FEATURE
Come As You Are:
Revealing Power to Women in the Outdoors
BEHIND THE ARTICLE
Women Who Hike celebrating National Public Lands Day with a fall foliage hike after a service project. Photo by Amalia Vasquez-Beld.
Wyoming is known as a vast landscape full of outdoor recreation dreams—and the lucky 580,000 folks who live out those dreams as Wyomingites. However, despite the allure of the outdoors and being known as rugged and outdoorsy people, women have often found themselves underrepresented in these spaces in Wyoming—like many places. If you look at the numbers for outdoor recreation users you’ll see this disparity, but a more striking contrast comes when you look at solo females or all female groups.
The notion that the outdoors is a realm primarily reserved for men—then for families or couples—is a stereotype that I have encountered frequently in my role as a female interpretive ranger. It's time to challenge these preconceptions and create a space where women can embrace the outdoors as themselves, unburdened by societal expectations or norms. When posting a program description, instead of being “family friendly” or “bring your special someone”—how about just: “Come as you are.” You, as a whole person—as a woman—are welcome—no, invited—to this programming.
Women Who Hike at Seminoe State Park learn how durable surfaces include water during a Leave No Trace Trainers weekend campout. Photo by Lonnie Porter, Wyoming State Parks.
Women Who Hike: a catchy name that means a lot more. It’s anyone who identifies as a woman coming together for outdoor recreation, most of the time without a “leader.” This group, founded in the United States in 2016 by Nicole Brown, started as a way for women to connect to go on hikes together. It still does that with Facebook groups in all fifty states with ambassadors, but it’s evolved into much more.
When I moved to Wyoming, I asked Nicole if she’d like me to be a Women Who Hike ambassador there. She said yes, but Wyoming is different—can you do campouts? A big state, few people, and lots of outdoor opportunities aside from what we create, so how can we make the travel and time worthwhile? What we sculpted are Friday-to-Sunday adventures learning the ins and outs of camping, hiking, snowmobiling, self defense, ice fishing, caving, ice skating, fire starting, Leave No Trace, women’s history, and making enough coffee on a camp stove for twenty women.
In the heart of my work lies the essence of inclusivity, which might appear antithetical to a group that seemingly “excludes” men. We have male instructors and all of us have important men in our lives in some way or another—this isn’t anti-men, but simply about creating a space purely for women.
Our women's programming in Wyoming State Parks isn't about defining women by their marital status or professional titles. It's about inviting them to come as they are, embracing their individuality, and finding solace and strength in the wild. After a weekend of campout programming, I find myself blissfully unaware of the women's personal lives. When reflecting on the weekend to friends and family they’ll ask, “Oh, where does she live?” or, “What does she do?” The first question they think to ask is one I often can’t answer after spending a whole weekend with this woman!
Wyoming Office of Outdoor Recreation staff Brynn Hirschman and Laurel Stephens joined Ranger Angelina and WWH founder Nicole Brown to become Leave No Trace Level 1 Trainers. Photo by Women Who Hike.
But I can tell you that she wants to do more solo hikes, is looking to get into backpacking, and her favorite outdoor memory was at a National Forest. She has lost more than 100 pounds and still has trouble seeing herself as “outdoorsy,” but totally kicked butt at ice fishing. She’s a mean cook on the grill and she takes her coffee black! What matters is the shared experience of connecting with nature and each other—not the typical info we might share in introductions, but something much deeper on many levels.
I have a tough, former military, law-enforcement ranger superintendent. (There’s lots of those when you work in state parks!) For our first ever Women Who Hike program, I asked if he’d teach self defense. He showed some moves, taught us sensitive points to go for, and encouraged us all to look into carrying tasers. But as a former wrestler wearing a bulletproof vest with a taser and gun on his belt, what was his main message? Listen to your gut. He told all the women, seated in lawn chairs with the reservoir in the background, that their own gut was their best weapon and that they had permission to hurt anyone who was trying to hurt them. I’d like to say that I wisely nodded along with him, but I found myself amongst the group of participants with looks of shock and awe. Wow, no one has ever said that to us before.
That first campout and session comes to mind when I teach any women's class. The impact that permission made—I try to carry that on. Being a woman in the outdoors, leading other women, is about demonstrating that strength comes in various forms. It's not just about physical prowess but the mental fortitude to navigate the uncertainties of nature. When I teach my outdoor survival class at Becoming an Outdoors Woman, put on by Wyoming Game and Fish Department, my main take-home messages are to trust your gut and that you know way more than you think you do. I can show you everything to pack for your survival kit, but giving women permission to trust themselves is more meaningful in the long run.
Ranger Angelina hikes with Women Who Hike participants in Sinks Canyon State Park. Photo by Women Who Hike/Cori Beddow.
What if “revelation” for us as interpreters is revealing to someone—to a woman—her own power and knowledge base? Through my work, I aim to showcase that a woman can expertly build a fire, administer first aid in the woods, and master the art of wilderness survival. We talk about pee cloths, periods in the backcountry, and fitting gear to women’s bodies—topics your usual courses don’t delve into. It's about breaking free from the stereotypes that shackle women and showing that we are more than capable of not only surviving, but thriving in the wild.
Sure, a man could teach this, and sure, a man could teach it to a group of men and women, but there’s something different about seeing a woman in her early thirties in this role giving information, firsthand experiences, and permission to a group of all women. Many women know what it’s like to be the “only” in a room, but being in a group and looking around and seeing all women is just the opposite; it’s a feeling of belonging.
Survival skills are just the tip of the iceberg; the real magic happens when women come together to form a community. Out in these rugged landscapes with no cell coverage, bonds are forged and camaraderie blooms as we share stories around the campfire under the starlit sky. The power of a community of women in the outdoors is immeasurable. It's a space where judgment is replaced by encouragement, competition by collaboration, and fear by mutual support.
You should have seen the pride as a woman in her 80s made it up the rope pull in our caving adventure! Or when we taught a woman who had never been camping before how to make her first s’more, from building the fire to safely putting it out. Our campouts are not just programs; they are catalysts for a movement that encourages women to step into the wild with confidence, knowing that they are not alone—whether they choose to set off alone, with new friends from the group, or with anyone else in the future.
Ranger Angelina and Women Who Hike participants go snowmobiling with the Trails Department. Photo by Women Who Hike/Amanda Hicks.
Through Women Who Hike, I have become an ambassador for a cause that transcends the boundaries of state parks and extends into the minds of women who seek adventure, independence, and connection.
Women Who Hike—including an 85-year-old attendee—caving at Sinks Canyon State Park in Wyoming. Photo by James Ramsey, Wyoming State Parks.
For More Information
Check out https://www.womenwhohike.com/ or find the Women Who Hike main Facebook page and page for your state. Also, look into Becoming an Outdoors Woman, another program just for women that I teach here in Wyoming.