In honor of it being National Volunteers Week, today we're talking to Cindy Hession - scientist by day, hiker and volunteer chair for the 48 Peaks Hike to End Alzheimer's every other waking moment she can manage! Cindy and I talk about her love affair with the White Mountains and hiking, her personal connection with Alzheimer's, and how the 48 Peaks fundraiser grew out of one man’s devotion to his wife. Her enthusiasm and dedication to this event will pour through your earbuds and make it obvious why Cindy was recognized with a national award earlier this year for her volunteerism. To lend m ..read more

Sliding in better late than never this week (DAMN POWER OUTAGE!!) with my fabulous new friend, Tarin O’Donnell of the Tarin It Up Podcast. Tarin and I met through a women’s podcasting group, and even before I listened to her podcast, I realized I had to have her on because she’s been living a life that a lot of us glamorize and feel a little bit envious of…. Picture snowy woodlands, gorgeous mountains and lakes, skiing, snowmobiles, yoga, avy training at a craft brewery... It’s Lake Tahoe for crying out loud. You know the jam. But - the reason I wanted to invite her on was NOT to give us an ..read more

Today we take a scenic ride through the intricacies of trail development, where the rubber meets the road in terms of community building, advocacy, grant writing, marketing... and bike riding! Marianne Borowski is the absolute force of nature behind the Cross New Hampshire Adventure Trail. For those of you who haven’t yet heard of it, the Cross New Hampshire Adventure Trail is an 83 mile long multi-purpose trail that spans northern New Hampshire, from Woodsville on the Vermont border to Bethel, Maine. The Adventure Trail patches together pre-existing rail trails, bike paths, dirt roads and a ..read more

Today I bring you another dose of practical, relatable, do-able inspiration with my special guest Val Hopkins from 365 Mile Challenge. Val’s business is all about meeting people wherever they are, bringing them into a supportive community, and providing them with tools, resources and motivation to build a movement habit that works within the limitations of their life, time and physicality - whatever those look like. That would be inspiring enough, but wait until you hear about how Val, the tech-challenged nurse forced to retire early because of an injury, decided that she and her biologist d ..read more

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 al ..read more

What you need to know RIGHT THIS SECOND is that we are kicking off the Last Friday of the Month Virtual Meetup - for any and all Guides Gone Wild peeps - starting NEXT TUESDAY, January 30th, at 7pm. How can you join the virtual meetup, you ask? CLICK HERE or head on over to GuidesGoneWild.com/meet and sign up for the calendar invite and Zoom link! At this first meetup, we will be talking about visions and goals and hopes for 2024 - and the rest of the year, we’ll be inviting in the guides and conversations and accountability we need to actually get all the fun stuff done! So where did this ..read more

Hopping into the Wild One Wayback Wagon this week to take a quick look back at 2023 - and while we're at it, grab some last minute gift ideas, giving thoughts and gritty inspiration to take us through this darkest day and into the light of the new year! GIFT IDEAS: https://backcountryfoodie.com/ - use code WILD at checkout to save 20% on memberships https://navitour.com/ - support local Maine Guides and trip leaders https://www.cedargrovesauna.com/ - sweat and soak up and down mid-coast Maine https://saltwatermountainco.com/ - treat your bestie to a luxurious DryRobe https://www.arcticlynxmat ..read more

Today we get back to my wild fan-girling business with Renaissance woman and Registered Maine Guide, Kat Ripley. Kat and I recently worked together on an amazing event hosted by Anna Heath and We Built This, where eight wanna-be carpenters were brought together for a weekend of learning, building, mending, yoga and outdoor mindfulness - that last part was where Kat came in for this event. One of Kat’s most potent talents involves bringing people into nature in a meaningful way, which she’s now doing through her Juniper Moss Guide Services. Kat walked us all through an amazing exercise at the ..read more

Today I’ve got an awesome conversation with just the kind of everywoman superhero I love to talk to on the pod - Lindsay Currier, a registered Maine guide, mountain bike coach, enduro racer, trail builder, ski patroller, total mom goals and the force behind Bikepack Maine. Lindsay’s lived on both coasts and a few places in between, and has spent a bunch of years doing a bunch of stuff to lift up women in biking, whether as her full-time gig or as a side-hustle-on-steroids. We don’t talk a ton about how Lindsay got into biking in the first place, or what brought her into racing and coaching i ..read more

Today we're embarking on a culinary thru-hike with registered dietitian and logistical powerhouse Aaron Owens Mayhew, the founder of Backcountry Foodie and the trail mom we all wish we had! I’m not even a long distance hiker (yet?!?), and can count on one hand the number of times I’ve backpacked for consecutive days sleeping outside, honestly - but I’ve been OBSESSED by the Backcountry Foodie business for years, since Aaron was doing Facebook Lives sitting outside in her vanlife days... and as COVID was lingering on, I listened to countless podcasts featuring Aaron telling her hiking back sto ..read more