Ready to once again travel the world from a seat in Sequim?

The Traveler’s Journal, an adventure presentation speaker/photo series that also serves as a fundraiser for Olympic Discovery Trail projects, kicks off Feb. 9 and runs seven more successive Thursdays.

Attendees can enjoy vicarious journeys at various points on the globe, from European mountain trails to explorations in Africa and a multi-continent bicycle trip.

A presentation of the Peninsula Trails Coalition, the series raises funds to buy project supplies and food for volunteers working on Olympic Discovery Trail projects. Shows start at 7 p.m. at the Dungeness River Nature Center, 1943 W. Hendrickson Road.

Admission is a suggested $5 donation for adults. Attendees are encouraged, but not required, to wear mask.

The 2023 Traveler’s Journal series includes:

• Feb. 9 — “The Four Corners Loop, America’s next National Scenic Trail”

Photo courtesy of Kevin Koski Kevin Koski hikes near Trailriders Wall in the Pecos Wilderness, New Mexico. His Traveler’s Journal presentation, “The Four Corners Loop, America’s next National Scenic Trail,” kicks off the 2023 series on Thursday, Feb. 9, at the Dungeness River Nature Center, 1943 W. Hendrickson Road.

Bestowed the trail name of “The Animal” while hiking the Continental Divide Trail, Kevin Koski hiked the CDT and Pacific Coast Trail. He then noticed a circle of mountains perfectly centered around the four corners where the states of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado join on indigenous Navajo land. Immediately he started to plan the Four Corners Loop, a path that would end up following a 2,485-mile route along mountain ranges, down slot canyons, across arroyos and into resupply towns. “I created and walked a route I call the Four Corners Loop for others to follow and improve, Koski writes. “I know more crazy hikers with wonderful trail names will repeat my feat.”

• Feb. 16 — “Tour Du Mont Blanc: A 100 mile trek through France, Italy and Switzerland”

Photo by Kevin Froese/Heidi Kanning / A sweeping view of the Mont Blanc region as Kevin Froese and Heidi Kanning make their way back to Chamonix. Kevin Frosse and Heidi Kanning present “Tour Du Mont Blanc: A 100 mile trek through France, Italy and Switzerland” at the Feb. 16 Traveler’s Journal presentation.

After years of hiking their favorite loop trails in the Olympic Mountains, Kevin Frosse and Heidi Kanning — who have lived and worked in Sequim for 30 years — thought about hiking further away from home. They then heard about the Tour du Mont Blanc, also known as the TMB, a 100-mile trek around a mountain range in the Alps called the Mont Blanc massif. This mountain range extends through France, Italy and Switzerland. Mont Blanc is the highest peak in Western Europe, surrounded by many other impressive peaks, glaciers and alpine valleys.

• Feb. 23 — “Madagascar: Island of Lemurs and Other Extraordinary Creatures”

Photo by Ken and Mary Campbell Warty chameleon is pictured near the Vakona Lodge in Madagascar. Ken and Mary Campbell offer “Madagascar: Island of Lemurs and Other Extraordinary Creatures” at the Feb. 23 Traveler’s Journal presentation in Sequim.

Ken and Mary Campbell traveled to Madagascar for three weeks in late September and early October 2022. This was a trip they had wanted to take for years. “We know that much of the unique wildlife found there is endangered, but we had delayed going there as we were very concerned about the impact that the population was having on the wildlife and natural landscapes,” the Campbells wrote. Though the focus of the trip was on the nature and wildlife of Madagascar, they also found the people and culture to be very fascinating. “We thought that this would be our only trip to Madagascar, but it was such an amazing trip that we are already thinking about returning to this special place in the future,” they wrote.

• March 2 — “Shifting Gears: Cycling Lisbon to Amsterdam on Roads Less Traveled”

Photo courtesy of Melissa Rosaaen / Melissa Rosaaen gets a gorgeous view during her adventure in Portugal. She presents “Shifting Gears: Cycling Lisbon to Amsterdam on Roads Less Traveled” at the March 2 Traveler’s Journal event.

Melissa Rosaaen and her husband Rick enjoyed a 1,500-mile bicycling adventure across from Lisbon to Amsterdam, negotiating hills of all sorts and slow traffic, narrow old roads of Europe.

• March 9 — “On the way to the Pandemic: Africa/South Pacific and Pac-NW”

Photo by Burt Jones and Maurine Shimlock A mother and cub cheetah are pictured in Tanzania. Award-winning photojournalists Burt Jones and Maurine Shimlock will present “On the way to the Pandemic: Africa/South Pacific and Pac-NW” on March 9.

Award-winning photojournalists Burt Jones and Maurine Shimlock will take the audience on a visual escape to the Fiji’s spectacularly colorful reefs and the Shark Reef Marine Reserve, to Tonga, where one of the six groups of southern humpback whales congregate to mate and calve in protected waters, to witness the great migration of wildebeest cross the Mara River between Kenya and Tanzania’s Serengeti plains, to Indonesia’s Raja Ampat, and to photograph the magnificent landscapes and wildlife close to Sequim.

• March 16 — “Massai Mara, East Kenya”

Photo by Suzanna Anya / Impala get an evening drink. Suzanna Anya offers “Massai Mara, East Kenya” at the March 16 Traveler’s Journal presentation.

Suzanne Anaya’s parents went to Kenya when she was just a small girl. They named their ranch Aberdare, after the Aberdare National Park in central Kenya, where they stayed at the Treetops Lodge. Now in her seventh decade, she was able to afford to go to Kenya. She spent the majority of her trip in East Kenya, the Masai Mara, in a small, tented camp called Bella Mara. “Every day I was there on safari was beyond my wildest imagination,” wrote Anaya, a Sequim resident. “Seeing for the first time African animals not in a zoo or in a circus brought tears to my eyes.”

• March 23 — “Will there be refreshments? Hiking the Pyrenees High Route”

Photo by Carol Bernthal/Adam Henley / Adam Henley and Carol Bernthal walk to Lescun, a starting point for a section of the Pyrenees High Route. Check out “Will there be refreshments? Hiking the Pyrenees High Route,” the March 23 Traveler’s Journal presentation at the Dungeness River Nature Center.

The global pandemic did not stop Port Townsend residents Carol Bernthal and Adam Henley from dreaming of faraway places like the Pyrenees, a wild chain of mountains straddling the border between Spain and France, bookended by the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. In the summer of 2022, they felt it was safe to travel to Spain and Portugal to explore one of the five major sections of the Pyrenees High Route. Beginning in the mountain village of Lescun, France, they traveled for nine days and more than 100 miles through the Pyrenees National Park.

• March 30 — “Cycling around the world with children: A family pedals across 4 continents and 24 countries for asthma”

Photo courtesy of Eber family / Paula and Anya Eber cycle over the Alps. Members of the Eber family close the 2023 Traveler’s Journal series on March 30 with their presentation, “Cycling around the world with children: A family pedals across 4 continents and 24 countries for asthma.”

Geared up with two tents, six panniers, two tandem bicycles and one stuffed pink pig, Paula and Lorenz Eber set off from Seattle to cycle the world with their two daughters, 11-year-old Yvonne and her 13-year-old sister Anya. Their dream: to pedal in a complete circle around the world. Their goal: to raise awareness of asthma … a disease that Paula has suffered from her entire life. The Ebers will give a talk and slide show about the exciting, hilarious and inspiring story of their 16-month adventure of cycling and camping across four continents and 24 countries for asthma.

For more information about the series, email Arvo Johnson at amjcgj@gmail.com.