I Love The Outdoors Interview #17 – James Willamor

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I Love The Outdoors Interview #17 – James Willamor


There are so many nice bloggers, YouTubers, podcasters, and photographers on the market creating superb out of doors content material each day.

Not solely did I need to personally get to know them higher, however I additionally needed to discover their out of doors influences and keenness for nature.

Thus, we’ve launched the I Love The Outdoors Interview Series.

If you have an interest in taking part within the collection, please contact us and tell us!

James Willamor

Roan Highlands, Appalachian Trail, North Carolina James Willamor interview
Roan Highlands, Appalachian Trail, North Carolina

1. Tell us a bit of about your self. 

I’m 43 years previous and I’ve spent most of my life residing in North Carolina.

I’ve two children who typically be part of me on my climbing and tenting adventures.

2. What is your favourite out of doors exercise?

I favor tenting barely greater than climbing. I like simply sitting and having fun with nature and letting it clear my thoughts.

We typically don’t discover how a lot noise there may be in our on a regular basis life, from the hum of machines to distant highway noise.

Nothing beats falling asleep to the sound of frogs and bugs chirping, the flowing of the creek, and the barking of the coyotes.

3. Where is your favourite path?

Tinker Cliffs, Appalachian Trail, Virginia James Willamor interview
Tinker Cliffs, Appalachian Trail, Virginia

My favourite path total is the Appalachian Trail.

I’ve hiked and backpacked on it since my early 20s, and nonetheless there may be a lot to find.

Snow-covered balds, the blooms of early spring, summer season thunderclouds cresting the ridgeline, the White Mountains in full Autumn colour.

4. Where is your favourite tenting spot?

My favourite tenting spot to this point is Twin Lakes, Colorado.

Camping in Twin Lakes, Colorado James Willamor interview
Camping in Twin Lakes, Colorado

The 13k footers towering over the lake in entrance of you, the snow-capped peak of Mount Elbert behind you.

The scent of sagebrush and the sound of hummingbirds. Plus, Twin Lakes is an enthralling path city on the CDT/Colorado Trail.

5. What was your first out of doors reminiscence as a child?

When I used to be in kindergarten my dad began taking me to camp and hike at an area state park.

Those had been a few of my favourite recollections with him.

I can nonetheless keep in mind the hiss of the previous Coleman lantern, the odor of espresso within the percolator, and the style of the very best scrambled eggs I’ve ever had.

6. Who was your greatest out of doors affect?

In 2019 I used to be feeling a bit melancholy about life and I began following a pair who had been friends-of-a-friend in my metropolis, Tina Currin and Grayson Currin, on Instagram as they hiked the Appalachian Trail.

I hadn’t been tenting or climbing in over a decade, but it surely rekindled my love for it and because the autumn of 2019 I’ve spent over 120 nights tenting and backpacking.

7. What was your all-time greatest tenting or climbing expertise?

In 2021 I spent two weeks tenting and climbing in Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas.

It was the primary time I’d actually traveled west of the Mississippi River, and I used to be enthralled by the vastness of the plains, the open rangeland, the peaks of the Rockies, the colours of the Chihuahuan desert, and Llano Estacado.

It’s just like the world turned a bit of bit larger to me.

8. Who is your favourite particular person to camp or hike with?

Backpacking to Lonesome Lake Hut, New Hampshire

Growing up it was my father who began taking me tenting steadily after I began Kindergarten, and now that he has handed, I take my ladies tenting typically.

I assumed it might be tough to do every week or two-week-long tenting journeys with children however they’re uniquely versatile in a manner adults typically discover tough.

I do often permit for sure conveniences reminiscent of tablets.

I could get pleasure from sitting at camp simply staring off into the gap for hours pondering the which means of existence, however I can settle for they’d fairly watch Bluey.

9. What is your favourite piece of drugs and why?

If espresso doesn’t rely as gear, then I suppose it’s a camp chair.

I’m not a high-millage hiker, however I’ll hike a long way to a lovely view after which wait hours to catch a sundown.

Since I like tenting greater than climbing I get pleasure from simply sitting and observing a campfire, a river, a sundown, or simply into the distant horizon.

All of those are made extra fulfilling perched atop a camp chair fairly than on a foam pad on the bottom.

10. What do you like concerning the outdoor?

Trappist monk Thomas Merton as soon as mentioned that no writing on solitude, “can say anything that has not already been said better by the wind in the pine trees.”

I might write 10,000 phrases on what I like concerning the outdoor and nonetheless come up in need of adequately describing the expertise itself.

11. What out of doors locations are in your bucket record?

It wasn’t till 2021 that I actually ventured west of the Mississippi River and it isn’t hyperbole to explain it as life altering.

I nonetheless have a lot to discover out west as I haven’t actually made it additional west than the center of NM, CO, and WY.

There’s a lot I need to discover however to slim it down; backpack the Wind River Range in Wyoming, overland in Monument Valley, Utah, and camp within the Arizona desert among the many saguaro cacti.

12. What is your purpose as an out of doors content material creator? How can we help you and the place can we discover your content material?

I’ve benefited vastly from studying about gear, methods, and out of doors locations from on-line content material creators, so I need to share a number of the locations, magnificence, and issues I’ve realized alongside the way in which.

The outdoor are for everybody so I hope what I create can encourage everybody to get pleasure from and be good stewards of the outside.

My Instagram account is @cicadaappreciationsociety and my YouTube channel is @CicadaAppreciationSociety

James Willamor thanks for the good interview and taking part within the I Love The Outdoors Interview Series!

If you have an interest in taking part and sharing your story, please contact us and tell us!

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