Hello! My name is David and I am a backpacker, photographer and adventurer.

I was born and raised in China, in a city of metal and concrete. So I guess it’s human nature to long for things you can’t get. A few years after moving to Canada, I got my first taste of the outdoors in grade 10 when my local friends took me on a hike. I didn’t even know what a hike meant, I thought we were going to go walk in the woods or a city park, but oh boy I was in for a surprise.

We hiked a popular hike called Nahahi Ridge. Even though I thought I was going to either die of exhaustion or exposure the whole time, I was in love. I guess it’s about climbing up a mountain without stairs, tons of people in a conga lines, and old men selling ice cream out of carts. (Nothing against old men and especially nothing against ice cream :P)

So it was that yearning for freedom and beauty that kept me hiking. I am grateful for my friends that included me in many adventures. Those few years, I climbed to the top of many mountains; slept in a tent and backpacked for the first time; getting lost in the mountains for the first time. Those things kept me coming back. Even though I left Alberta to go to school in Ontario, my heart was always in Alberta and I moved back the first chance I got.

My passion for the outdoors escalated this year. The summer of 2017 was something to be remembered for me. It was the summer I literally spend every weekend in the mountains, hiking over 500km in the process. It was also the summer that I decided to pause my life to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, putting my life on hold.

I struggled to find an explanation why I sacrificed so much for those adventures and slowly I realized I can trace this back to a single point when I knew I would be forever chasing adventures.

I did not start slow when I got back into backpacking again after University, we decided to hike up to this wild and elusive place called Limestone Lake, bushwhacking our way through the untouched wilderness. That weekend the biggest adventure I have done by far and I realized what real adventures feel like. The moments of ecstatic beauty amplified by the hard work and the uncertainty are what will forever drive my life.

My first article is on that weekend that caused me to refocus my life, to redefine what adventures mean to me.

My next big adventure is an attempt to thru-hike the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) in March 2018. The PCT is a national scenic trail that starts from the border of Mexico and ends in Canada, crossing the US through California, Oregon and Washington.

I plan to do the PCT in support of ALS research. My co-worker Mike was diagnosed with ALS this year and this journey I will go through is in honour of Mike and everyone who suffers from ALS. Please check out the page Hike to Conquer ALS  to learn how you can make a pledge to help.

To learn more about ALS Here