Live & Local: Women's Wilderness

The following is an excerpt of the conversation heard above:

Steve Chavis: Kriste Peoples, can I ask you to comment on some of the light bulb moments when you bring girls and women particularly into the outdoors? Because a lot of what we hear about, particularly with girls, is their addiction to the phone and to the images that social media give our young women, and I've got to believe that when they encounter the really high ceilings of the outdoors and the beautiful walls of trees, (that) they are seeing themselves differently. What do you experience?

Kriste Peoples: Yes, all of that. So, one of the first roles that I had at Women's Wilderness was being a rock-climbing instructor. And so, we went into the schools, and we brought the girls to the climbing gym and just did a semester long program helping them to learn how to rock climb. And then we would transition out to the rock face outside. What I witnessed was the girls would come in, maybe in (the) little pockets of their cliques, maybe they were a little bit hesitant or nervous or very quiet, but soon in they started to find their voice. They started to open up and connect with the other girls. And the thing is, in rock climbing, if you've ever seen people standing down on the floor and belaying or helping their climber get up the wall, the thing is you have to be in communication. You have to speak clearly and loudly to make sure that you're safe - it's a whole system! And we not only heard directly from the girls themselves who said, "I feel more confidence in my body. I feel more confidence in the way that I communicate with my family. I have more patience for my siblings now." And their parents say the same thing, like, "We've noticed a change in her. It's great. She pays more attention in school, she's more communicative, she's more patient." So, there are all these hidden, so-called "hidden benefits" of connecting to the outdoors.

Abi Clark: You're offering these transformational experiences year-round to women, girls, and non-binary people. And you can find out all these year-round programs at women's wilderness.org - And there's a lot there, so, take your time! I would love to hear about, speaking of women, we're in Women's History Month and you have this month-long celebration, community engagement thing happening, "Celebrating herSTORY." And I was checking out your socials and from talking to you, you're going to be uplifting these women in history. It's got to be hard to choose. And I would love to hear about this program and what you're doing with it.  

KP: It's amazing because when we were planning this, it started from this seed of how many mountains do we know that are named after women? How many bodies of water, how many monuments are named after women? Right? Think about it and please email us and let us know! And so that got us thinking about (how) our stories are untold.. so many of them! And here is an opportunity to raise awareness of this, to raise our voices, to come together in community. It's so many things that intersect and align with our mission. So having this space where we feel so far-flung, disparate, alienated, and isolated.. there's a loneliness epidemic happening right now. And so, we know science tells us that there are numerous health, physical health, mental health connectivity, social fabric enhancers that happen when we simply set foot outside. And you don't have to have a mountain trail or a rushing river or these pristine scenes, but if you go outside, let the wind wash over you, you are more connected to the truth of who you are, the truth of who we are as individuals. And when we get together with women, generally speaking, we often break into stories, and we are wired for stories.. to hear about "What was your experience? Where did you come from? How did you get outdoors?" And the wonderful thing about women and girls getting together is that it's so communal. It's a circle. It's not this hierarchy. "You got to get to the summit or else - you got to crush it!" Think about the language: crush it, dominate, burn it, bag it.. all that stuff. And we want to nurture and support and learn from each other. So, the people who come out, just like the girls in the climbing courses, the women out on the trails, we are learning from each other. And so, this opportunity to share stories is tremendous because it trips not only the memory, but we unlock things that we didn't even know about ourselves. And I want to share just one quick story. We had a woman who was expecting her first grandchild. She went out on a backpacking trip with us, and we were all sharing our stories about what brought you outside. And she said, "I want to be a baddie, a baddie nana, a bad-a-nana. And right now, I don't like the bugs. I don't know how to do this, but I want to extend this love of nature to my grandbaby when he comes. And so doing this, you have provided this space for me to learn and to confront my fears and to be in a supportive circle of women who want to do the same." So that right there is part of the tremendous reward and benefit of getting outside, sharing our stories, and allowing ourselves to have a new experience that changes us by the time we get back to that car.

Throughout the month of March, Women's History Month, the Women's Wilderness is Celebrating herSTORY through storytelling of the lives of women+ who have advocated for engagement in the outdoors, a virtual 27 miles challenge during the month of March that can be joined from anywhere in the world (as Kriste Peoples says, “the outdoors is outside your door”), and a celebration on Friday, March 28 2025 in Denver, at the REI Flagship store from 5:30-8 p.m..

More details on events and programming at Women's Wilderness.