I rank Patagonia in my top three hiking destinations of the world alongside the Canadian Rockies and the European Alps. I first visited in April of 2018 with my sights on the infamous W-Trek but poor weather conditions so late in the season made the trek impossible. We spent a lot of time in Torres del Paine National Park driving around, taking short hikes and fighting the wind (and rain and snow). With the borders slowly opening up I returned this year (February/March 2022) with a vengeance. I solo hiked the back side of the O-Trek (blog coming soon) and then met up with my good friend Jess Dales to hike the W together.

Packing for international travel is never easy but packing for hiking, backpacking, free diving and having the ability to capture it all complicates things even more. On my recent two week trip to French Polynesia being streamline in my packing was essential and having a lightweight, compact camera was at the centre of this. I packed my Fujifilm X-T30 and four lenses (plus an extender) that allowed me to both have a. reach from 16-196mm (equivalent to 24-294mm on a full frame camera) all of which fit into a small camera cube for lightweight compact travel.

I didn’t grow up with a camera glued to my hand and some innate need to understand the mechanics of every electronic that crossed my field of vision - often I wish I did. I first picked up a camera in high school, I took photos with my friends doing silly things on an old point and shoot that sat in automatic mode until the day that it found its final resting place in a box in my parents’ basement. When I started to hike and travel I relied on the help from friends and my trusty cellphone to capture photos. I eventually purchased my first “big girl” camera in early 2017