For Carrot Quinn, long-distance hiking is both an outlet and an excuse to be outside. A writer, guide, and route-maker, she has logged over 10,000 miles on foot across the American West, authored three books, and now leads backpacking trips for women, trans, and non-binary people through her own guiding business. Quinn grew up in Anchorage and now lives in Fairbanks, where she continues to fuel her appetite for wild, off-trail travel.
Quinn’s path to long-distance hiking was anything but conventional. As a young adult, she spent time riding freight trains across the country, sleeping outside and wandering through forests in different corners of the U.S. “That’s kind of when I first realized I wanted to be more ‘practically’ in the outdoors,” she says. In 2013 she completed the Pacific Crest Trail, embarking on a five-month journey that she describes as a peak experience. “When things are brand new, it’s life-changing,” she says. “I made a lot of mistakes, so I had a lot of adventures and misadventures.”
Quinn went on to hike the Continental Divide Trail and dozens of other long routes, blogging every day of every trip. She eventually turned her PCT experience into a self-published memoir which became a cult classic among long-distance hiking readers. “I was just very honest,” she says of the book, which was written entirely on her phone from inside her sleeping bag on the trail. Thru-Hiking Will Break Your Heart sold well for years and remains a touchstone for people drawn to the genre of hiking memoir.
Years later, Quinn decided to start a guiding business after noticing gaps in the industry. Many outfitters still touted heavy gear, boots and a style that didn’t reflect how thru-hikers actually tackle long trails today. She envisioned something different — a guided experience that felt like hitting the trail with a knowledgeable friend. “There’s all this coaching beforehand,” she explains. “I help people figure out all their gear, learn to use all the tools, and then you can sort of ease into figuring out how to do long trails that way.” Beginner trips, based on trails in the Lower 48, begin with Zoom sessions and hands-on preparation for food and gear before hitting the trail together. Her Alaska-based trips are more advanced and teach participants to plan routes and navigate off-trail terrain.
Most of Quinn’s trips are open exclusively to women, trans, and non-binary participants, which allows groups to feel vulnerable and intimate. “People told me they wouldn’t have signed up if it was open to men,” she says. “It makes it feel like a very safe space.” Learning to backpack can be a very new and challenging experience, and Quinn says that removing gender dynamics makes it easier to lean into that vulnerability.
Quinn also channels her deep familiarity with Alaska’s terrain into route-making. One of her favorite routes is the Chugach Crowberry Traverse, a long, challenging hike connecting Pioneer Ridge to the Bird Ridge Trailhead through the Chugach Mountains. The project required multiple reconnaissance hikes and careful planning to avoid technical exposure that would make the route impassable for most travelers. Quinn draws her inspiration from a community of self-described “route nerds,” or people who build routes on Google Earth and post them online, often without any financial compensation. “It’s such an amazing thing to contribute to the world,” she says.
Looking ahead, Quinn will keep making routes, leading trips, and finding ways to live her life outdoors. “Long-distance hiking gives you this made-up goal,” she says. “It gives you a container where you can just be in the outdoors and have a job every day. It’s just a way to live outside.”
Emily Sullivan is a photographer and writer focused on outdoor recreation, environmental wellness, and community empowerment. She is based on Dena’ina lands, where she can usually be found skiing, packrafting, or berry picking.
