The Twilight Trekkers

The travel and adventure brand Kaylee and I run — the photography, the drone work, the reels, eleven brand partners, and the website behind it

Role
Creator, Designer and Developer
Company
The Twilight Trekkers
Timeline
2026
Team
Brendon and Kaylee
Stack
WordPress, PHP, ACF Pro, Rank Math, Formidable Forms, Mailchimp

In short

  • The Twilight Trekkers is the travel and adventure brand my wife Kaylee and I run. I created the brand from the ground up, and our Instagram has about 26k followers.
  • I fly the drone and make the drone videos, and shoot some of the photos and video. Kaylee is our photographer, so most of the photos are hers.
  • The Collaborations page lists eleven brands we’ve worked with, from Rush Creek Lodge outside Yosemite to Redtail Air over Canyonlands.
  • I also write the blog posts, and I built and run the website, a custom WordPress theme.
The Subway in Zion: a keyhole pool of green water under curving sandstone, a tiny hiker walking behind it.

The situation

Twilight Trekkers began as a passion project built to capture the beauty of outdoor adventure through photography, storytelling, and design.

It has grown to about 26k people following along on Instagram, and to brand work: eleven brands are on our Collaborations page.

So the content has two audiences. A brand wants its trip, its stay or its gear shown well. The people who follow us want the places, the trail guides and the photos.

The reels, the photos and the posts have to work for the brands and keep our followers engaged at the same time.

My role

This is the one project on my site where I was also the client.

We started The Twilight Trekkers in 2021. I created the brand from the ground up, developing its visual identity and growing a community of outdoor enthusiasts through authentic, creative content.

What I do for it:

  • The drone. I fly the drone and make the drone videos.
  • Photos and video. I shoot some of the photos and videos for our travel page, @thetwilighttrekkers. Kaylee is our photographer, so most of the photos are hers.
  • The blog. I write the blog posts.
  • The website. I set the design direction, built the custom theme, and I run it: SEO, image optimization, publishing and analytics.

The photography

Photos mostly by Kaylee, drone by me. I shoot some of the photos too. Pick a place.

Canyons & slots

  • A huge sandstone arch over a creek in Coyote Gulch, green trees below and a small figure in the water.
  • A double arch inside a deep red slot canyon, a tiny person below.
  • A hiker on the chained ridge of Angels Landing above Zion Canyon.
  • A hiker lit by a shaft of light in a dark curved slot canyon over green water.
  • A hiker in red wading turquoise water through a narrow canyon.
  • A climber rappelling out of a sandstone window over the desert.
  • Looking up through a glowing orange slot canyon to blue sky.

Desert

  • Brendon at the rim of Reflection Canyon, water winding far below under sunbeams.
  • Delicate Arch against a pink and violet sunset sky, a tiny person at its base.
  • Mesa Arch glowing orange at sunrise, framing towers and canyon below.
  • Glowing orange hoodoos and a balanced rock tower at sunrise.
  • A sunburst over a deep river bend in a red canyon.
  • A tall slotted sandstone arch on a ridge, a tiny hiker below.
  • A lone hiker on a sweeping sand dune ridge.

Water

  • Havasu Falls pouring over red cliffs into a turquoise pool, two people on the shore.
  • A kayaker paddling toward a wide waterfall.
  • Turquoise travertine pools and cascades, a woman in red on a ledge.
  • A tall waterfall into a turquoise pool, one person at the edge.
  • A tall waterfall off a granite wall with Half Dome behind.
  • Two people wading at the foot of a tall ribbon waterfall on streaked canyon walls.
  • A big waterfall with a rainbow at its base.

Mountains

  • Half Dome with light rays across the valley at sunrise.
  • Jagged snowy peaks mirrored in a green alpine lake.
  • A turquoise lake with islands between forested mountains.
  • A weathered barn under pink-lit Teton peaks at sunrise.
  • A hiker on a rock at a blue alpine lake under granite peaks.
  • Pink wildflowers below sharp sunlit peaks.
  • Dark storm clouds lit pink over jagged peaks, mirrored in a still lake.

Coast

  • Tree-topped sea stacks reflected on a wet sand beach at dusk.
  • A sandstone sea arch over a calm ocean.
  • Rocky sea stacks in a deep blue cove framed by trees.
  • A man standing on black lava rocks by the ocean at dusk, palms behind.
  • Waves on a sandy beach with green mountains behind.
  • Sea turtles resting on a sandy beach by the surf.

Drone

  • Drone view of the Bentonite Hills: swirling purple, blue and orange clay with a tiny person lying in it.
  • Drone view of striped red and white hills with two tiny people.
  • Drone view of a trail through red and orange autumn trees toward a peak.
  • Drone view of concentric red, white and green rock swirls.
  • Drone view straight down onto red and orange autumn trees.
  • A drone silhouetted over a flat lake at sunset.
  • The view from a small plane's wing over red canyons and blue ponds.

The two of us

  • Brendon and Kaylee standing together in a glowing orange slot canyon.
  • A curved palm over a beach, Brendon and Kaylee at the water.
  • Brendon and Kaylee kissing in front of a turquoise lake under a granite peak.
  • Brendon and Kaylee walking on a mirror-like salt flat at sunset.
  • Brendon and Kaylee walking a narrow red-rock ledge inside a cave mouth, a green canyon below.
  • Brendon and Kaylee in silhouette under a Joshua tree at dusk.
  • Brendon and Kaylee on a slope above a lake that mirrors a green peak.
  • Brendon and Kaylee dancing in silhouette under tall palms on a beach.
  • Brendon and Kaylee dancing in silhouette in a cabin window at sunset.
  • One of them lifting the other in a hug on a beach, waves behind.

The reels

Short loops from our Instagram reels. I fly the drone and make the drone videos.

The brand came first

Before there was a website, there was the brand.

I created it from the ground up, developing its visual identity, and every project combines our photography, videography, branding and storytelling to inspire others to explore and connect with the outdoors.

The photo and drone footage goes to our Instagram, @thetwilighttrekkers. The website had to carry the same brand.

  • The Twilight Trekkers logo: two climbers silhouetted on a rock face inside a circle, against a peach sky over purple mountains, above the words THE TWILIGHT TREKKERS and ADVENTURE PHOTOGRAPHERS.

    The logo.

  • Brendon and Kaylee standing together in a glowing orange slot canyon.

    The two of us.

At a glance

  • 26k

    Instagram followers

    As of October 2026.

  • 11

    Brands on the Collaborations page

    Counted on the live site, October 2026.

Brands we've worked with

Eleven brands are on our Collaborations page, each with a photo from the trip and a line from us on why we liked it. The page ends with two ways in for brands: email us, or request the media kit, which we send directly rather than put in the menu.

  • Rush Creek Lodge

    A perfect basecamp just outside Yosemite that blends comfort with adventure. It’s where we recharge after long trail days without losing that mountain feel.

  • OutpostX

    Built for the kind of everyday adventurers we are—simple, functional gear that actually fits how people explore Southern Utah.

  • Dolphins and You

    One of the most unreal experiences we’ve had—snorkeling alongside dolphins and exploring the ocean in a way that feels wild but still safe and guided.

  • Mad Moose Rentals

    If you want to experience Sand Hollow the right way, this is it—easy rentals, epic UTVs, and access to some of the most fun terrain in Southern Utah.

  • Redtail Air

    Seeing Canyonlands from the air completely changes your perspective—this flight is one of the most unforgettable ways to experience the desert.

  • Reset Hotel

    A clean, modern stay right near Joshua Tree that keeps things simple and peaceful—exactly what you want after a long day in the desert.

  • Free Fly

    Lightweight, breathable, and built for hot desert days—this is the kind of gear we actually reach for on our hikes.

  • Merino Tech

    All about comfort and versatility—perfect layers that handle everything from cold mornings to long travel days.

  • Get In The Wild

    A great way to experience canyoneering if you’re new or just want a guided day—safe, fun, and still feels like a real adventure.

  • Javie

    Comfortable, durable socks that hold up on long hikes—one of those small things that actually makes a big difference.

  • 32 Degrees

    Simple, affordable basics that work surprisingly well for travel and everyday wear—easy to pack, easy to wear anywhere.

Content for brands and followers

What our followers engage with keeps changing. It took a lot of trial and error, and it still does.

Problem

The hardest problem is making reels and content that work with brands, while staying on top of our followers.

That means knowing what our followers actually want to engage with.

First assumption

I figured that if our followers liked something, doing the same thing again would land the same way.

What I found

It doesn’t. They like something, then we do the same thing and they don’t.

Fix

So we test a lot, to see what actually catches our followers’ attention and what brings in new ones.

How I verified it

It’s ongoing. There’s no point where this is solved, so the testing never stops.

The site today

The website is a custom WordPress theme I designed and built, with no page builder. ACF Pro drives the content on every template, Rank Math handles SEO, a Formidable form takes brand partnerships and everyone else, and Mailchimp runs the Join the Trek newsletter.

It serves both audiences — the journal and trail guides for the people who follow along, the Collaborations page and the media kit for brands — and it shipped with empty fields instead of placeholder content, so nothing fake can render on a brand built on real photos.

See the site (opens in a new tab)

The content model, in git

WordPress stores ACF field definitions in the database.

That means the shape of every page lives somewhere that can’t be code-reviewed, can’t be diffed, and doesn’t travel with a deploy.

On a site where all nine templates are ACF-driven, that turns the database into an undeclared dependency of the theme. A field renamed in production silently empties a section, and there is no commit anywhere that explains why.

All sixteen field groups are committed as JSON in the theme’s acf-json/ directory.

The content model is version-controlled alongside the templates that read it, so a change to page structure arrives as a reviewable diff rather than as an undocumented edit made in an admin screen at some point in the past.

Result

This project established Twilight Trekkers as a recognizable outdoor brand by combining photography, videography, and storytelling to inspire exploration and connect with a growing community of adventurers.

About 26k people follow along on Instagram, and the Collaborations page lists eleven brands we’ve worked with, from Rush Creek Lodge outside Yosemite to Redtail Air over Canyonlands.

The website is live at thetwilighttrekkers.com, filled with our own photography rather than placeholders.

Full stack

Brand and media
  • Photography
  • Drone footage
  • Drone video editing
  • Instagram reels
  • Lightroom
  • Blog writing
Front end
  • PHP templates
  • CSS
  • JavaScript
  • Playfair Display
  • Inter
CMS
  • WordPress
  • Custom theme
  • ACF Pro
  • ACF local JSON
SEO, forms and email
  • Rank Math
  • Formidable Forms
  • Mailchimp