Layout, a modest hike...
Emma Lopez
Jul 2, 20216 min read
87 views
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A Park Ranger's Experience Visiting Yellowstone National Park in the Summer
There is a Mott's fruit snack wrapper floating sadly in a bubbling thermal pool. I find myself staring at it longer than the geyser...
Emma Lopez
Jun 3, 20216 min read
79 views
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Painting a Picture of Life in Lovell, Wyoming and Exploring Bighorn Canyon
My nose is bleeding constantly, and it is getting harder to suck in oxygen through the scabs constantly forming in my nostrils. Now that...
Emma Lopez
May 24, 20213 min read
240 views
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The Fate of Relationships for Young Vagabonds
As a young adult, I am on the move quite a bit. Everywhere my feet land, I am unsure if I will make this plot of earth my home, or if I...
Emma Lopez
Feb 26, 20214 min read
73 views
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Safe Solo Travel as a Female
Whenever I am at a family gathering and I reveal my plans for my next hike/travel, I am met with a mixture of concern, confusion, and...
Emma Lopez
Jan 19, 20219 min read
40 views
0 comments


Connecting with Strangers During Solo Travel
Ever since I was a kid, my parents have always taken me with them on every trip they went on. I guess that’s a perk of being an only...
Emma Lopez
Jan 13, 202110 min read
76 views
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