All Women's Hike

This fall I gave an all-women’s backpacking workshop at a small liberal college outside of Asheville. Several of the flyers promoting the event were graffitied before my arrival with indelicate comments suggesting the sexist nature of an all women’s event. Thankfully, the workshop went off without riot, I loved my time spent with the young women on campus, and I collected the profanely decorated posters as souvenirs.

I have always believed that all women’s backpacking outings and workshops are often beneficial in a way that coed gatherings are not. The fact is that women’s time in the woods is often very different than that of men. Women have to deal with the fact that we are outnumbered by men in the outdoors, which comes with specific social challenges. We also have different body shapes, separate gear needs, and we have gender specific issues that men frankly don’t empathize with, let alone want to talk about in co-ed clinics.

Triple Falls

This past weekend I led an all-women’s day-hike at Dupont State Forest. Together, a small group of girls spent four hours skidding over snow and ice, spending time at the base of four [Read More]