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Suzie Dundas

Suzie Dundas is a professional editor, reporter, author, and travel writer based in Lake Tahoe. Her work focuses on adventure travel, the outdoors, and unexpected destinations around the world. She’s a frequent contributor to SFGate.com, where she reports on issues ranging from housing instability to the environmental impacts of tourism to how to hike to secret year-round skiing in the Sierra.

She’s also the commissioning editor at Matador Network, focused on millennial and Gen-Z travel. Her favorite stories are ones that combine travel, adventure, and off-beat angles, be it exploring ghost towns, scuba diving in cenotes, or backcountry treks to search for endangered pumas. She often takes photos to accompany her stories, and her photography has been published in magazines ranging from Outside to Skylife Magazine. In addition to travel, she covers shopping and gear reviews around travel, as well as gear relating to her favorite outdoor hobbies (i.e., basically every mountain sport).

She has undergraduate degrees from the University of Maryland and an M.A. from the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs. She’s also the author of “Hiking Lake Tahoe: a History and Trail Guide,” and a co-author on Lonely Planet’s “Sustainable Escapes.”

When not working, she prefers to spend her time mountain biking, scuba diving, or petting random dogs. She loves bar trivia, and her main career aspiration is to one day be successful enough to meet the threshold to compete on Celebrity Jeopardy.

Background

  • Topics of expertise: Outdoor gear, adventure travel, wildlife/eco-travel, mountain sports, scuba diving
  • Years of experience: Well, depends on how you look at it. I started hiking in middle school, but started writing outdoor gear descriptions for catalogues around 2014
  • Favorite topic to write about: Bigfoot
  • Favorite piece of gear you’ve ever tested: Anything from the brand FreeFly, and my cheap-o airplane foot hammock
  • Favorite travel destinations: Almost everywhere, but I spend a big chunk of each year in Squamish, BC
  • Past applicable professions: In grad school I worked in public affairs at the US State Department, then worked on political campaigns around the country before moving into media
Education and Experience 
  • Education: B.S. in Government & Politics, M.A. in Media & Public Affairs
  • Awards: None. I don’t think I’ve ever entered a writing contest
  • Books: Hiking Lake Tahoe and Sustainable Escapes
  • Other places you write for: SFGATE, Matador Network, Atlas Obscura, Thrillist, Scuba Diving Mag, Outside, PopMech, AFAR, Food & Wine (HR: list whatever publications you want here, doesn’t matter to me. I’m not contracted w anyone other than matador and sfgate)
  • Location: Truckee, California (Lake Tahoe)

About the Writer 

  • Places you’ve lived: I bounced around a lot on campaigns but I’ve lived for extended periods of time in DC, Vermont, NYC, San Diego, and Dallas, though I’ve been in Tahoe for more than a decade
  • Pronouns: She/her