This is not a brand
I started By Land as a way to document my journey in the outdoors and share what I learn along the way.
When I hit “publish” on my first By Land webpage in 2015, I had one goal in mind: to bring a sense of realness to the outdoors by sharing a true account of my experiences.
I was falling headlong into backpack hunting at the time, learning everything I could to survive a few nights in the woods on my own, and finding that most of what was available online was nothing but over-glamorized stories of the outdoors where everything was perfect all the time.
My journey was the opposite. I was failing more often than not, uncomfortable, and frustrated. In contrast to what the outdoor industry published, I was failing miserably. And then it hit me; what I was experiencing was what really happens out there.
Nothing is ever perfect; it never goes as planned, and yet somehow, everyone I read or watched was hell-bent on telling everyone how awesome it all is by omitting the failures, dark moments of self-doubt, and anything that would taint their reputations—unless, of course, those dark moments make themselves look good.
So, I started a blog.
I had no idea what I was doing or what it would become, but I needed a creative outlet and wanted to tell the full story of adventures in the outdoors—the good, the bad, and the ugly—because to me, anything less than honest was a disservice to the whole idea of “adventure” in the first place.
No true adventure starts out great, goes perfectly, and ends without a scratch. If it did, it wouldn’t be an adventure, yet for some reason, everyone is afraid to tell it how it really is. I promised myself from day one that no matter what, I would share it all with the hope that you would understand that you can’t have the good without the bad. Failing is where the learning happens, so why not share it with those willing to listen?
By Land isn’t a guidebook or a polished version of outdoor life. I do my best to keep it honest, real, and unfiltered. Whether things go perfectly or completely fall apart, I share it all.
My hope is that you can take something from my experiences, make them your own, and have a better adventure because of it.
A bridge between communities
Part two of my hope for By Land was to break down silos between outdoor communities. Far too often, we divide ourselves by activity—hikers, hunters, backpackers, climbers, and whatever else —as if we don’t share common ground, both literally and figuratively. I am a hybrid outdoorsman myself, but when I launched By Land, a close friend told me that, for it to be successful, I had to pick a niche and not intermix it with anything else. He told me it would never work if I wrote about hunting and general backpacking at the same time because those two communities are not the same.
F That!
I AM those two communities embodied in one person, and more so, why limit myself? I hunt, I backpack, I thru-hike, I day-hike, and yes, I even car camp because I enjoy the outdoors in whatever form it is available. On the surface, we may look different and do different things; however, we all share the same foundation and a love for the outdoors.
Regardless of how we adventure, we’re all drawn to the same things: the call of adventure and a connection to something bigger than ourselves.
By Land isn’t about focusing on how you do the thing you do in the outdoors; it’s about why you do it in the first place.
It’s the why that bridges the gap and allows us to understand each other better. The more I learn from other outdoor communities, the more I learn about my own and the better I become at what I do. You never know what may happen. You might just start out hunting and end up hiking the PCT…
Thanks for being here.
-Emory, By land
About Me
How it Started
I was 29 years old when my backpacking journey began.
I had hunted deer and elk off and on in the fall since I was a kid, but never very far from the trailhead and always just for the day. As I approached my thirties, I found myself tired of my own status quo. I wanted more—more space, more adventure, more silence. So, I turned my attention to hunting from a backpack, as far from a trailhead and busy roads as possible.
That year, I spent my first night in the backcountry—I had a mixed bag of gear, some right, some wrong, but nevertheless, I had found what I was looking for and came away hooked and eager to learn more. There was only one problem—I had to figure it out on my own.
There was no one to guide me, point me in the right direction, or teach me the dos and don’ts of backpacking. Information on the internet was sparse, and YouTube hadn’t yet taken off, so I was left to my own devices, scouring blogs and talking to the “experts” in my local outdoor stores.
I learned everything firsthand through trial and error. I made many mistakes along the way, but had found the adventure I was hoping for.
The Pacific Crest Trail
I was only two years into my passion for backpacking when the idea of long-distance backpacking came into view. I was blown away by how thru-hikers could cover thousands of miles in a single summer and wanted to know why, so I began studying them. Deep diving the world of thru-hiking led me down a new path and on April 10, 2017, I found myself standing at Southern Terminus of the Pacific Crest Trail, looking north toward Canada, 2,650 miles away.
The PCT began as an epic adventure, but ended as so much more. It became a kind of personal pilgrimage and taught me more about myself in five months than I had learned in over thirty years. As a backpacker, it completely shifted my perspective of what backpacking is and isn’t. Thru-hiking had a way of simplifying everything I was doing by forcing me to be efficient with my mind, body, and gear.
By the time I reached Canada, I felt a kind of freedom I had never known in the backcountry. I was no longer bothered by the unknowns, the gear, or the “what ifs.” Instead, my mind was free to focus on myself and the experience.
The freedom and confidence I gained on the PCT shaped how I approached every adventure going forward. I took what I learned about efficiency and applied it to everything I did, and it was a game-changer.
Backcountry Dad Life
Less than a year after my hike, I became a Dad. As I held my little girl for the first time, I promised her I’d make the outdoors a central part of our family’s life. She deserved to feel what I felt, earn her own confidence, and feel at peace in nature.
That promise meant finding ways to make the outdoors easy and accessible. That led us to one of the best decisions we’ve ever made—we bought a camper van, our getaway vehicle to the outdoors. It was a big purchase, but we’ve never regretted a single penny spent.
That van has been one of the greatest blessings to our family, filled with memories that will live rent-free in our hearts forever.
Two years later, we welcomed our second daughter into the family and made the same promise—to give her the space to run, explore, and discover who she is through nature as much as possible.
Getting kids outside isn’t always easy, but it’s one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done.
Backpacking changed my life once, and now, as a Dad, I get to experience it all over again—this time through my daughters' eyes. I don’t know exactly where this journey will take us, but we’ll do our best to be out there, learning, exploring, and growing together.
The Trail Provides
If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that the trail provides. It breaks you down, builds you up, and somehow always gives you exactly what you need—right when you need it most.
Maybe your backcountry story starts with a simple walk on a local trail, eventually leading to you standing on a mountaintop one day. You never know what’s possible or where the trail will take you—but I do know this: None of it happens if you don’t take that first step.
Find what pulls you in, do that, and see where it leads. One thing is for sure: You’re going to find places inside you that you never knew existed and some truly great people along the way.
I have no idea where my journey will take me—but when I find out, you’ll be the first to know.
Behind the Name
Circa 1804
So why the name By Land? Great question, let me explain.
Long before I bought a domain and published my first blog post, I was obsessed with the story of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Their journey into the unknown across North America fascinated me from the onset and the more I read, the more obsessed I became. So much so that I began reading their unedited journals, finding little unknown moments frozen in time, mentioned somewhere between the monotonous entries describing daily life and celestial observations.
I read so many of their first-person accounts that I began to hear their individual voices playing out clearly in my mind, could understand the differences in tonality, and often hear what was, to me, a humorous entry from time to time. Their obscure entries humanized them, and I found myself in awe of what the Corps of Explorers endured, from the Captains and their enlisted personnel on down to York (a slave) and Sacajawea.
To this day, I am still passionate about their story, and if you ever make the mistake of asking me what I think about Lewis and Clark, do so warned because I promise you’ll never hear the end of it (try me).
I first read the words “by land " during one of my personal study sessions. When I did, I knew right away that By Land would become the name of this whole project. It was perfect.
William Clark was responsible for mapping the Missouri River and would often describe the happenings of the day. For months on end, they traveled up the Missouri River to its headwaters, until they had to travel overland through the Rocky Mountains.
During one of these overland daily descriptions, Clark ended his entry with something to the effect of “traveled 19 miles today, by land.” And there it was. I don’t recall the exact entry, but those words “by land” struck me as the perfect phrase to describe what this whole adventuring thing is about.
To travel by land in search of adventure, experience, and new findings, whatever they might be. Maybe it’s a personal goal, a sunset, a mountain summit, or a quiet place to make camp for the night. Whatever it is, we must travel by land to find it, and I believe it’s the land that connects us all.
And now you know.
-Emory, by land