This article is featured in the Winter 2022 issue of LAND magazine. Click here to find out more.
For Kina and Nellie Pickett purchasing 20 acres in Montana’s Paradise Valley was a natural move in their ongoing battle to protect their children from America’s most pervasive addiction.
“The inundation of screens is so addictive,” Kina, a former professional skier and serial entrepreneur who lives in Bozeman, said. “As a nation, we’re losing the war. Nature is the only thing that can fight invading screens.”
He continued, “If we lose connection to the natural world, we’re in danger and yet there is a whole generation of children who don’t even think about going outdoors, either because they’re scared of it or just not aware of it. They’re being robbed—and don’t even know it.”
From the beginning, the Picketts built their relationship on a shared love of the outdoors and a commitment to family.
“We wanted to raise our kids close to the land and have that grounded lifestyle make sense to them,” said Kina, noting this desire was the genesis for their land purchase, which was their first. “For us, the American West is the place we can do that.”
“After our year-plus of traveling, the bond between us is 10 times stronger than it would’ve been if we’d been stuck in our own house staring at our own screens”
Kina Pickett
Although the Picketts’ upbringings were vastly different, they both enjoyed the benefits of a free-range childhood.
Nellie, one of eight children, was raised on a 6,000-acre Montana ranch just two miles south of the Canadian border. The family worked and played together in the expanse. For the siblings, fun was where they made it. Once their chores were done, the kids headed out. When it was time for them to return home, their mother rang a bell. Its peals cut through the wind and carried deep into the ranch.
Kina, whose father died when he was just two years old, was reared near Woodstock, Vermont. The family didn’t have a television and sitting inside fussing about boredom wasn’t an option.
“At the first hint of a complaint, Mom would say, ‘Get out of the house!’” Kina said.
He and his brother spent most days outdoors roaming the hills and forests, stomping in the mud, enjoying the best swimming holes, and dreaming up a million other ways to fill their days. During the winter, Mrs. Pickett, who was a teacher, paid a teenage neighbor $10 per day to take her sons skiing. Skiing not only became Kina’s primary connection to the outdoors but a driving force in his life. He rose to the top ranks of elite amateur skiers.
After graduating from Bates College in Maine in 1997, he packed his bags, headed west landing in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and turned pro. His specialty? Freeride skiing, an extreme style of skiing performed on natural ungroomed terrain. The pro circuit took him around the world, and he faced off against mountains in Africa, New Zealand, Russia, France, Bulgaria and Switzerland.
As he was traveling around the world, Jackson Hole became an in-demand address. The population swelled and Kina, who left the tightly packed confines of the East Coast in search of elbow room, moved to Bozeman, Montana, in 2008. Soon after, he met Nellie, who left him as breathless as careening down a mountain at breakneck speed.
“She was—and is—such as stunningly beautiful person,” Kina said.
They married in 2014. After 13 years on the circuit, Kina retired and focused his competitive drive on building businesses. His most recent is ZPPR, a content-sharing platform. Using Bozeman as home base, they, as avid tent campers, adventured through the West, hiking, biking, paddling, skiing, climbing and flyfishing.
In 2013, they welcomed their son, Ashur, who was joined by their daughter, Story, in 2016. The Picketts’ grand adventure, as any parent will tell you, then began in earnest.
“Memories, like the land, are forever.”
Kina Pickett
“People always ask me if I miss the adrenaline [of ski racing], but I’ve done all that crazy stuff, gotten the diploma and actually came off the mountain, unlike many of my friends who didn’t make it,” Kina said. “In this phase of my life, adventuring with my family… seeing my kids’ reaction when they take in nature’s
power… leaves me with the same feeling as standing on top of a mountain.”
The Grand Adventure
After the kids were born, the Picketts added a 1971 Airstream travel trailer to their outdoor arsenal. As a tech entrepreneur, Kina is a master at working remotely. Committed to letting their children cut their teeth in the outdoors, the family packed up and went exploring as often as possible.
“The outdoors is so ingrained in Nellie and me that we committed to getting our family outside—and we were doing it,” Kina said. “But COVID was a watershed moment.”
When the world shut down, the Picketts were in the middle of a three-week, off-the-grid camping trip in southern Utah. The intermittent headlines that had reached their far-flung outpost didn’t prepare the elder Picketts for the chaos they found in a Moab supermarket when they emerged to restock their larder. Shelves were empty. Shoppers were snatching everything in sight.
“It was like ‘Holy sh*t! The world has changed—and we need to go home,’” Kina said.
For a few weeks, they lived in fear of the pandemic, venturing from their home only to make quick trips to Costco. They researched, watched and waited. As more information materialized, so did a theme: COVID-19 is difficult to catch outdoors.
Kina, who was already working remotely, announced, “We’re leaving.”
And they did.
As a “brand guy,” Kina turned the trip into a “media circus” with sponsorships and an affiliation with the Matador Network. For 18 months, the Picketts crisscrossed the country, logging 40,000 miles on the path less taken. Their 27-foot trailer was self-contained, allowing them to live off-the-grid and avoid packed campgrounds. Nellie home-schooled Ashur and Story, who were then 6 and 4 respectively.
Their extended family was horrified by what they perceived as risks of life on the road. Kina, then and now, respectfully disagrees with their risk assessment.
“No one was coming into our camp,” Kina said. “We only saw other people when we bought groceries and gas. We lived outside. I’d argue that our life was more risk-free than theirs.”
And while the rest of America was binge watching Netflix and staring at four walls, the Picketts were watching sunrises and sunsets, jumping waves in three different oceans, casting for trout in crystalline rivers, tackling bike trails, roasting marshmallows over glowing campfires and learning a lot about life on the road.
“In those tight travel spaces, the family just kind of folds in on itself and there’s no place to hide,” Kina said. “When people get short with one another, you have to work it out.”
Keeping the peace usually required nothing more than a quick family meeting and an admonition for “everyone to be nicer to each other.” Kina and Nellie took turns watching kids, so the other spouse could get away for a workout and some personal time. Screen time was limited to an hour on a weekend morning where the family all watched the original Looney Tunes cartoons on DVD, the same ones Kina watched at his friends’ houses on Saturday mornings. Collectively, they kept life simple, uncluttered, and low stress by living in the moment.
“After our year-plus of traveling, the bond between us is 10 times stronger than it would’ve been if we’d been stuck in our own house staring at our own screens,” Kina said. “Screens don’t build camaraderie.”
Oftentimes, their daily lives played out like scenes in a movie shot at stunning locations by an exceptional cinematographer. The children connected strongly with water, so the family sought out opportunities to be near rivers, lakes and oceans.
One day Kina watched as Ashur, who is “a study in constant energy and perpetual motion,” raced along a beach. The waves crashed against the shore. Suddenly, Ashur stopped. The minutes ticked by as he stood motionless staring out at the churning vastness. The scene repeats itself every time the family is on
the seashore.
“It’s as if the ocean is the only force that matches his energy and he needs time in the presence of its power to ground him,” Kina said.
Of course, the ocean isn’t the only powerful force at work in the outdoors.
“Nature has an amazing power to bring people together,” Kina said. “Oddly enough, travel has become a grounding force for our family. We’re connected by our shared love of discovering what’s around the next bend.”
Home Sweet Home
While the advantages of their rambling family adventures were obvious, Kina and Nellie recognized that Ashur and Story, who are now 8 and 6, needed other kids in their lives.
“It became apparent that they were missing friendship interactions and the socialization that comes with school, so we came off the road—but we didn’t lose sight of the importance of nature in our lives,” Kina said.
In the late spring of 2021, the Picketts started looking for a piece of property to call their own. The land market in Montana like the rest of the country had become increasingly competitive and prices had risen accordingly. Kina had sold a house in Vermont and was looking to reinvest the money in land. Their budget was clear.
They had been looking for several months when they got a call from their broker, who had discovered a 20-acre parcel in the Paradise Valley that overlooked the Yellowstone River. The eastern viewshed encompassed the entire Absorka Mountain Range.
The owner had died. His children were out-of-state residents, who wanted to divest the property quickly, and were selling it “as is.” It was about an hour’s drive from the Picketts’ home.
“This land literally popped up—and we snagged it in a ridiculously good deal,” Kina said. “It gives us a long-term solution to staying close to the land.”
Right now, the property is a gathering place for extended family and friends, where they too can connect with nature. It’s outfitted with a 1970 Airstream trailer and a “half bar, half lounge” constructed by the previous owner. The Picketts spent the entire month of June there. During the school year, they make it out at least once a week.
The land’s future use is still on the drawing board. Eventually, they would like to live off the grid and raise much of their food. They recently became aware of the Longhouse near Daylesford, Australia. The one-of-a-kind dwelling includes a boutique farm with vegetables and animals, garden kitchen, cooking school, reception venue and home under a single 360-foot-long roof. Inspired by the concept, the Picketts are exploring how it might be adapted for Montana.
“It’s a really amazing concept,” Kina said. “Nellie is really into organic foods and feeding our kids in a healthy way. This would be one way to do it.”
In the meantime, they will continue to be outside together every chance they get, whether it’s on their land or on the road. They recently broke away from their routine for a three-week trip to the Oregon Coast. The kids’ Montessori School embraces experiential learning and accommodates adventures. Kina has an office in the Airstream.
“Our goal is to give our kids experiences—something that no one can ever take away,” Kina said. “Everything else can be lost, broken or stolen, but memories, like the land, are forever.”