Nicole “Coco” Montalto, a freelance writer, has been an avid explorer since she could crawl, at which time she snuck out of her family’s front door and “traveled” several houses down the street and into a neighbor’s kitchen. She has been living life with that same curiosity and regaling people with her wild tales and misadventures ever since.

Born and raised in Albuquerque, NM, Nicole has lived in the heart of the southwestern United States her entire life — everywhere from a peaceful mountain cabin at the foot of Pikes Peak to the heart of Las Vegas adjacent to the strip. Her spontaneous lifestyle has taken her to 40 states and she has called four of them home — most notably Colorado, where she’s lived extensively and currently resides with her dog and two cats.

Nicole considers herself an “expert” on the area’s treasure trove of unique hot springs and is always on the hunt for remote hikes and hidden waterfalls. She is also a shameless baseball fanatic and music junkie whose vast interests include anything mid-century modern, current global issues, etymology and soccer. Next on her list of adventures are spelunking and scuba diving. Nicole’s first book is in the works.