Guides Gone Wild – Details, episodes & analysis

Genuine Climbing: https://genuineclimbing.org/

Support climbing retreats for breast cancer survivors!: https://genuineclimbing.org/donate/

Join Anyssa & Moira at Climb for a Cause, October 23rd from 3-9pm at GOAT Climbing Gym, Hackensack, NJ

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month, today I’m talking to my long-time pod friend Anyssa Lucena of Genuine Climbing, as well as Dr. Moira Christoudias, a breast surgical oncologist with Valley-Mount Sinai Comprehensive Cancer Care in Paramus NJ.

Anyssa and Moira have joined me today to talk all about their amazing new initiative, Genuine Climbing.org, which will be providing FREE climbing experiences to women affected by breast cancer. 

Genuine Climbing's mission is hugely personal for both of these women, as you’ll hear - as Anyssa writes on the website, the lump she felt became the seed for this vision. And now that vision has turned into lots and lots of action - as of early fall 2024, they’ve achieved non-profit status for Genuine Climbing, they’ve got all their ducks in a row, and are now accepting applications for the three amazing climbing retreat events they’ve got confirmed on their calendar already for 2025. I hope you’ll join me in supporting this wonderful organization, the link to donate or volunteer is above - get on it!!

Even if you’re not a climber, you’ll want to listen in today - Dr. Christoudias drops more than a few truth bombs and dispels many myths about breast cancer risk. One in eight (!!) women will get breast cancer in their lifetime. Let’s all educate ourselves on our risks, encourage our friends and family to do the same, and do everything we can to detect it as early as possible!!

A few more links for you:

• Anyssa's first appearance on Guides Gone Wild
• Anyssa updates Guides Gone Wild on her diagnosis and first Climb for a Cause fundraiser
• Valley-Mount Sinai Comprehensive Cancer Care (NJ)
• GOAT Climbing Gym (NJ)
• Casting for Recovery

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Back in July, I posted my episode with Nicole Freedman, the executive Director of NEMBA, and she was the one who introduced me to Paula Burton, a long-time mountain biker, NEMBA CT chapter founder, and instructor for NEMBA Trail School.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to meet Paula in person at the trail school I attended back in June, but we did connect over Zoom for an article I was writing for the NEMBA Single Tracks newsletter.

We hadn’t been talking for long before I realized that Paula was just the kind of guest I love, love, LOVE to have on this podcast - a real person doing really integral work that is constantly improving the outdoor experience for newbies and weekend warriors like me!

Paula’s been riding since before mountain biking was really a “thing”, and she’s got tons of stories to share that serve to highlight how far we’ve come in outdoor representation in the last 30+ years…. but also how not everything has changed quite so much.

Enjoy this special Friday Funday Feature!

NEMBA (New England Mountain Bike Association) - https://nemba.org/

IMBA (International Mountain Biking Association) - https://www.imba.com/

And a few more fun links:

• Thunder Mountain Bike Park (Charlemont, MA)
• Appalachian Mountain Club
• Connecticut Greenways Council
• George Waldo State Park (Southbury, CT)
• What is a pump track?
• Rockhouse Hill (Oxford, CT)
• What is a Class 1 Ebike?
• Bluff Point State Park (Groton, CT)
• Highland Mountain Bike Park (Northfield, NH)
• Pittsfield State Forest (Pittsfield, MA)

Building your Biking Bucket List? Paula’s recs:

• Baja California (Mexico)
• Bear Ears National Monument (UT)
• Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument (UT)
• Moab (UT)
• Grand Junction (CO)
• Fruita (CO)

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Today we head OUTside with another fabulous wild guide, Rae-a Moughty, Founder and Director of Campfire Institute, an amazing organization that offers wilderness enrichment adventures for girls and LGBTQIA+ youth.

I connected with Rae-a right after she’d wrapped up the Institute’s OUT on the Snow program held at Evans Notch Lodge over MLK weekend. We were both so fired up by the great time had by the teens, and we wanted to harness that energy to try to spread the word about Campfire Institute and all of its programs still on tap for 2024.

Rae-a is an educator, registered Maine Guide, and all around ray of sunshine, as you’ll hear. Her passion for her work literally pours out of her, and she can’t grow her programs fast enough to keep up with the demand from all corners of Maine.

After you're done tuning in today, make sure to click on the link below to watch the beautiful video Jenny Woodward created with Rae-a (aka "Cricket"), featuring some of the teens that have found their voice and powerful connections through Campfire Institute programs. These kids are amazing and totally, authentically themselves, right down to the classic teen eyerolls!

It is NOT too late to sign up for Campfire Institute’s fabulous 2024 programming, so head over to CampfireInstitute.org - and even if you aren’t actively looking to register YOUR child or young adult for a program, you might just think of smashing that DONATE button and helping to sponsor another.

Please also follow @campfireinstitute on Facebook and Instagram - and there’s even a @campfireinstitute TikTok for the youth in your life to get their stoke on without having to stoop to joining you on the old folks’ socials!

And finally - if you are a retreat leader or guide looking for a low-key, affordable and comfy place to basecamp YOUR next group adventure, I hope you’ll check out Evans Notch Lodge - it's a sweet spot for groups like Campfire Institute, and we will work with you to achieve your vision for your event, retreat, bootcamp, whatever. Contact  @evansnotchlodge on Instagram or Facebook, or come on over to EvansNotchLodge.com for more info.

Make sure to check OUT these links from our conversation!:

• Campfire Institute:  https://www.campfireinstitute.org/
• @campfireinstitute on Instagram
• The OUT Retreat Weekend 2024
• Check out the amazing work Campfire Institute does in this video: http://vimeo.com/jennywoodward/campfire
• OUTdoor Leadership Training with Maine Tourism & Campfire Institute
• Equality Maine
• Give the gift of Equitable Wilderness!

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I'm coming in HOT today with my guest, Tiffany Soukup.

Tiff is a fireball of energy and positivity, and will probably be #lifegoals to any of you who aspire to a life filled with travel and the outdoors.

Tiff and her husband are Park Rangers (aka Park Managers) within the Vermont State Park system, and have also served as the managers of the AMC’s Little Lyford Lodge & Cabins in Greenville, Maine for several winters. Although not this winter - and we’ll get into why in our conversation.

But if that wasn’t interesting enough, Tiff is also an inveterate world traveler during the stick and mud seasons, a photographer, a writer, and the #1 evangelist over at VagabondWay.net, as she terms it, a site about "a deliberate way of living, allowing the freedom to travel".

And because we covered some ground, links for everyone!!:

• @VagabondWayTiffany on Instagram
• VagabondWay on YouTube
• Tiff’s shrew article
• National Student Exchange
• Chef Christopher Bates
• AmeriCorps
• New Zealand Working Holiday Visa
• Great Walks of New Zealand
• Vermont Youth Conservation Corps
• Elmore State Park (VT)
• Ranger Emma (National Park Service) on Guides Gone Wild
• Sayon Lodge State Park (VT) 
• Spruce Mountain (VT)
• Camp Plymouth (VT)
• Dark Sky Initiative
• Gourmia Travel Kettle

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Ignore that pile of snow by the driveway, today we are talking SUMMERTIME…… and summer camp! Like, unbelievably awesome summer camp that makes me FOMO even as an adult!

Amanda Hatley of She Summits Co. was on the pod waaaay back in September of 2020. At the time, as you’ll hear, Amanda was reeling from the impact that COVID was having on her new business -- but she was walking her talk, being brave, and figuring out her next pivot(s).

Fast forward to February, 2022 - She Summits is no fly by night startup.

Despite, or maybe I should say in spite of, all that is going on in the world -- ever-changing COVID restrictions, the Great Resignation, the uncertainty that’s been overwhelming pretty much every area of our lives -- Amanda and her She Summits team executed on a 2021 season of life changing, next level camp experiences.

Backpacking through and exploring all the hidden corners of Acadia.
Hiking the AT, summiting Katahdin, white water rafting.
Even kayaking with day campers in the Bangor area.

And She Summits Co. will be firing on all cylinders again in 2022, with day and overnight camps for girls in 1st through 12th grade. They even have a Junior Maine Guide program for 4th to 12th graders, how cool is that? Get out there, girls, we need more Guides Gone Wild in Maine!

She Summits Co. is so buttoned up. Their camp programs and trips are amazing, and they take great care to hire exceptional people and give them tons of training and support. I hope you will join me in spreading the word about this amazing organization, right now - because as anyone with kids knows, if you want to secure some safely supervised, electronics-free summer outdoor activity for your kid, you have to have it planned out by February break these days... #kidding not kidding.

Get over to SheSummitsCo.com and check it out, share it with your friends and family - let’s make this the best summer ever for Amanda, her company, AND the budding wild guides in your lives!

And in case you needed more convincing - She Summits Co. has been nominated for The Most Exciting Start Up of 2021 by UpStart Maine! Big deal, people!!

Vote for She Summits Co. in the comments HERE
and by clicking HERE to select She Summits Co. from the list of nominees in the pop-up poll.

Let's make summer 2022 the best yet!

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Today we’re going to try to break this arctic freeze streak we've been stuck in lately with a blast of FIRE from my guest, Christsonthy Drellos of Blue Sky MTB.

Christsonthy is the powerhouse mountain biking coach and instructor that Trish and I went on and on about back in the September 16th episode, when we recapped our amazing Vertical experience. If you are even vaguely interested in mountain biking OR fly fishing, I recommend you go back and listen to that one, so that I can make sure you come with us and amplify the fun for next year’s Vertical event!

And if you are slightly MORE than vaguely interested in mountain biking, you will love this conversation with Christsonthy. She is a certified mountain bike instructor and coach, and a positive force of nature.

Like, every sentence on her website ends in an exclamation point, and she’s smiling ear to ear in every picture you’ll see.

But that is entirely her persona - she and Blue Sky MTB bring the fun, whether to her base in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, or her winter home trails in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Christsonthy drops some great technique tips and gear recommendations, and her laugh is infectious, so drop on into this episode and get airborne with Christsonthy Drellos of Blue Sky MTB! And of course, make sure to follow Christsonthy @blueskymtb.

A sampling of the things we talk about (come on over to the Guides Gone Wild website to see the rest!):

• Vertical 
• Kingdom Trails - Sidewinder Trail (side note, we all need to tell Christsonthy to do some POV videos on her favorite Kingdom Trails for YouTube next summer so I can replace this bruh video with her!)
• What is enduro racing?
• Transition Women’s Weekend East - Angi Weston
• Highland Women’s Weekend
• Village Sport Shop (Lyndonville, VT)
• Appalachian Mountain Bike Club (Knoxville, TN)
• Ergon Grips
• Swiftwick Socks

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Today I’m joined by Victoria Amico, the brilliance behind Plus Sized Outdoors - a curated online resource and blog for hikers, an instructional YouTube Channel, and now, an inspiring PCT Thru Hike you can follow along with starting this spring!

Victoria and I met cute during a Zoom class hosted by our mutual friend Emily Holland, the host of the Nature Untold podcast, and a former guest of this very pod. When Victoria talked a little bit about what she was working on, I started private messaging her, just to find out that she’s also currently living 30ish miles from me here in Mass. Next thing you know, we are on a socially distanced library date to chat all things outdoor inspiration, and I knew right then she was THE ONE…. for an upcoming episode!  (OK, yes, I know, overkill on the rom-com metaphors).

Anyway, Victoria’s story is one of repeated disappointment and rejection while following "the path" that most of us have grown up thinking we needed to be on.

That kind of beat down takes its toll, as we discuss, but Victoria has lived up to her name and come out the other side victorious, ready to take on some huge things, and support lots of friends in the process.

I hope you’ll also head over to plussizedoutdoors.org, where you’ll find her beautiful site with all the fantastic resources that I go on and on about in this episode, I promise you’ll be just as impressed as I am.

And the rest of your required reading from this episode:

• @Plus_sized_outdoors on Instagram
• Plus Sized Outdoors on YouTube
• Hiking My Feelings donation page
• The Trevor Project donation page
• Victoria’s PCT blog on The Trek
• Mt. Major (NH)
• Unlikely Hikers - Jenny Bruso
• She Explores Podcast featuring Sam Ortiz
• Hiking My Feelings - @hikingmyfeelings
• Sydney Williams
• Virtual Campfire featuring Victoria
• Rocky Mountain National Park
• Four Pass Loop
• Maroon Bells
• PCT (Pacific Crest Trail)
• What is ‘Type II/Type III’ fun?
• REI Garage Sale
• NEMO Hornet 2-person tent

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Today’s fabulous guest, Heather Kinal, is going to fuel our  PLAN-UARY mojo!

Heather is the organizer of the Rooted Women’s Mountain Bike Festival that will be happening in July; she’s one half of the super-terrestrial force behind Ride Cosmic Dirt, a new women’s mountain biking clothing brand that’s launching its Kickstarter any day now; she’s the founder of the Instagram community Sisters in Singletrack; and not surprisingly, she’s also an all around lovely person who loves connecting women to each other, and to new experiences.

Heather and I caught up right before she left her home base in the Buffalo New York area for a cross country traverse to meet up with Ride Cosmic Dirt’s co-badass, Ashley Duffus-Jambor. Even before her trip commenced, Heather and I covered a lot of ground - we talk about getting started in mountain biking, building confidence, yelling at the internet,  launching an apparel company during a pandemic, and why we need Rooted in our lives.

Along with the Ride Cosmic Dirt universe, you should obviously follow Heather in all her other places, she’s @heluvaheather, @sistersinsingletrack, and @rootedMTBfest on Instagram. 

AND - don't forget, it’s Plan-uary!!  Time to put some dates on the calendar for safe outdoor fun!:

• Snowshoe Camp with Sarah Canney (registration closes January 17th!)
• Ice Climbing with Laurie Watt
• Dogsledding with Polly Mahoney

More links and fun stuff:

• Rooted MTB Festival 2021 recap video on YouTube
• Loud Performance Bike Shop (Bemus Point, NY)
• Roam Fest (Knoxville - Fruita - Sedona)
• Clipless vs. Flat MTB shoes?
• Fingerless gloves 
• Under Armour Volleyball Knee Pads
• Vertical Even Recap on Guides Gone Wild (09.16.21)
• Heidi Myers on Guides Gone Wild (04.22.21)

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Happy New Year!
One of my 'resolutions' for this podcast way back when I first started it was to broaden the definition of adventure. I want everyone to reimagine what outdoor experiences look like, to bring a new appreciation of the small moments or unique connections with nature that you can have right where you are now, that can bring so much joy and fulfillment.

You don’t need to be 17 miles into the backcountry, surrounded by woods and megafauna, to have a fulfilling outdoor experience!

So to kick off 2022, I’m sharing my conversation with Emma Mitchell, who is a National Park Ranger. You might think that means Emma spends her days dodging elk in Yellowstone, or recommending day hikes in Acadia, but no - Emma is stationed at the Lowell National Historical Park in very urban Lowell, Mass.

If you’re not familiar with Lowell, it’s a mid-sized city along the Merrimack River that was one of the first planned industrial cities in America. In the first half of the 1800s, Lowell was an important center of textile production it’s canal-powered manufacturing became a model for urban development across the country, for better or worse.

Today’s Lowell benefits from the diverse ethnic and cultural makeup that is the legacy of employing successive waves of immigrants, but has had to grapple with the environmental disaster that was the industrial revolution, and the economic fallout of all of the city’s foundational industries moving south or overseas over the last century.

Emma’s chance visit to Lowell as a child actually set the stage for her applying to be a ranger at that park, as we’ll hear. But we talk about a whole heck of a lot more - so if you’re a jack trapper, get ready to rumble. And even if you have zero idea what I’m talking about, I know you’ll want to listen in to this fun one.

Make sure you follow @RangerEmma406 on Instagram, and check out some of the other links from our conversation:

• National Park Service
• Yellowstone National Park
• Mammoth Hot Springs
• Student Conservation Association
• Iditarod
• What is ‘jigging’?
• Boston National Historical Park
• Boston African American National Historic Site
• Boston Harbor Islands
• Faneuil Hall
• Charlestown Navy Yard
• Bunker Hill Monument
• Boot Cotton Mills Museum
• Kittery Trading Post
• Seashore Trolley Museum
• Petzl Headlamp
• Counter Assault Bear Spray
• Heritage Ice Fishing Traps
• Jack Traps

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I’m sharing something a little different with you today, to close out COVID Dumpster Fire Year version 2.0......

Back in November I had the awesome opportunity to be on the other side of the mic as a guest on the Lessons from The MAP podcast, hosted by Jamie Blackburn. 

Jamie is a somatic wellness educator whose mission is to help people decrease their anxiety and chronic stress by teaching them tricks to create a more Mindful, Active, and Present (MAP) life- that’s where the M-A-P comes from, Mindful, Active and Present.

I met Jamie through a podcaster Facebook group I’m part of (that was created by none other than Emily Holland, my guest on GGW back in May of this year). On her podcast, Lessons from the MAP, Jamie interviews female outdoor enthusiasts and nature lovers about how adventures in the natural world have shaped their inner landscape - so of course I was honored to participate and share a little bit of the origin story of Guides Gone Wild!

A quick note before we dive into this conversation - you’ll hear us talking about the Guides Gone Wild Giving and Gifting guides - and guess what, even though the holiday season is winding down, there’s still PLENTY of time to make some year-end donations to a few more worthy causes! Or better yet, find a few organizations to support on an ongoing basis in 2022 - every little bit makes a difference, so whatever your giving goals are, I hope you’ll head to GuidesGoneWild.com/Giving to learn about the causes that are closest to our guests' hearts. 

Also be sure to check out Jamie Blackburn’s work at InnerMapProject.com - you can listen to all of the episodes of her podcast and check out the wellness programs and resources she has available there.

Listen in as I take the hot seat and talk about finding new purpose and inspiration through conversation. 

And while you're at it, let's raise a glass (bubbly, sparkly, kombucha, whatever) to 2022 - may this coming year create opportunities for all of us to forget, for a minute, what the potential viral load exposure of every freaking activity might be, so that we can grab a few friends and try something new - in community!

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