About Me
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Here's the scoop…
I
grew up in Madison, Wisconsin and, like most there, acquired
a taste for custard and bratwurst at an early age. As a
kid I spent a lot of time outside, exploring the woods near
our house and fishing or swimming at the beach. In 1982
my parents purchased a couple hundred acres of undeveloped
land in an area of western Wisconsin known as the Kickapoo
Valley - unique because it is the only area of the state
that was not covered with glaciers during the last ice age
and as a result is much more rugged and hilly than the rest
of the state. On weekends we often drove out to the land
to camp out under the stars, canoe the Kickapoo River, climb
on the nearby limestone bluffs, and track deer and wild
turkey in the woods
Growing up I was also active in scouts and
earned my Eagle Scout award when I was freshman in high
school. Our troop was fairly ambitious and we managed to
go camping at least one weekend per month all year long.
Each summer we would spend a couple weeks at camp in northern
Wisconsin or New Mexico.
As I grew older I began venturing further
north in search of moose and wolves; to Chequamegon National
Forest, the Lake Superior Hiking Trail, Isle Royale National
Park, and Canada.
In
the fall of '93 I began studying at Carleton College, a
small liberal arts school (1600 students) located in a cold
Minnesotan cornfield. At Carleton I majored in visual art,
played varsity basketball, and took additional courses in
art history, south Asian studies, environmental science
and anthropology. During my junior year I spent four months
in Nepal on a study abroad program where I learned to speak
Nepali, lived with a local family, trekked in the Himalaya
(to 18,500 ft. and Everest Base Camp), and spent countless
hours looking for the elusive yeti...
Over the summers I returned to northern New
Mexico to work as a wilderness instructor at Philmont Scout
Ranch, leading groups of students on 12-24 day backpacking
trips in the Sangre de Christo mountains. At that time I
also began exploring more of the west, including two trips
to Alaska and numerous spring backpacking trips to the canyons
of Colorado, Utah, and Arizona. In the summer of '96 after
finishing work at Philmont I flew to Anchorage and spent
the next six weeks driving from Alaska to Carleton by way
of the Canadian Rockies, arriving just hours before the
start of my first class. On second trip I traversed the
Alaska Range and encountered seven grizzlies during an extended
backpacking trip in Denali National Park.
These experiences were all very meaningful
to me and I was beginning to feel an intimate and visceral
connection to the western landscape. So when I graduated
from Carleton in the spring of '97 I immediately packed
my belongings into a small trailer and began journeying
west with the vague idea of hiking the Pacific Crest Trial
and exploring the Sierra. While many of my friends were
deliberating over which medical schools to apply to, I was
pouring over maps trying to decide which wilderness area
I would visit first.
I have been living in Oakland for almost four
years now and have divided my time between backpacking and
painting, spending time with my girlfriend (Whitney) and
walking my puppy (Asa). This past year, in addition to running
my own small graphic/web design business, I have worked
for Cal Adventures and GOAPE as a backpacking instructor.
I am currently working on a large mural with a group of
eighth grade students at a middle school in Oakland.
In
the summer of '99 Whitney and I spent four months hiking
along the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mexican border in
southern California to Crater Lake in central Oregon (~1800
miles). Here's a shot of Whitney and me on top of Glen Pass
in the High Sierra (11,978 ft.). Click
here to see other photos from the trip. That was just
the beginning... On April 27th of this year I will set off
on another adventure along the Pacific Crest Trail. This
time I intend to walk the entire trail (2650 miles) over
a period of about five months.
As for the future? I am organizing a show
of recent paintings for early April, just before I leave
for the Pacific Crest Trail. I hope to begin graduate school
(MFA - Painting) in the fall of next year. I plan to hike
the Continental Divide Trail in 2003. And I have promised
myself that I will live in Alaska for at least one year
of my life, if not all of 'em....
I've also developed a separate website for
my artwork. You can view some of my paintings
and photographs
by visiting www.kipnuk.com.
My cousin Sam, who will be maintaining this site while I
am on the trail, is also an artist and has work on the site
as well.
Here's my puppy! She was actually named after
Asa Lake which is located on the PCT about 25 miles north
of Sonora Pass. She loves the woods and will occasionally
join me on the trail this summer but first has to learn
to stay away from rattlesnakes....
Also, I'm really tall (6'9") and I
don't play basketball anymore....
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