Moon Pacific Northwest Hiking

Craig Hill’s passion for the outdoors started as a child when his dad routinely dragged him away from the TV and took him to explore the mountains, forests and beaches of Washington. After studying writing at Washington State University, he turned down an opportunity to attend graduate school at the University of Missouri to work as a sportswriter. But even as he covered some of the biggest events in sports, he couldn’t shake his desire to be in the mountains. So, in 2004, he strapped on his old hiking boots and walked away from a promising career and took over as the outdoor writer for The News Tribune in Tacoma.

Today, he has a strong track record in Washington’s outdoor community. The National Park Service honored him in 2011 for his contributions at Mount Rainier National Park. Craig serves as the outdoor sports chairman for the Tacoma-Pierce County Sport Hall of Fame and lives in Puyallup, Washington.

Matt Wastradowski is a travel and outdoors writer based in Portland, Oregon. Whether on assignment or just for fun, chances are good he’s doing something that deepens his passion and enthusiasm for the Beaver State and the broader Pacific Northwest. In recent years, he has visited nearly 150 breweries and cideries, hiked hundreds of miles, and driven roughly 20,000 miles around Oregon. He’s camped in tents, yurts, and fire lookouts. And he’s spent countless hours exploring seemingly every backcountry road this state has to offer, often with no bars on his iPhone.

Matt has written more than 100 articles for numerous publications, including RootsRated, REI’s Co-op Blog, and Northwest Travel & Life.