Women Only Hiking Adventures

Kathy Imbriani June 1, 2008

If you’re old enough to have been around when the first “back to nature movement” happened in the early 70s (like me), you’ll remember lumpy sleeping bags, clumpy boots and heavy, awkward packs. It was a guy’s world in the realm of primitive camping/backpacking/camping, except for a few brave female souls. Back then, as one of two women enrolled in a nationally known School of Forestry, I was well versed in the fine arts of poncho wearing and peeing in the woods. My first camping trip was accomplished with an old, lumpy Coleman sleeping bag, one side filled with cotton batting and the other side a slick sheet of vinyl (for sleeping on the ground), a kerosene lantern (how it stunk when extinguished), a gas stove (that ran off white gasoline bought at an Amoco station), an old canvas tent (pain in the butt to pitch, but the smell of canvas still produces a state of Zen) , and pots and pans from the kitchen cabinets.

But, Wow, how things have changed. New technology abounds. New materials and products have made backpacking accessible to anyone interested. Especially women. An overnight backpacking trip may well become the new “girls’ night out”. Check out this link to an article in The Morning News from Northwest Arkansas http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2008/05/21/outdoors/052208outbackpckmain.txt. Intrigued by this concept, I did some further research and discovered a whole new world of hiking trips specifically designed for groups of women.

Adventures in Good Company in Maryland (www.adventuresingoodcompany.com) offers a complete schedule of hiking, canoeing, backpacking and even dog sledding trips designed for women. “Traveling with a group of women on an outdoor adventure is the most completely unintimidating, supportive way to experience the outdoors” gushes one of their customers in a testimonial. Unintimidating being the operative word here, I would imagine. No testosterone-ridden feats. No stinky, boisterous, one-upmanship around the campfire (sorry guys, I raised a bunch of boys. I know how you are!). Just some quiet, soul-searching and bonding.

Other organizations offering woman-specific activities:

The Woman’s Wilderness Institute (http://www.womenswilderness.org/womens_programs/mountains.html#)

Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont (http://www.gsmit.org/programs/adult/womensbackpack.html)

Call of the Wild Adventure Travel For Women (http://www.callwild.com/backpack.htm)

Cloud Canyon Expeditions (http://www.cloudcanyon.com)

Internet searches under “women backpacking” yields many more organizations and sage advice.

How does one go about finding and forming a female backpacking group? Already established groups such as family members, circles of friends, bachelorette party, co-workers, etc. make excellent participants. And, a night on the Appalachian Trail HAS to be better than the game of dropping those clothespins into a jar. Or, just pick up the phone and register on one of these trips and come away with at least one new friend and a promise of “let’s do this again.”


Comments

One Response to “Women Only Hiking Adventures”

  1. dkeahey on October 13th, 2008 4:13 pm

    I’d like to mention one more company that does women-only trips. Adventurous Wench does active vacations for women, including hiking, sailing, kayaking, and more. They’re at http://www.adventurouswench.com.

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