Daily Inspiration: Meet Cris Hazzard

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cris Hazzard.

Hi Cris, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I wasn’t a kid with an outdoor family that hiked and traveled to National Parks; I got into the outdoors later in life. I quickly burned out at my first job out of college, a corporate gig with long hours and lots of travel.

I had been reading quite a bit about the outdoors then and decided to take a Native American skills class where you live in the forest with nothing but a knife. It changed my life. I realized I didn’t need money to survive; nature provided abundance and security. I just needed to reconnect.

From there, I got into other jobs and adventures, but I knew enough to integrate nature into my life, including hiking and camping. It wasn’t always a perfect balance, but I knew I had the trails there when needed.

Eventually, I found myself in LA, opening an office for a digital marketing agency in which I was a partner. I devoured as many hikes and trails as possible in the incredibly diverse area around LA and the Sierras.

Friends and co-workers would visit and ask for directions on hikes, like Mt Baldy, and I would share simple step-by-step directions in an email. I realized others could benefit from the directions too, so I posted them online. From there, the website grew organically; I posted more hike guides and expanded to share how-tos for outdoor skills and technology. I started creating video guides on YouTube. I became an outdoors guide, leading others on outdoor hikes throughout Southern California.

Shortly before COVID hit, I left the world of digital marketing to pursue creating guides full-time. Today I am focusing on creating guides that make the outdoors accessible for everyone, regardless of skill level. The trails are a treasure for everyone to enjoy.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I don’t have a team to create the guides, so it’s just me. My intent to continually evolve and improve the guides means learning new skills is a full-time endeavor. Over the years, I’ve learned how to create a custom website theme, write content that follows Google’s best practices, shoot videos, color grade, edit, and do motion graphics. There’s been a lot to learn, and adding another skill to the quiver feels good.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
There are lots of hiking guidebooks, blogs, and YouTube channels out there, and I think my niche is that I focus on being down-to-earth and practical. My trail guides focus on what one needs to know to hike safely: where the turns are, what you need to bring, and when the best time to do a hike is. Instead of deep diving into specs and details, I present topics like outdoor technology and skills from a hands-on perspective. I aim to have everyone feel confident in the content after watching one of my videos or reading a guide.

We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
I want to get more people out into nature. The more folks get on trails, the more advocates there will be for the outdoors and the Earth. And this bottom-up approach hopefully translates to awareness and appreciation when it comes time to take actions like voting.

Contact Info:

• Website: HikingGuy.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/HikingGuy_com/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Hikingguy

Image Credits
HikingGuy.com