I’m super stoked on another #nacforadventure spotlight! Kerry Sheehan (@kershee on TikTok and Instagram) is an internet friend that I met through the weird world of TikTok and skitok!

She loves everything from progressing in the terrain park to training her pup, plus making music (professional cellist over here!), and so much more.

Kerry has been such a huge inspiration to me and other women who are putting themselves out there. And showing us to not do it for other people… but for ourselves.

Let’s get to know a little more about her!

Getting To Know

Name

Kerry Sheehan

Hometown

Eugene, OR

Favorite Outdoor Activity

Besides skiing, any adventure I can bring my dog on

Favorite Indoor Activity

Probably writing music and getting to play with other musicians

If you could describe the last year of your life in one word what would it be?

Wild

Adventure 

What’s the coolest place you’ve ever been to?

Definitely South Africa. I got to backpack across the country in college and that’s when I switched my focus of study from geological sciences to animal sciences. I am definitely trying to get back to South Africa to do some sort of wildlife rehabilitation work.

What piece of gear do you always have to bring on a trip?

I have this nice REI day pack that I won in a raffle like five years ago. That little pack came to South Africa with me and pretty much every adventure I go on to this day.

Do you like venturing solo or with friends? If friends, then who are your adventure buddies?

I have some great girlfriends who are always down for a skip trip or trail run. One of my friends is a pretty good mountain biker (I’m not) and I love that she still takes me with her haha. I also adventure with my boyfriend a lot. We like to ski and climb together. Also the dogs in my life have always been the best adventure partners.

Roadtrips or Flights? 

Road trips all day.

I actually used to be terrified of flying. Like my absolute biggest fear. It was one of my first sources of anxiety as a kid. Honestly it was traveling to South Africa that helped me get over that fear. Going on 5 flights in the span of 48 hours definitely helped me see that flying really isn’t as bad as I made myself believe.

What is your go-to hike or trip destination?

Definitely hobbit beach on the Oregon coast.

My dad used to go to that beach in college when he and his friends named it “two trash can beach” because back then it was not an official trail and the only way to find it was by finding the two trash cans along the side of the highway. It’s still kind of hard to find, but there’s a tiny parking lot on the side of the highway, you park there cross the highway and enter the forest and take a trail down the cliffs until you hit the beach.

No one is ever there and suddenly you are just on this empty beach that stretches for miles surrounded by cliffs. I used to go there all the time for sunsets and random day trips.

Diet/Sustainability

What’s something you do to minimize your environmental impact? It can be the smallest thing or the biggest thing? 

With my dog, I always try to buy compostable dog poop bags. This is a pretty small thing, but the plastic bag use adds up and they’re pretty price comparable which is awesome. There’s a lot that goes into disposing pet waste properly which can be confusing. I’m still learning.

Something I want to be better about is ordering food from restaurants that come in single use plastics. I think trying to make everything sustainable at once can be really overwhelming, so I try to look for smaller things that I can change in my daily life.

What’s the coolest item that you have ever thrifted and what made you get it?

It was Goodwill six years ago and I found this amazing fleece jacket. It is probably my favorite jacket and I got it for five dollars. Recently I discovered the zipper is a bit broken so I’m going to try to fix that soon because I’ve never loved a jacket so much before. It’s also the most complimented article of clothing I own. People are very surprised I found it for five dollars haha. I honestly can’t believe I found it for five dollars.

What’s your favorite recipe? 

I love a simple grilled salmon with grilled veggies. I know this isn’t really a crazy out there recipe, but it’s my favorite and my dad would always grill salmon in the summer so it reminds me of home. Salmon and vegetables is also a great anti inflammatory meal and if I’m ever feeling off it’s one of my go to meals.

More Get To Know:

If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?

I feel like avocados are something I will never get sick of.

Are you a cat or dog person? 

Definitely a dog person, but I do love cats. I never got to have cats growing up because my dad is allergic, but since moving out I’ve had some roommates who own cats and they’re pretty darn cute.

What’s something that we would never know about you by just looking at your social media?

I love reality TV. Like complete guilty pleasure for me. I’m literally watching Temptation Island right now. I also sometimes get sucked into Youtube drama lmao it’s so entertaining for me. Sometimes I post about regular tv shows I’m watching but I feel like I never fully admit to how invested I am in these reality dating shows on social media.

What’s the dumbest way you have been injured?

I have so many dumb injuries I love this game.

One time I burned my hand in the oven because the food I was trying to pull out was hot, so I jumped, and my hand went straight into the burner haha.

I’ve been stepping on by a horse before, that hurt pretty bad.

At senior prom a girl was dancing pretty wildly and she stomped on my foot (thank god she didn’t have heals on) and she bruised my foot so bad there was a chance it was slightly broken. Not broken though.

I got tendinitis in my hands from all the classical cello I was playing haha. I’m fine now but it took a year long break to heal.

What’s your favorite podcast and why?

When I first adopted my dog Nali, a lot of people looked at her and said they wanted a dog just like her. Great! I was helping my friend decide what kind of dog she wanted to get and that’s when I stumped upon the Podcast “Sexier Than a Squirrel: Dog Training” that is hosted by a vet and an international agility competitor.

It was incredibly informative to hear what can happen to a border collie / herding dog in a home that is not designed for them. A lot of herding dogs just shouldn’t become house pets and that was something I heavily considered when I was thinking about what type of dog to adopt. They need some sort of “job”.

This podcast talked about how one border collie got so fixated on the washing machine that all he wanted to do was just stare at it. The podcast explained that herding dogs were bred to distinguish the slightest movements in a herd of livestock that might indicate that an animal is injured or sick. The border collie’s job is to find those abnormalities and separate the animal from the rest of the herd. That instinct that was bred into that working dog means that they are functioning at a much higher level than other breeds of dogs. They notice so many more sights, sounds, smells, than an average dog and that’s why they tend to develop severe anxiety disorders – because they notice more things that could potentially cause them stress.

Anyway, highly recommend this podcast if anyone is interested in dog training, dog behavior, etc.

What do you consider to be your biggest accomplishment?

I think my biggest accomplishment to this day is how integrated into the Bend, OR music scene I have become.

I grow up playing classical cello in Eugene, OR and was a big part of the classical music scene. I started playing cello when I was 5 years old and continued playing in Eugene until I moved to Bend, OR when I was 22. Getting into the music scene in Bend was a slower process. I wasn’t trying to play classical cello anymore, I wanted to pursue folk music, playing live shows, and be a recording artist that bands could hire for various albums. I started playing with Kelcey Lassen of Bend OR, who quickly became one of my best friends, and we still play in our duo named Lassen. Kelcey has recorded her album in Bend OR, and overall has been connected to the bluegrass/folk community for years. Slowly, more people began to ask her for my contact to see if I would be interested in playing on their albums.

This past month, I was asked to record on a song for the guy who runs most of the city festival/live music events in Bend and he was stoked on my work. I am still giddy when I think about how slowly over four years I’ve made a name for myself as a professional cellist. This is the reason I haven’t left Bend to pursue other mountain towns.

Special thanks to Kerry for her time and effort in this #nacforadventure interview! Check her out on Instagram @kershee and TikTok @kershee, and get excited to see more of her summer adventures and hear more of her amazing music!

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Your full-time nacforadventuruer,

AJ