Hi, I’m Lindsay Welbers.
I’m the voice behind Third Coast Hikes. I started this blog shortly after I went on my first backpacking trip in 2017. Part of my motivation was so that I would have a place to post photos and notes from my own trips, and part of the reason was because I couldn’t find an ultralight blog focused on where I live.
I have lived my whole life in Illinois. I grew up in Central Illinois, outside Spring Valley, on 100 acres of second-growth woodland. I spent summers jumping fences, climbing trees, examining wildflowers and exploring the creeks that ran through my backyard. In 2006 I moved to Chicago to attend Columbia College, where I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in journalism. I moved to Chicago permanently in 2010 and have worked as a journalist, writer and nonprofit fundraiser since then.
Backpacking is the best way I have ever found to connect with nature since I moved away from the woods, but it’s not the easiest thing to do in Chicago. Not impossible, just not simple. Connecting with nature is valuable to every person, especially in urban areas. Most days in Chicago I can get along just fine without a car, but having one makes it easier to access hiking trails and nature preserves. My car is a 1994 Ford Thunderbird, which is both awesome and impractical. It’s not getting any younger, and I don’t want to buy a new car. I do, however, want to keep visiting nature long after the day my car stops running.
In late 2019 I sat down to figure out what hiking trails and natural spaces I could visit using just the transit system Chicago is blessed to have. In my research I found dozens of places to connect with nature, that anyone can visit using just our transit system. That became my first book “Chicago Transit Hikes: A guide to getting out in nature without a car” which was released through Belt Publishing in May 2020.
Today I am a freelance writer, editor, naturalist, gardener, and green transit advocate living on Chicago’s Northwest side. Most days you can find me in my backyard, hiking in the Cook County Forest Preserves, or biking throughout the city.
Check me out on Instagram @ThirdCoastHikes, where I post pictures of the natural world I see around me; or you can find me on Twitter @WritingWelbers where mostly I yell about how we need more bike lanes.