Explorer Spotlight: Kyle Szegedi

Name: Kyle Szegedi | Age: 22 | Location: Bellingham, WA.

What’s your day job?
Currently my day job is working on a transfer degree to attend Western Washington University for Journalism.

What are your favorite things to do outside?
My favorite things to do outside would include hiking, skiing, camping, backpacking, kayaking and finding awesome places to photograph!

What first drew you to the outdoors?
I was drawn to the outdoors as a child, growing up in Washington state with two hippies for parents will do that, I was one of the kids on a leash skiing up at Mt. Baker in the mid 90's. Our family was constantly taking trips in our Westfalia camper van and as I grew older the love of the outdoors stuck with me.

What’s your favorite hometown adventure? ...and, almost as important, where’s your favorite spot to get a beer after?
There's a lot of great hiking trails around Bellingham which makes it hard to choose a favorite but the Oyster Dome is always a great hike, anywhere that I can set up a Hammock with some friends is good enough for me though. Bellingham is the city of subdued excitement and we like to keep it pretty chill, theres a lot of great dive bars downtown and more importantly so many great breweries which makes it hard to pick. Wander Brewing and Kulshan Brewing are probably two of my favorite!

What’s your essential gear that never gets left at home?
I never leave home without my trusty Canon 6D, as an aspiring photographer I find it helpful to always have a camera with me to make sure and capture the best moments and gain more experience! Another great adventure item is my Eno Hammock which is easy to set up and have a spot to relax.

What’s your favorite trail snack?
You cant go wrong with a big bag of trail mix, I honestly love to snack while i'm hiking and trail mix is probably one of the easiest snacks out there.

Any go-to soundtracks when you’re hitting the road?
Jessica by the Allman Brothers is probably the ultimate road trip song and I try to play it at least once on every trip.

What’s the scariest thing that’s ever happened while you were adventuring? And/ or funniest?
I had a close encounter of the third kind while backpack camping in Kauai which was pretty scary and amazing at the same time. A couple years ago some buddies and I were backpacking in the Tetons and had to battle a porcupine that tried to attack our tent in the middle of the night, and after having had a few beers this turned into a pretty epic standoff.

Who’s your number one adventure partner-in-crime? Who inspires you?
My roommate and I have been on some pretty epic road trips together, but I like to travel with anybody, if the opportunity presents itself to go somewhere amazing i'm always on board. You have to seize those opportunities.

What are your top destinations for adventure travel?
The pacific northwest is home to some of the most beautiful landscapes in the US. Whether its sandy beaches in Oregon or tall mountain peaks in the North Cascades of Washington I never have to look far to find somewhere to go.

What’s on the top of your must-do adventure list right now?
Iceland! Which i'm pretty sure is on the top of everyone's adventure to do list. Everything about this country calls my name and I hope to get there in the next year or two.

Show us your most memorable photo, and tell us about it!
My most memorable photo was taken the first time I visited Kauai, I think that this photo was probably the first really good photo that I ever took which made me want to continue to pursue photography and travel. Once you visit places like this its hard to go home and go back to your day job or school, this experience definitely made me think about what kind of life I want to have and I hope to see many more places like this in my lifetime.

And last but not least…What’s your personal motto?
People spend a lot of time planning their lives out and thinking about all the things they want to do, see, and accomplish. While I believe that this is an important aspect of humanity, I think it's even more important to act upon those plans. I'd rather be broke and rich in life experience than vice versa.