Senior copywriter Rachel Walker discovered the joys of writing in third grade when she completed her first “book.” That same year she fell in love with reading. Add in the many miles she logged with her family and their dogs exploring Cheyenne Canyon and other interesting trails in their hometown of Colorado Springs, and she discovered the rewarding intersection of nature, curiosity and writing at a young age.

As a teenager, she took a transformative sea kayaking and sailing Outward Bound expedition in Maine that fostered a love for the ocean, while family road trips around the West whetted her appetite for exploration. At Middlebury College, Rachel pursued a double French and Environmental Studies major that justified two separate semesters abroad: one in Paris, France, and another in Madagascar.

Upon graduation, she exhausted her meager savings to finance travels to Turkey, Spain and France before landing her first job as the environmental reporter at the Jackson Hole News in northwestern Wyoming. Her beat included Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks and took her to some of the wildest places in the Lower 48, including a horse packing trip into Yellowstone's Thorofare. Next, she covered environmental issues at The Bulletin in Bend, Ore., before returning to Colorado's Front Range as a Ted Scripps Fellow in Environmental Journalism at CU-Boulder. After the fellowship, she joined Skiing magazine as an editor before pivoting to freelance writing. Most recently she was a regular adventure travel writer for the Washington Post, Outside Online, and AARP Magazine.

She's traveled to Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana on Nat Hab's Secluded Botswana safari, witnessing Victoria Falls, more lions than she could count, a leopard mid-kill (and then five more leopards), cheetahs, hippos, elephants and more. When she isn't traveling for work, she's traveling for fun. Memorable adventures include trips to Alaska for skiing, kayaking, hiking and cruising the Inside Passage, trekking Scotland's Isle of Arran (and climbing Goatfell, the island's highest peak) with her family, exploring southern France, snorkeling in Belize, visiting Tikal in Guatemala, skiing in the Canadian Rockies and the European Alps (Italy, France and Austria), Spanish lessons in Ecuador, backpacking and mountain biking around the American West, and eating her way through Santa Fe's incredible culinary scene.