The Author

Dustin Waite is currently residing in Sacramento, California. He earned his BA in Geology and Marine Sciences at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa.

He began his professional career as a geologist in southern California where he remediated contaminated sites and was part of the team to help open Vista Hermosa Park, the first public park in downtown Los Angeles in over one hundred years.

Waite then pursued a career in education while working with The Greenway Foundation in Denver, earning the title of Colorado Certified Environmental Educator. He relocated to Maui where he put his passion for teaching and natural history to good use while helping design The Lahaina Heritage Museum.

After hiking almost 1,600 miles on the Appalachian Trail, a rare heart condition forced him to spend time back home in Iowa.

Upon returning to the trail and completing the final six hundred miles of the Appalachian Trail, Waite continued to travel. He spent extended time in Mongolia, Central America, and riding his motorcycle across the United States. He did so while writing the manuscript for External.

Since the pandemic, Waite, like most people, had his life and travel plans upended. He embraced the pivot while living out of his vehicle for six months, visiting both oceans, hiking, camping, and backpacking until he ultimately had coffee with a girl he lived three doors down from in college. They now live together in Sacramento with a white boxer named Tuula.