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2 weeks ago | 
hellostranger.substack.com | Maddy Marquardt
My first solo trip ever was here, almost seven years ago. Fresh out of college and car camping, I loitered around the northernmost point of mainland Michigan for a few days before heading back home.
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3 weeks ago | 
hellostranger.substack.com | Maddy Marquardt
Summer feels good this year, I can already tell. I’m busy in a way that I have a lot to look forward to. I have a lot of things figured out that I didn’t this time last year — a place I’m staying long-term. A job (or rather, a constellation of freelancing jobs) I plan to be with long-term. I’m not staring down the barrel of hundreds of guided trips and tent nights — not that that was necessarily a bad thing last summer. But I’m ready for something a little slower.
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1 month ago | 
hellostranger.substack.com | Maddy Marquardt
I’ve been logged off lately — between work and the weather getting nice, I’ve been spending most of my time outside of work reading, writing with a pen and paper and typing it up later, going for long walks or short runs, propagating my plants, and out on the water paddling! It feels like summer has really actually started and come next weekend I’ll be in full summer swing! I’ll be going part-time in my job at Paddling Magazine, making more time for some classic Midwest travel and focusing on...
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1 month ago | 
hellostranger.substack.com | Maddy Marquardt
My feet hit the pavement but all I can hear is the creak and grind of bones. My running shorts — old, last worn three years ago — cut into my sides. There’s a knot under my ribcage and I imagine my shoes wearing down against the pavement. I used to feel strong doing this, I remind myself. Now, my hair whips around my shoulders and catches in my mouth, too long to be practical. I look down and I hate the way my legs move, awkward and coltish, pale and slow.
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1 month ago | 
hellostranger.substack.com | Maddy Marquardt
We reached 90 degrees up on Lake Superior this week and it’s safe to say Midwest summer is HERE! Here are ten Midwest summer adventure ideas to add to your summer bucket list: The Pictured Rocks are probably best known as a sea kayaking destination, but personally I think it’s one of the best places to hike on Lake Superior! Here, you can find waterfalls that pour directly into Superior, perfect coves to swim in, and some of the coolest shoreline hiking views to be found on the Lake! READ: A...
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1 month ago | 
hellostranger.substack.com | Maddy Marquardt
There is nothing that beats the feeling of getting to the car after backpacking. Except maybe the first bite of a burger at a bar two towns over. After backpacking theNeedles District of Canyonlands,Sarah and I spent a few days exploring Moab. Here are my scattered and arbitrary thoughts from a few days bumming around the desert:There is something absolutely magic about water hikes in the desert. Red rock all around you, and then you get to put your feet in an ice-cold mountain run off? Unreal.
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1 month ago | 
hellostranger.substack.com | Maddy Marquardt
I met Sarah in the Grand Canyon last year when I taped her feet for blisters. Two two of us backpacking the Havasu Falls Trail, Sarah, Aubree and I all met on Instagram planning the hike together. Permit-wise it shook out that Sarah and her partner hiked in the day before Aubree and I. When we all finally met at the bottom of the canyon we chatted for about ten minutes, then Sarah and her partner hiked out. I spent another day in the Canyon with Aubree, hanging around the Havasu Falls Trail.
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2 months ago | 
hellostranger.substack.com | Maddy Marquardt
It’s a crowded trail but the stranger decides to follow me anyways, which is unusual. Alarming. How do you know the stranger was following you Maddy? I know. He sees me coming down the hill and pauses, making small talk with an older couple, who are keen to get away from him. He watches me walk down. My spine prickles, but it seems silly to turn around and walk back to my car just a hundred yards into a hike so I don’t. Maybe I’m overreacting. He talks loud, so I can hear him, wanting me to notice.
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2 months ago | 
hellostranger.substack.com | Maddy Marquardt
Itâs that time of year again! Time to start planning your local & budget-friendly adventures because youâre broke and thrifty! Lucky for you, the Midwest is full of unique adventures and some of the best State Parks in the country. Here are five parks to add to your summer list:Tettegouche State Park is easily the best state park in Minnesota for hiking, waterfalls, campsites and views.
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2 months ago | 
hellostranger.substack.com | Maddy Marquardt
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I swore. A clump of wet, sandy mud fell out of my sleeping bag and onto the ground through my open car door. I sat huddled on a makeshift bed in my Subaru while it poured rain outside with the car door cracked trying to clean off the mud I had just tracked in. In vain, of course. All I was doing was further exposing my bedding to the elements. Night two of what was supposed to be a two week solo road trip, and already my sleeping bag has mud in it.