We are so excited to announce Amy Villella as one of the newest members of the HEST Family! As the Senior Accountant for HEST, she has a passion for adventure, exploring the outdoors, and bringing her dog Shasta along for the ride. Oh, and a great night's sleep.
As a proper HEST introduction, here is Amy’s HEST Nest set up!
Home Base: Portland, OR
Set Up: Depends on the situation! I car camp both in my Subaru Forester and with our 4-person tent, and then I also backpack quite a bit.
Favorite Camp Spot: A couple of my favorites are around Mt. Hood, the Wallowas (OR), and the Sawtooths (ID).
HEST products: (2x) HEST Foamy, Camp Pillow& Dog Bed
Most beautiful place you’ve ever woken up?
Backpacking near Broken Top in the Three Sisters Wilderness, woke up to the most beautiful sunrise!
Who’s in your adventure squad?
My partner Hans & my dog Shasta.
Advice for first time campers?
Get out there and give it a try! You will make mistakes and forget things, but that's how you learn and it gets easier every time.
On your weekend adventure, what is the gear set up you bring with you? What do you like most about your set up?
I'm probably bringing my Big Agnes Bunk House tent, my HEST Foamys & Camp Pillows, a few Rumpl blankets, my Kelty camp chairs, and a camp kitchen setup. We used to car camp with our backpacking tent, but recently upgraded to be a bit more luxurious when the car is so close. I love how spacious a bigger tent is for the 3 of us and the fact that I sleep nearly as good as I do at home! I also like to go all out cooking delicious meals when I'm car camping so the full camp kitchen setup is a must for me.
Any upgrades or improvements you’re planning for your set up?
I would love to get a pop-up tent and another larger table so our hang out situation can be even better. We camped at the Telluride Blues & Brews last September and took a lot of notes of the awesome camping setups people had, so we have some ideas from being there!
What’s the one creature comfort you can’t camp without?
Coffee is always a necessity while car camping.
What do you look for in a campsite?
Secluded, an alpine lake to take a cold dip in, and some mountain views.
Best camp meal?
When backpacking, we are obsessed with the Backpacker's Pantry Pad Thai. While car camping, I love to make either some kind of stir fry or tacos!
Worst night of sleep while camping?
Last summer while backpacking in WA, my dog got into something that upset her stomach on the trail. So she woke me up every 1-2 hours all night to go to the bathroom. At around 5am, after getting barely any sleep, she started to gag and in my haste of shoving her out of the tent and moving my blanket out of the way, her nails sliced through my sleeping pad and it immediately deflated. It left about a 8in horizontal cut in it that was impossible to fix with the small circular patch I had with the pad. So I ended up leaving the tent and trying to sleep on a smooth rock nearby as the sun was rising. Needless to say, it was a pretty rough night of sleep but something I can look back and laugh at now. The joys of backpacking with a dog!
Any special camp traditions?
Anytime we are camping at a lake, we have to go jump in no matter how cold it is. This has become such a tradition now, that while we were backpacking in the Sawtooths, it was how my partner proposed!
What’s your next camping adventure?
Nothing specific planned at the moment, but most likely camping at a Sno-Park in my Subaru up at Mt. Hood to avoid the early morning drive before snowboarding!
Our mission at HEST is to bring the comfort of home to the outdoors, enabling more people to chase adventure and enjoy the great outdoors. We understand that getting outside can be intimidating… between the bugs, an overwhelming amount of gear options, and the dread of sleeping poorly. The good news is: sleeping well makes all the difference and you don’t need a luxury RV, camper or tricked out rig to make that happen. All you need is a comfortable place to lay your head.
To celebrate the simplicity of getting outdoors with your family, friends or by yourself, we present “HEST Nests” a new blog category featuring unique camping set ups and tricks to creating a cozy nest in the woods from people who are out there doing it.
If you would like your camping set up featured on HEST Nests, please send us info and images to info@hest.com
