Meet the AZ Hikeaholics
Lauren & Owen
Hi There!
Thanks for wanting to learn more about us
Before we get into ourselves individually, let’s share a little bit about ourselves together. We met in 2019 on a dating app. We quickly bonded over our love for funny TV shows, like The Office, and sports. About a year after our first date, we started living together early into the pandemic. We had hiked together before the pandemic, but as things began to shut down and there was a lot unknown, we started to hike a lot more. It became almost every weekend on a trail around the Phoenix area. We quickly caught the outdoorsy bug as a couple and were always looking forward to our next adventure.
Two things kind of happened around the same time, Lauren was laid off at the start of the pandemic, and we wanted to share our hikes with a community that was interested in hiking. Thus, we created The AZ Hikeaholics Instagram account in April 2020 and shortly after created our online blog. Throughout our adventures and explorations, we quickly began to gain an appreciation for the outdoors far beyond what we knew possible.
Our passion has continued to grow and we want others to feel the same way. We love the outdoors, our National Parks, National Forest, wilderness lands, etc., and hope by sharing our experiences without gatekeeping public lands, that others will gain an appreciation like ours.
Furthermore, we also recognize the responsibility to promote safe and responsible recreation, especially to high-traffic and highly sensitive areas. We are strong believers in incorporating the Leave No Trace Principles into our posts and representing Appreciate AZ. Our content is often shared with details meant to help others prepare themselves and have a good plan for their trip. And whenever we can tie in history or connect historical events or features together, we love to do so.
If people aren’t enjoying nature, aren’t understanding its connection to history, and are unaware of the amazing geological and wildlife present today, they won’t care about preserving and protecting for future generations.
About Lauren
Hi, I’m Lauren! I’m originally from Cleveland, Ohio. I moved to Arizona in October of 2018. I graduated from grad school in May of 2018 and I wanted to move out of Ohio. Ideally, I wanted to go somewhere warm. I looked into Austin, Tampa, and Phoenix. My goal was Phoenix! My undergrad degree is in Journalism and Promotional Communication and my graduate degree is in Communication Theory and Methodology. After 6 months of interviews and rejections, I was about to give up. Then the phone rang and I received an offer in Phoenix. I packed my bags and a week later I drove out to Phoenix with my mom. She helped me settle into my new apartment before flying back to Cleveland.
Before moving to Arizona I didn’t hike or camp. I started with small hikes in the Phoenix area and in November of 2018 I adopted Finnick from a rescue. Even though he’s small I felt more comfortable hiking by myself with him. After 6 months I met Owen on Hinge and we quickly hit it off. We started to hike together and once the pandemic hit we found ourselves hiking every weekend. I was laid off at the height of the pandemic and it took me 6 months to find another job. I worked remotely at a marketing agency before I was laid off again in March of 2023. Luckily, I was already looking for a new job, and an hour after I was laid off I received a job offer from a small marketing agency with better pay! Today I am still working remotely as a Paid Media Manager at that small marketing agency.
Favorite Hike:
Grand Canyon Rim to Rim (North Kaibab to Bright Angel Trail)
Favorite national park service site:
This is tough because I love them all but Crater Lake National Park was amazing
Favorite Trip:
Channel Islands National Park
Favorite Gear:
North Face Brimmer Hat
Dream Trip:
Banff or Switzerland. Two places I really want to go!
Dream Gear
Not sure if this is gear…but a rooftop tent would be awesome!
About Owen
Hi! Owen here! I’m usually behind the camera because I’m clearly not the good looking one of The AZ Hikeaholics lol. I moved to Arizona with my parents when I was one year old in 1994 and consider myself from Arizona. I remember when the 101 was built and when Phoenix was the home of America West Airlines. It’s been fun to see Phoenix and Arizona in general grow! My younger brother was born here a few years later and still lives in the state along with my parents too.
I grew up playing competitive travel soccer and played in college at Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH. I loved playing and watching sports as a kid, and still do today. From a young age health and fitness became an important focus, especially because of its correlation to sports. In high school I’d hike Camelback Mountain with friends, and in college during the summer I’d get up really early and hike Camelback as fast as I could as part of my summer fitness training. At one point after returning to AZ after college, I lived very close to Piestewa Peak and would hike to the summit often.
Growing up, as a family we tried to camp at least once a year if our schedule allowed. My dad was an Eagle Scout in his youth and I feel very fortunate to have learned a lot from him over the years. My parents enjoyed being active and outdoors and it’s safe to say they definitely influenced me too! Additionally, I did an annual snowboarding trip with my uncle in Lake Tahoe and was fortunate to learn how to snowboard at a young age. I graduated with my degree in biology and today I work in technical recruiting for my full-time job.
Favorite Hike:
Rim to rim of the Grand Canyon
Favorite National Park Service site:
This is tough because I love them all but, Crater Lake National Park was amazing in the summer
Favorite Trip:
Kanab & Toroweap for Lauren’s Birthday
Favorite Gear:
Jeep Wrangler - made destinations more accessible
Dream Trip:
Visiting all the National Parks in Alaska
Dream Gear
Camper van to use when we feel like it, but not live out of full-time
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Meet The AZ Hikeaholics Best Friend: Finnick
I (Lauren) adopted Finnick in November of 2018 and he has been my hiking buddy ever since! We think he is a Chihuahua and Basenji Terrier mix, but we don’t know for sure since he is a rescue! Finnick instantly hit it off with Owen when they met in April of 2019. We love to bring Finnick with us on trips when we are able to. He loves to hike and explore with us and he might even be a better hiker than us.
Finnick’s name is inspired from the movie Zootopia. In the movie there is a Fennec fox named Finnick. He’s a minor character and a con artist, but he has big ears, a key characteristic of Fennec foxes. And when I first saw my Finnick, he was about six months old with really big ears compared to his body. He has since grown a little into his ears, but definitely still has those Chihuahua big ears. Besides hiking, Finnick loves to cuddle or lay on Owen’s lap, he’s a big fan of all human food but has big taste buds for eggs, cheese, salmon, and bacon. He loves to be chased by other dogs and loves to take long walks so he can sniff everything.
Leave No Trace Ambassadors
In 2023 we became Leave No Trace Ambassadors. As we grew in our outdoor journey we realized how important the Leave No Trace principles had become to us. Today, we love to use our account to help educate people on the seven principles, best practices, and bring general awareness to exploring outdoors in a responsible way. We believe there are a lot of people who don’t know about all the Leave No Trace principles and just aren’t aware of how impactful some actions are. Being able to spread the message with Leave No Trace is a true honor!
Want to Get In Touch?
Whether you’re a fellow adventurer like us or looking to create a partnership, we’d love to hear your thoughts. Please don’t hesitate to reach out!
