“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
– Howard Thurman
Yitka has been writing since she was seven years old and has no intention of stopping anytime soon. She is an editor at REI, a contributing editor (formerly associate editor) at Trail Runner magazine, a running columnist for OutdoorsNW magazine, and a regular contributor to Gear Institute and the REI Co-op Journal. She is the author of a forthcoming hiking guidebook in Colorado (Helvetiq).
Her writing and photography have also appeared in Outside Online, Paste Magazine, Red Bull Adventure, iRunFar, RootsRated, Run the Alps, and Trail Run Project. She studied creative writing at Oberlin College, with some continuing education—part formal, part DIY—in web design and development.
When she’s not storytelling, she can be found running mountain trails, snowboarding, skate skiing, traveling, riding her Swiss Bob sled at high speeds, doing yoga, reading books, journaling, cooking, baking, drinking dark boozy beer, or striking up enthusiastic conversation with strangers.
She currently lives in the mossy, fern-laden paradise that is the Pacific Northwest.
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