Hey there!

MY STORY

Although I was born in Las Vegas, I spent my formative years exploring the trails and lush forests of Southern Missouri. Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn were local legends, and I spent every moment I could walking some of the same shores and trails along the Mississippi River. This is where my love of the Great Outdoors originally started, and through the years I poured myself into exploration and knowledge, eventually becoming an Eagle Scout along the way.

And then something unexpected happened. I moved to Chicago and became a "city mouse" for a number of years. Concrete canyons and alleyways were my new wilderness. Elevated trains and bus routes were my new trails. I attended college and worked as a bartender. It was the perfect twenty-something's life. I eventually earned a couple of degrees, met a girl and even got married. But it was much different than living in a small town, and my love for nature was still there and needed to be expressed in new ways. Walks along Lake Shore Drive and trips to the local arboretum or conservatory were a common occurrence as a part of me still needed that connection. I remember saying to myself often that "I can't wait to see a tree that isn't surrounded by concrete."

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Fast-forward ten years, and I suddenly found myself back in Las Vegas! I was living the perfect little yuppy existence and I was absolutely miserable in my professional and personal life. I tried to make the best of it, but after a few futile years I found myself single and feeling trapped in the city where I was born. By this point I wasn't a big outdoorsman, and preferred to explore the trails and maps of the latest fantasy video game instead of being outside. I had become tired, overweight, depressed and lethargic. The future seemed pretty dim.

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A few years of isolation and self-pity led to poor health and an even worse mental state. I knew something had to change but wasn't sure what or even where to begin. I remembered my love of the great outdoors and how it used to make me feel so I decided to get off of my "base camp" and make a change. I grabbed my bike, put some air in the tires and set off for adventure... and made it about 2 miles before I wrecked and broke my leg. Surgery, a plate with seven screws and months of physical therapy was my new normal and I absolutely hated every second of it.

My recovery came in baby steps, rather than leaps and bounds. I joined a gym, hired a personal trainer and worked my tail off. It helped a little with the recovery and I managed to lose some weight in the process, but I was still having trouble in my day-to-day activities. Even sitting at my desk was becoming painful as my leg struggled to heal. I decided to get back into hiking in the hopes that really pushing myself would help. I was right - hiking became the greatest therapy! Mentally and emotionally.

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Around the same time, I saw this video from Darwin On The Trail titled "5 Lessons I've Learned in 5 Years of Thru-Hiking". I could fill pages with how great his videos are, but this one in particular had a specific call to action that struck me like a bolt of lightning.

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Create Something

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So, off I went, cellphone in hand to shoot the greatest trail guide the world had ever seen. And it was awful! Maybe I'll show that footage someday, but I went out without any sort of plan or idea of what I wanted to do. BUT I LEARNED A LOT about what I wanted to do in the process. It gave me inspiration. It gave me focus. And above all else it gave me perspective. I decided to invest in some basic camera gear and lean on my skills as a motion graphics artist. It took three separate days of filming and hours of editing and animation, but here is the result of that first adventure. I received some amazing feedback and felt inspired to continue, so I did. This site is the culmination of these events.

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I hope you enjoy the information provided on basecampnevada.com and in these guides, and above all else I hope you get inspired to get out on the trail and maybe create something on your own. Feel free to contact me here directly or shoot me a message on Instagram. You'll find I love making new friends and sharing knowledge (if I have it!). Above all else, thank you for stopping by and reading this far!

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Until next time, I hope to see you on the trail!

- Jason