About Clay

Clay Abney is a freelance outdoor and adventure travel writer living in the ‘wild and wonderful’ state of West Virginia. He enjoys trail running, mountain biking, backpacking, snowboarding, rock climbing, and traveling as often as possible. At 49 (the new 29), he still competes in multi-day adventure races and is always looking for his next great adventure. His big challenge this fall will include returning to the ultra scene by competing in a 50K Trail Race in November.

Over the last decade, he has written for various publications, both print and digital, and has reviewed outdoor gear ranging from underwear to outerwear, backpacks, sleeping bags, kayaks and mountain bikes.

Clay has traveled extensively and enjoys visiting off the beaten path destinations. He has kayaked among icebergs in Greenland, swam with penguins in Antarctica, backpacked in the Appalachians, Rockies and the Andes, sand boarded on the Nasca dunes, biked on the Aran Islands of Ireland and landed on Cape Horn. He is a firm believer in experiences over things and enjoys filling his passport with stamps from around the globe.

While he has rock climbed all over the United States, mountain biked in Moab, Utah, para-glided in the Dominican Republic, sea kayaked on four continents; his long term plans are to hike to Everest Base Camp and climb Mount Kilimanjaro.