Meet Kamryn, one of the viral social media stars currently on the PCT. Photo: Kamryn Renae//screenshot
Currently, hundreds of hikers are sending the 2,650-mile journey that is the Pacific Crest Trail, but one of them has emerged as the viral face of the 2026 season. Kamryn Renae has differentiated herself from other thru-hikers by unashamedly doing things her own, unconventional way: trekking in hot pink short-shorts, wearing makeup, poking fun at her lack of preparation for the grueling adventure, and….last but not least, paying for her travels by posting adult content on OnlyFans.
Now, adding to her trail fame, Renae has been profiled by Interview Mag and Outside less than 50 days into her walk from Mexico to Canada — explaining her skin care routine and her life story that includes working at Wendy’s, living in her Subaru, and a mushroom trip in Brazil that inspired her to do the PCT.
“Civilization has separated us from the Earth, which is weird, because we’re part of Earth,” Renae told Outside of her experience on the trail. “This seems very natural, but it’s weird because it’s not how we’ve been civilized.”
Renae, 22, originally from Ohio, has amassed an online following of 159,000 on Instagram, 48,000 YouTube subscribers, and paying admirers on OnlyFans, whom she says have allowed her to live a life of “freedom” and “control.”
Posting videos of herself smelling trees, complaining about dirt and tan lines, and putting on makeup, Renae admits that people she meets on the trail judge her for her career choice – namely making adult content. “All of a sudden their opinion of me completely changes,” she said in one video. But she also notes that her new fame has brought much-needed income and allowed her to buy new gear that’s, of course, pink.
She posts videos in bathtubs on her off days, giving her audience at least the illusion that she is nude, speaking in a high-pitched, flirty voice. In her interview with Outside, the author said her normal voice is far more confident and “strong-willed” than her playful voice on social media feeds, implying that she is not as “air-headed” as her social media haters may believe, but more carefully curating an online persona that has proven successful.
“I’m just letting different parts of myself exist,” she said. “Both are real.”
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Renae’s social media comments are a polarizing mix of support and hate, with some naysayers betting that she won’t finish the trek. But she doesn’t shy away from acknowledging her unpreparedness, owning it as part of her impulsive, whimsical personality that brought her to the PCT in the first place.
She told her followers that she didn’t know she needed a bag for her tent poles, instead wrapping them in the tent itself, causing numerous perforations. She didn’t pack sunscreen, getting roasted with minimal skin covering, saying that it was in the spirit of going “ultralight.” Before the PCT, she had never done more than a day hike. And, in the Outside profile, she admitted she had no idea what was ahead on the trail, saying that she hadn’t “even googled the Sierra Nevada yet.”
But Renae, who travels with a knife that has a fittingly pink heart and the word “love” on the handle, says she is aware of the risks, and insists the go-with-the-flow attitude is just part of who she is.
“People think I’m ignorantly blissed, but I’m aware that there are things that could happen,” she said. “But you could be someone who lives inside all day, never goes outside, or you could be someone who goes and does the craziest stuff, and things could just happen. Life is very short, and I want to do something that makes me feel excited, fulfilled, alive.”
Even without the outdoors experience, Renae has turned out to be a strong hiker, consistently logging 25-mile days. When Renae spoke with Outside, she was on a trail break in Tehachapi, California, 566 miles from Mexico — more than a fifth of the trail behind her.
She says she’s learning the tricks of hiking, like wearing sunscreen, hiking at night to avoid the desert heat, and not rolling poles inside her tent.
While she insists that she’s going to keep painting her nails pink and wearing makeup, she’s bent on making it to Canada.
“I want to finish and that’s my goal,” she said in Interview Mag. “But at the same time I also really like to emphasize the journey.”
