After a 6.5 years of instructing for Outward Bound, she discovered thru-hiking in the fall of 2008 when she spent a month on the Grand Enchantment Trail in New Mexico. In 2010 she completed the triple crown (PCT, CDT, and AT) in 18 months. During the summer of 2011 she and her partner, Adam Drummer, successfully hiked the Japhy Ryder Route, a 1200 mile route across California that Sage dreamed up.
2012 was a year for new adventures that included learning to bikepack during a 350 mile trip around the cascades, and domestic pursuits like canning vegetables and choosing paint colors for a new house (she finally moved out of the back of her truck!). In the summer of 2013 Sage teamed up with Oregon Natural Desert Association (ONDA) to hike their new route across eastern Oregon, the Oregon Desert Trail.
In July 2014 Sage hiked Bigfoot Trail, starting at the Ides Cove trailhead in her childhood mountains, the Yolla Bolly, and walking to Crescent City, searching for the 32 conifer species along the way.
Each spring and fall Sage works in the Mojave with Desert Tortoises. This annual work pattern of summer and winters mostly off allows her to maintain a migratory lifestyle while still being semi-settled. This work season is the main reason why Sage has hiked all of the trails “backwards” or in strange seasons.
In 2015, Sage and her husband Adam started working a spring season Desert Tortoise contract to help estimate the population of tortoises in the Mojave. Each day during March and April Sage & Adam get to wake up & walk a 12km square in random places throughout the California deserts, searching for tortoises. Someday, Sage will set out on another grand trail adventure, but for now is finding great satisfaction in walking for work.
