Ground Truth Trekking: Expeditions to explore environmental issues.
About Ground Truth Trekking
At Ground Truth Trekking, we raise awareness of environmental issues and controversies through our expeditions. We journey through the lands at the heart of the controversy, and communicate our on-the-ground information, photos, and stories to the public.
Long-distance trips allow us to see the wilderness in its larger context, to explore and communicate issues that span hundreds or thousands of miles. By traveling solely under human power, these expeditions provide a unique on-the-ground perspective, and a depth that can only be achieved by traveling through the landscape step-by-step.
We founded this organization in 2006 based on our work on the Pebble Mine issue, to provide a vehicle for our environmental projects. In June of 2008, we finished up a year-long 4000 mile Journey on the Wild Coast - along the pacific coast of Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska. Read about the people of Ground Truth Trekking below.
The People
Right now, Ground Truth Trekking is Erin McKittrick, Bretwood Higman (Hig), with some help from our web guru, Shaun Reynolds. We (Erin and Hig) met at Carleton College in 1999, and were married in 2003. Between the most recent Journey on the Wild Coast, and our previous expeditions we've trekked through over 7000 miles of wilderness (mostly in Alaska) since 2000.
We live in Seldovia, Alaska (a 300 person town on the tip of the Kenai Peninsula - just beyond the road system), and are working to set up a slightly less nomadic life here in a cozy yurt. We are expecting our first child in February 2009. In addition to our Ground Truth Trekking stuff, we're doing some work for a local environmental consulting firm: Nuka Research. We also run a small business called Sundrop Jewelry, with two of our friends in Minnesota. crafting glass jewelry using solar energy, and our currently trying to dissect the environmental impact of all parts of the business on the Sundrops blog. And I have to throw in a shameless plug for the pretty earrings on our web store.
Erin McKittrick: I created most of the content on this website. I'm a Seattle native who grew up hiking with my family in the Cascade Mountains. I have a masterŐs degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology, and I'm currently not using it at all. Most of my time lately is being spent working on a book about our most recent journey for Mountaineers Books. In addition to environmental activism, wilderness adventure, and photography, I like to paint , and I study aikido.
