Explorer Spotlight: Rob Witt

Name: Rob Witt | Age: 27 | Location: Salt Lake City, UT

What’s your day job?
I work with pixels as a graphic and UI/UX designer for Lucidsoftware.

What are your favorite things to do outside?
I love hiking, backpacking, camping, climbing, and photographing my outdoor adventures.

What first drew you to the outdoors?
Ever since I was a little kid I loved being outside, exploring new places, and starring up at the stars while camping.

What’s your favorite hometown adventure? ...and, almost as important, where’s your favorite spot to get a beer after?
Living in Salt Lake means you are so close to dozens and dozens of great hikes and climbs. A few of my favorite go-to adventures include Red Pine Lake up Little Cottonwood Canyon, Lake Blanche up Big Cottonwood Canyon, or hiking Mt. Timpanogos. After a day of hiking, climbing, backpacking, or skiing up one of those canyons you should stop by the Porcupine Grill (located at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon). The Porcupine Grill has a wide variety of tasty grub from brunch to dinner, and if you are looking for a cold one after a long or a short day--they have a large selection of local beers on tap.

What’s your essential gear that never gets left at home?
I always bring my camera along--you never know when that awesome light is going to show up.

What’s your favorite trail snack?
Dried mangos, or cajun style trail mix.

Any go-to soundtracks when you’re hitting the road?
I have currently been on an audiobook kick the last year or so... But a few of my go-to soundtracks include Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, and anything by Pretty Lights.

What are your top destinations for adventure travel?
Living in Utah has it's perks of being close to so many incredible locations: I am a huge fan of the many National Parks surrounding Utah, a few of my favorite places to backpack and explore include Arches National Park, Zion's National Park, Grand Teton National Park, and Grand Canyon National Park.

What’s on the top of your must-do adventure list right now?
I have wanted to backpack through Patagonia for years, or explore Iceland and witness the northern lights in person.

Show us your most memorable photo, and tell us about it!
This is a tough one--I consider Salt Lake and the surrounding mountains home, so I will include a few of my favorite local places to explore that I previously mentioned.



On the left is Mt. Timpanogos with some brightly colored indian paintbrush (which is my favorite wildflower for those of you who wanted to know). This photo is one of my favorites because of this picturesque location including all of the colorful wildflowers and alpenglow on the summit of Mt. Timpanogos. Mt. Timpanogos is a classic hike along the Wasatch Mountains because throughout the hike you experience a great range of environments from dense aspen forests, to cascading waterfalls, to lush high alpine meadows, to treeless rocky summits with commanding views. On the right is the frozen Red Pine Lake, which is beautiful any time of the year you visit it. White Baldy is the impressive peak with the remnants of the last light of the day. Red Pine Lake is very rewarding and worth exploring.



This photo was taken near Lake Blanche which is another one of my go-to places to adventure. This hike is just far enough way you can glimpse the milky way on a clear night.

And last but not least…What’s your personal motto?
I'm stealing this one from Mr. Muir, "The mountains are calling and I must go." A classic and probably over-used, but it really is so true.

Check out more of Rob's adventures here.