Guides Gone Wild

Today my guest is Heidi Myers - if her name sounds familiar, you get a gold star for listening so attentively to my previous episode with Cori Brago.

Cori talked about wanting to become a guide after all the fun she had at a 'Bittersweet' event that combined fly fishing with gravel bike riding. Well, Heidi Myers is the force of nature behind the Bittersweet events, as well as the co-founder of the Rasputitsa Spring Classic gravel race held annually in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. 

Heidi is a masterful storyteller, a creative and resourceful event organizer, a tireless promoter and community builder - such an inspiration all around, even before you get to the part about her facing down a health prognosis that would kick most of us to the curb for good.

I have to admit that as soon as I finished talking to Heidi, I went online and did a deep dive on YouTube to see just how gnarly the Rasputitsa looked - and it’s probably not a coincidence that the first five videos I watched were posted about the 2019 race, all of the posts were men, and all featured the driving rain and snow that plagued race day that year. But even the guys who finished thinking they’d lose all their fingers to frostbite were raving about the race and wanting to return. So who’s in for 2022 ?!? 

I hope you’ll check out the Rasputitsa on the web, Instagram and Facebook, you can also sign up there for one of the remaining spots in the 2022 40k race, and maybe even join the Women Rock Rasputitsa Facebook group! 

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Today my guest is Cori Brago, a foodie butcher-turned-merchandiser-turned-angler/mentor/killer fundraiser, and boy mom, and amazing human.

This one’s an interesting counterpoint to last week's episode with Laurie Watt. Laurie had a feeling she couldn’t shake that made her keep seeking more in the outdoors. It’s not like she was miserable in her life, she was happy, but knew that was some small part of her that was unfulfilled, and she decided to go for it.

Cori’s story is also about finding healing and happiness in the outdoors, although her journey has been significantly darker and way less fun. Both of these amazing women shine an 1100 lumen headlamp on the fact that we can let a lot of things, even stupid, mundane things, create seemingly insurmountable hurdles for us in adventuring, trying new things, scratching the itches that we have to be a little more fulfilled - the key term there being ‘seemingly’.

Cori’s story is a call to action. She reminds us that taking back agency in our own lives is important. That very often we can recast the stories we don’t like in our lives. That sometimes the things that limit us are partially created in our own minds.

Cori Brago has not only rewritten her own story, but through her involvement with The Mayfly Project, is going all in to guide and mentor others to see the value and potential in their own stories. And of course, the value of hooking that first rainbow trout.

Look for Cori lighting up Instagram and promoting The Mayfly Project. Hope she inspires you to grab your fishing bestie, throw some PBRs in those waders and get out there!

A few more fun links from our convo:

• 50/50 On The Water
• Rasputitsa (VT gravel ride)
• Edison (NJ) Fly Fishing Show
• Watch Cori teach Eeland Stribling (@blacksteveirwin) how to tie a Gurgler!
• Skida headbands (VT)
• Orvis Ultralight Floating Fly Box

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Today I’m talking to Laurie Watt, the Women’s Program Coordinator for Mooney Mountain Guides in Concord, NH.

Laurie is an AMGA Single Pitch Instructor and Apprentice Alpine Guide, a Wilderness First Responder, and an accomplished hiker and climber. And guess what, she didn’t get serious about doing any of this until about six years ago. When she was in her LATE 40s - yes, you read that right.

I wish I could say I was the first person to be sharing Laurie’s inspiring story, but NH Women Magazine beat me to it last week when they published a great profile of Laurie and another accomplished woman climber, North Conway-based Alexa Siegel. I’ve linked to the article in the show notes for this episode over on GuidesGoneWild.com, since I know you’ll want to learn more about both Laurie and Alexa after today.

This conversation left me stoked, and honestly, a little introspective - I’ve really been trying to call myself out on some excuses I’ve been making lately to take it slower or back off certain things just because of my age. It’s time to throw on 'The Bachelorette' and throw down a yoga mat for some stretches, apparently!

You'll want to follow Laurie everywhere online for her amazing ice shots alone, she’s @Laurie_WattClimbs on IG and Laurie Shaver Watt on Facebook. You can also reach out directly to Laurie through her profile on the Mooney Mountain Guides website.

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We are ready to roll forward again with some new interviews, huzzah!! Today my guest is Wendy Eliot, formerly of Atlantic Climbing School in Bar Harbor, ME. Besides having an extremely strong tutu game  - which you’ll have to go to GuidesGoneWild.com to see for yourself -  Wendy is an AMGA certified Single Pitch instructor, massage therapist, health and fitness coach, outdoor educator, clinical mental health therapist in training, loving caregiver, and all-around awesome person. We cover a lot of ground in this conversation (and that’s not even taking into account the 20 odd times Wendy moved between Maine and North Carolina).

We talk about the role climbing can play in empowerment of self and others, how women can sometimes be their own worst enemy, and why a good belayer is everyone’s BFF.

Wendy shares some stories about being the only female climbing instructor a lot of the time - and her insights might surprise you. We also talk about the important work of Pivot Point WNC, an organization that’s close to Wendy’s heart and now benefiting from her outdoor skills and leadership.

Wendy is such an inspiration, not only for all the things she’s doing out in the world, but also for her commitment to her dad and her graceful handling of the challenges one needs to handle as the caregiver for someone with dementia.

I hope you’ll give Wendy a follow on Facebook, and for sure also check out Pivot Point’s amazing work.

Wendy shared some awesome climbing intel and inspiration:

• Grant Simmons, Rock Climbs of Acadia
• REEL ROCK
• Tenacious Tape

For more 411 on the climbing hot spots we talked about, make sure to head on over to the episode page on Guides Gone Wild.com.

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Today’s episode is a bit of a departure from my normal format - this week, to be honest, I really need to take a moment. My schedule’s been jammed, my tech has been fighting me, the greater world around us continues to be an exhausting mess of violence, hate crimes, hate speech, you name it - if you’re inclined to be glum at this time of year, there’s been no shortage of things to enhance that feeling.

So I’m taking a moment to reflect, to plan, to try to move forward  with more intention and attention to things that really matter.

I’m taking more than a few moments to reflect on, and celebrate, all the goodness that this very podcast has brought me. While I haven’t quite hit 52 episodes yet, I actually started the interviews and background work for this podcast less than a month after COVID shut everything down, so I’ve been thinking a lot about all the amazing women and wisdom that have been brought into my life this past year. If you follow Guides Gone Wild on Instagram or Facebook, don’t be surprised if you see me sharing some of this wisdom in the coming days. I’ve been binge-reading all the chicken scratch notes I’ve taken while I’ve conversed and edited over the past year, and I feel like it’s time to start sharing even more inspiration from these new friends of mine.

Today, I’m encore-ing (is that even a word? It is now!) Bri Dostie of Confluence Collective. I first talked with Bri waaaaaay back on episode 7, so whether you’re new to the pod or have been with me from the start, I know you’ll glean new insights and perspective from listening to her again today.

Now is as good a time as any to ask yourself tough questions, examine the identities you hold, and reflect on the ways your experiences differ, impact, or intersect with that of others. ALL others.

I hope you’ll listen in, visit ConfluenceCollective.org, and most importantly, take a moment if you need one.

Thinking about a 2021 getaway with your adventure posse now that almost everyone has a vaccination scheduled? Visit EvansNotchLodge.com for a peek at the place that my besties and I called home this past weekend - 48 hours of hiking, skiing, and campfiring fun!

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Oh my gosh, I had too much fun with this one...I can’t help it, when I meet someone who gets as fired up as I do to talk about OTHER cool women, and she tells great stories, and then you throw some snowmobiling into the mix, I basically lose my sh*t.

My guest today is Debi Gould, the brains and energy and branding genius behind Outdoor Women.

Debi seems hell-bent on avoiding the spotlight, but her own story is fascinating - she’s part of a long family legacy of guides, sporting camp owners, sportsmen AND women. And since 2019, she’s been the committed brand builder and creator of OutdoorWomen.online. Outdoor Women curates stories of - wait for it - outdoor women from across the country, and crafts creative collaborations with large national brands that directly benefit women wanting to get outdoors, while also supporting local, mostly rural small businesses.

As we talk about in this interview, one of the inspirations for Debi when she was creating Outdoor Women was her mom, who enjoyed nothing more than bringing people together around the dining room table after a long day outdoors, to share stories and tall tales, and to pump each other up and create a supportive environment for everyone, from beginners and weekend warriors to professional guides.

We do some goofing around about our 'Judy Camuso Fan Club', but what really links us is our shared awe and appreciation for women getting at it in the outdoors, and our desire to amplify those voices and promote those stories in any way we can.

I hope you’ll join me in becoming a member of Outdoor Women if you can, and follow Outdoor Women on their website. Whether you decide to become a member or not, you can see all kinds of beautiful imagery and features from the OW staff and ambassadors on Instagram and Facebook as well.

And who knows, maybe some of you wild guide types will decide to send in your own stories and pictures and be the next superstar outdoorswoman that Debi’s team features, and then I can look forward to meeting YOU when you’re leading the next 'Brap and Snap' or 'Power and Paddle'!

A few more links from my conversation with Debi:

• Wilson Pond Cabins (Greenville, ME)
• Spencer Pond Camps (Moosehead Lake Region)
• DSG Apparel
• Leave No Trace Awareness Workshop with Nancy Zane (June 6th)

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This week I catch up with Emily Kirkton, a long-time registered Maine guide and the owner of GearME (pun absolutely intended!) which is a fantastic outdoor consignment and rental store in Freeport, Maine.

Emily started GearME after spending several years with a large, regional outdoor retailer, so she absolutely knows her stuff, and as we talk about, if there’s something she doesn’t really know, she just jumps into action anyway and figures it out as she goes along.

GearME and Emily are super-valuable resources for anyone interested in getting outside along the Maine coast. Not only does she consign a wide range of technical clothing and gear, she also rents paddling equipment, snowshoes, packs and poles, and will be expanding those offerings this coming summer season.

Emily has also curated an amazing variety of family-focused outdoor adventure trip reports, with pictures and great descriptions of locations, trails, and anything else you’d be wondering about. She and her partner Hayes know first hand what it’s like to wrangle multiple kids of different ages outside for adventures, and she documents the highs and lows - and whoopie pies - she encounters along the way, so we can all benefit from her wealth of experience and hit the water or trailhead better prepared.

Make sure to check out Emily and GearME on the GearME website, and at GearMEOutdoors on Facebook and Instagram. And if you're looking for inspiration for your own Adventure Tuesdays, here's a direct link to her Kids in the Woods guide.

Some other cool things we talked about:

• What is Scottish Highland dancing?
• GGW Episode 39 with the ‘other’ Emily (Holland)
• Tumbledown Mountain (Weld, ME)
• Wicked Whoopies (Freeport, ME)

And a shameless plug for Guides Gone Wild on NewsCenter Maine’s '207'!

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If you're an avid podcast listener like me, you may recognize today's guest, Emily Holland, from The Stokecast, a show she co-hosted for a few years on which she talked to athletes, entrepreneurs, and activists in the outdoor industry about how to balance work, life, and adventure while having fun and making a difference.

That was cool enough, but today we’re focusing on Emily’s NEXT big thing, or should I say her next big thingS. Emily recently celebrated a year of sobriety, shortly after she launched her new solo podcast endeavor, Nature Untold. Six episodes in as of today, Emily is already crushing it with fantastic interviews that examine the intersection of addiction, recovery and sobriety with the outdoor community. Or, maybe, lack of community - I’ll let Emily talk more about that.

Emily is smart, introspective, and a joy to talk with - and I found her story super-powerful. It’s not about someone hitting rock bottom and finding some kind of heroic, Hallmark-movie redemption; rather, it’s about turning inward, learning to place value on yourself, understanding and wanting to be your best self, and realizing how vitally important community - or maybe the ‘right’ kind of community - is to all of our wellbeing.

I hope you’ll listen in to Nature Untold on your favorite podcast player, check out her new website, natureuntoldcollective.com, consider joining the Nature Untold Facebook group, follow Nature Untold on Instagram, and I’d definitely recommend perusing the other writing Emily has posted on her personal blog. 

Some useful links from our conversation:

• Explore Inspired (home of The Stokecast podcast and more info about Jonathan Ronzio)
• Sober Curious by Ruby Warrington
• NA Brut Champagne (and other non-alcoholic bubbly options)
• Rumney, NH - Rumney Climbers Association

And additional exploration for the ‘sober-curious’, and/or those who’d like to learn more about the spectrum of alcohol use disorder and different approaches to addiction treatment and recovery*:

• Quit Like a Woman by Holly Whitaker
• Tempest
• The Luckiest Club (TLC)
• 1000 Hours Dry
• Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)
• SMARTRecovery
• Women For Sobriety (WFS)

* Please note - alcoholism and other addictions are serious business. These links are provided as suggestions for more research and exploration, not as a standalone ‘cure’ for anyone or any condition. Please consult a medical professional if you or someone you love is struggling with alcohol, drugs, or other dependencies.

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If you’ve been listening to the podcast for a bit, you’ve probably heard me say about 20 times that I need to bring a guest back to take a deeper dive into something we talked about in an interview… I’m finally making good on one of these promises, my guest today is the knowledgeable and delightful Nancy Zane from Northstar Adventures.

Nancy was one of my first guests waaaay back on Episode 3, and she is a Leave No Trace Master Educator, which we didn’t delve into too much at the time. But one unexpected result of the worldwide pandemic, at least in the northeast, has been to drive more and more people outside, whether for exercise, solace or even just for a change of scenery. And with the weather starting to improve, it’s probably just a matter of weeks before trailheads and boat ramps start overflowing with people again. I figured it was high time we bring Nancy back to school us on the seven principles of leave no trace.

From fairy houses and painted rocks, to campfires and cat-hole etiquette, Nancy helps us sort through the good, bad, and often counterintuitive things we do that can adversely impact the spaces and places we love. I found this interview to be hugely informative, and I know you will too!

Do an even deeper dive into Leave No Trace ethics and practices with more useful links from my conversation with Nancy:

• Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics
• W.A.G. Bags / GO anywhere toilet kit
• How to build a mound fire
• How to use a fire pan
• Whisperlite stove
• Tumbledown Mountain (Weld, ME)

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Looking to shake off some of your mid-winter doldrums with an inspiring conversation? I think this one will knock your socks off. And they’d better be Darn Tough socks, because Murphy Robinson of Mountainsong Expeditions was talking to me from their tiny house homestead in central Vermont.

I didn’t have time to dig into the whole tiny house thing (which will definitely be fodder for a future episode, because I’m completely fascinated by composting toilets and solar arrays and the like). But it doesn’t matter, because Murphy still manages to pack about seven episodes worth of value and inspiration into the hour.

Murphy’s throughline has been stretching their capabilities to see what they can do, and being open to guidance and connections as they present themselves, whether in physical or spiritual form. We talk about the awakening of a competitive spirit you didn’t know you had; about consent and spiritual connection. About cultural appropriation, colonialism, and creating safe spaces. Being both rigorous and gentle with yourself.

Murphy is a thru hiker and pacifist-vegetarian-turned-huntress who’s full of grace and humor and a bazillion interesting stories, so please enjoy my wide-ranging conversation with Murphy Robinson.

You can connect with Murphy and learn more about upcoming adventures and trainings via their website, Mountainsong Expeditions.

And I can't recommend Murphy's other writings enough:

• Murphy’s fantastic 4-part blog series on colonialism and cultural appropriation - start here!
• Murphy’s AT Trail Journal
• Way of the Weaver
• Murphy’s Tiny House

We talked about lots of cool sh*t, so I've included some additional links for your web surfing pleasure:

• Farm & Wilderness Camps (VT)
• Four-State Challenge (on Appalachian Trail)
• Neo-Paganism
• Murphy’s interview on The Reverend Hunter Podcast
• Standing Rock - Two Spirit Camp
• Street Medic Training - Do No Harm Coalition

Thanks, as always, to our sponsor Evans Notch Lodge!

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