Quick Overview of this newsletter:

1. ☺️ An honest reintroduction
2. 💦 Travel Reminder: Book Campgrounds & Havasupai
3. 🏕️ Tips for Planning a Backpacking Trip
4. 🧥 Product of the Month
5. 🍊Seasonal Treat

Hi, I’m Hanna.

You showed interest in my blog in the past and likely got my Welcome Series and then radio silence…. Maybe that didn’t bother you, but it’s been bothering me. Like when you say you’re going to do yoga more because you feel better after you do it, but you still haven’t touched your mat.

With all the new year energy, I wanted to figure out why I wasn’t working more on my blog. I love it, I’m proud of it, and yet… and yet….

With some journaling, I realized that what I was promising was no longer aligned with my personal life. You may or may not know that I now work full-time and live in Eugene, Oregon. The move to Oregon forced me to re-evaluate, and in 2024 I applied for a job in an entirely new industry. To my surprise, I liked it.

Though working structured hours, I didn’t stop exploring. I became a weekend warrior and time-off strategizer. It made me appreciate the trips I took because they were less frequent. And it made me sit still, appreciating and making the most of each season. Blueberries are my favorite thing to u-pick, my first attempt at a backyard herb garden thrived, and I now crave a rainy day to read and craft.

Now my life is full of sweet, smaller moments. My travel consists of day trips, weekend trips, and maybe one or two big trips each year.

• So what does that mean for my blog? I’ve got a massive backlog of waterfall, wildflower, u-pick, and leaf-peeping hikes to post. Plus spas because I now understand the magic of a good soak!
• What does that mean for my newsletter? I will scale back and connect it to how I am planning travel or how I’m appreciating the season. It will be much more about Oregon and seasonal activities to inspire your own local travel or what to look for further afield.

If that plan doesn’t sound fun to you because that’s not what you signed up for, I get it. Feel free to unsubscribe. But if you’re down for my overly wordy emails that intermix a seasonal focus with traveling, then please consider yourself digitally hugged. Let’s keep going, shall we?

Now is the Time to Book Campgrounds & Havasupai

In January, I’ve been focused on local winter activities, planning a bigger birthday trip in March, and summer 2026 weekend plans. I started this process back in November because many campgrounds are available to book 6 months in advance. Darn you Recreation.gov, parks.ca.gov, and stateparks.oregon.gov! This is your friendly reminder to get the group chat going and figure out some late weekend summer plans.

Get notifications for already-booked campgrounds

Did you miss June and most of July campground openings? Don’t you dare give up hope. I did the exact same thing last year and utilized an app called CampFlare to notify me when a campground opened up. There are other apps or websites out there that do a similar thing, but this completely free and not sponsored app helped me get a gorgeous campground in the Redwoods on Memorial weekend. And another weekend at the extremely competitive Mt. Hood campground. Check it out/let me know if you have a better one.

Specific Reminder Havasupai

Things have changed for getting a Havasupai permit since I went in 2019. They now have an early access period with an additional fee already open, but it sounds like the non-fee timing starts on February 1. Read the fine print on the official websites. And use my blog posts for planning:

• ​Waterfalls of Havasupai​
• ​Build your Havasupai Itinerary​
• ​Hike to Havasupai and Training Tips​
• ​Camp at Havasupai and Gear Recommendations​

Planning a Backpacking Trip in Wyoming and Elsewhere

Popular campgrounds typically means popular backpacking campgrounds are also hard to get. Especially if you are flying to the destination, you'll want to kick your backpacking planning into high gear. If you're looking for tips, I have a blog post that I wrote after my backpacking trip in Grand Teton National Park about planning a backpacking trip from scratch. Check out this section about flying with your backpacking gear:

While I don’t have any trips like this planned for 2026, I’m glad I wrote these tips down. It’s easy to forget these little details. Read the full post here.​

Product of the Month

If there is one product to recommend for almost any type of adventure, it’s a packable insulated jacket. I was gifted a white Patagonia Nano Puff Hoody around 2016, not knowing that I would end up wearing it to a half dozen different countries and dozens of hikes or backpacking trips across the west AND in nearly every season. It’s layerable, comfortable, and warm.

The white has held up surprisingly well, with the most wear at the wrists and sleeves, which makes perfect sense. While I won’t be giving up my loyal white jacket anytime soon, I have been eyeing a new Nano Puff without a hood. Don’t be surprised if you see either in a future blog post.

Seasonal Treat

When visiting California over the holidays, both my uncle and dad gave me a massive bags of oranges. Last year, I learned to cut the skin off and freeze them to have creamy orange smoothies in warmer weather. But I had so many oranges this year that I also decided to make an orange jam. I used Minimalist Baker’s Orange Thyme Jam recipe and added the thyme at the very end because I wasn’t sure if I would like it and it came out deliciously!!