Team Spotlight: McKenna

Who are you? Give us some outdoor highlights from your past

I’m McKenna, and I am really excited to be here at Minimal Gear!

From climbing trees in my backyard to joining my dad on camping trips in the Colorado mountains, growing up I always found a way to spend as little time inside as possible. My love for being outside stems from my parents, who are passionate about anything that gets them active and outdoors, particularly skiing, biking, and hiking. I was born in Colorado Springs but moved to Summit County right before 8th grade. Although I resisted the move and my parents at the time, living in Summit County was truly one of the best things that ever happened to me (thanks Mom and Dad!). My favorite outdoor activities include running, hiking, backpacking, camping, skiing (alpine and nordic), and biking, although I am always interested in a new adventure and will try anything that gets me active and outside!

I spend most of my time running. In 3rd grade, I started running competitively, and I never stopped! I ran cross country and track through high school, and then went to Montana State (go Cats!), where I ran one season of cross country and then switched to sprints halfway through my freshman year to be a 400m runner. After 5 years in Bozeman, I went to the University of Oregon to start my Master’s and to use my last year (a bonus, COVID year) of collegiate eligibility to run for the Ducks as an 800m runner. Now, I train in Portland with the Bowerman Track Club, and am still chasing my goals and dreams on the track! Despite being focused on track, I love to trail run, and try to get out to Forest Park whenever I can!

Tell us about a very memorable trip outdoors from the last few years

In the fall of 2023, I had potentially one of the best weekends of my life in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness of Washington exploring the Enchantments. Earlier that year, I had won backcountry camping permits for the Snow Zone during the early lottery. As any outdoor explorer knows, the weather can totally define the vibe of your adventure, and it is always a gamble for what the weather will look like when picking dates 7 months in advance. The year prior, our group had won permits for Stuart Lake, and that trip was almost entirely cold and rainy. The year after, we hiked the Enchantments, and it was snowing! However, we really hit the jackpot in 2023, because conditions during our 4 day trip could not have been more perfect. 

The larches were in peak color and every day was perfectly bluebird and unseasonably warm. As a photographer, this was a dream come true, and I took literally thousands of photos. We spent almost all of our time in the Core exploring, finding the perfect lunch spots, soaking in the sunshine on the rocks, making mountain margs, and cheering on Jared as he attempted to fish (and he did catch a couple!). It was truly a perfect weekend, and set an incredibly high bar for my future fall backpacking trips. 

We won Core permits for this year, and I could not be more excited to camp out at Leprechaun Lake and take a thousand more photos! Keeping my fingers crossed for good weather again 🤞

What do you do at Minimal Gear?

Photography, graphic design, and all things visual! I am responsible for shooting and editing all of our studio and lifestyle photos, designing any product brochures, catalogs, or flyers we need for events, updating the visuals on our website and other platforms, creating graphics, designing physical elements for events and trade shows, and more! If it’s visual, I probably had a hand in it!

What is a running project you are working on at the moment that no one knows about yet?

I am slowly working on building out a seasonal section of our photo library so that I can keep our website fresh with visuals that represent the time of year, and that get people excited to get out and enjoy whatever season it is! 

What is your favorite piece of gear that we make?

It may be because this is the first product I had a hand in launching, but my favorite product (or product line rather) is the Artist Series! I love art, graphic design, photography, and all things visual, so I just really appreciate the beauty and uniqueness of the Artist Series. I love that we are supporting artists like Katie Reim (who is one of my favorites and I have several pieces of art from!) and non-profits like Friends of the Colombia Gorge. I think this series is really exciting, and I am even more excited to be a part of it! 

What’s an interesting (or not-so-interesting) non-Minimal Gear factoid about yourself that is important to who you are as a person?

The most fun and unique fact I have about myself (aside from being a twin) is that I am a two-time national snowshoe racing champion! In 8th grade, I won the Snowshoe Racing National Championship in my hometown Frisco, Colorado. The next year, I competed at nationals again, in Bend, Oregon, and won again! After that, I decided to just focus on running and skiing during the winter and had an early retirement from snowshoe racing. Snowshoe racing is one of the hardest physical activities I have ever done, which is important to me as a person because I like to work hard and chase big goals.