Guides Gone Wild

I just realized that I’m on a streak of non-Mainers for a few weeks here, last week was Nancy Wind from Mass, this week I’m talking to the absolutely delightful Melissa Goodwin from NYC (Brooklyn to be exact).

Melissa is a New York hiking and camping guide and the "girl" behind Girl Gotta Hike (the company), and Girl Gotta Hike, The Podcast. As her website so succinctly puts it, “Girl Gotta Hike encourages women of all ages to get away from the grind and connect with the ground online, on-air and through guided hikes and backpacking trips in and around NYC. It’s your resource for information, encouragement, camaraderie and confidence that will help you reach your personal summits.”

Melissa’s fantastic podcast was a major source of inspiration when the idea for Guides Gone Wild started knocking around in my pandemic brain. I found the contrast between her amazing thru-hiking resume and the accessible, beginner-friendly hikes and backpacking trips that predominate on the Girl Gotta Hike adventure schedule totally intriguing, and I knew I had to have her on the podcast. I kept trying to set up times to meet or talk, and Melissa kept swiping left, but as you’ve probably figured out by now, I can be a little persistent in my fangirl stalking...

If you're up for fangirling too, check out Girl Gotta Hike on the web, Instagram, and of course, don't forget to subscribe to Girl Gotta Hike, The Podcast (and make sure to listen to my recent favorite episode). I'd be remiss if I didn't also recommend that you check out Melissa's gorgeous photography on her '9-to-5' site,  MelissaGoodwinPhotography.com.

Other links from our chat:

• The Gunks (New Palz, NY)
• Minnewaska State Park
• Girl Gotta Hike, The Podcast - Episode 4 with Christi Holmes
• Guides Gone Wild Podcast - Christi Holmes 
• Catskills 3500 Club
• John Muir Trail - Tuolumne Meadows
• Harriman State Park
• NY/NJ Trail Conference
• Dirty Girl Gaiters

Finally - time to plan those summer adventures! Check out Evans Notch Lodge, on the banks of the Wild River on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest, for your Maine group getaway!

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My guest today is Nancy Wind, the powerhouse behind Peaks And Poses, a company that guides people outdoors for trail yoga, hiking, backpacking and other adventures. Nancy is also a health coach who’s been teaching plant-based cooking and has built a wellness program, called Power UP, around Ayurvedic principles.

Nancy’s practices focus on the interplay of the mind, body, and spirit, which has resonated more with me as I get older and often feel like I’m falling apart at the seams! Let’s just say I’ve been forced to pay closer attention to all three of those components, especially with all the added stressors that the pandemic has thrown our way.

So it brings me great pleasure to speak with Nancy, since she brings her positive energy, encouragement, and sense of adventure to everything she does under the Peaks and Poses umbrella.

Nancy has already inspired me to venture out to new trails close to home, and plan big adventures in previously overlooked places - any other Massholes out there interested in an end-to-end traverse of Blue Hills Reservation later this winter?!?

You, too, can get more inspiration from Nancy and learn more about her PowerUp Coaching Program by following Peaks and Poses on the web, Instagram and Facebook.

More links from our fascinating conversation:

• New England Over 40 Hiking MeetUp group
• Welch Dickey Loop
• Cannon Cliffs
• 13 Falls Tentsite
• Mt. Tecumseh
• The Notch Hostel - Serena Ryan (GGW Episode 24)
• AMC Huts (we mention Greenleaf, Lake of the Clouds, Mizpah, and Madison, but there are many more!)
• Mt. Desert Campground, Acadia (ME)
• Ayurvedic Principles
• What is kitchari?
• Body Thrive by Cate Stillman
• The New England Trail

And special thanks as always to our sponsor, Evans Notch Lodge!

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Last spring, when I started contemplating taking my curiosity online and into your earbuds, I was checking out various interview-focused podcasts for ideas and inspiration. Even though I was finding my conversations with so called ‘regular people’ hugely interesting, I wasn’t sure anyone else would, or that I could make an actual podcast out of someone like your next-door neighbor doing cool sh*t. But then I found the Part-Time Athletes Podcast and binge-listened, and I knew I was on to something.

Part-Time Athletes is hosted by today's guest, BreOutside. Bre is a runner, yogi, fitness trainer, and much else, all wrapped up in a curious, gentle soul who consistently pushes herself beyond her limitations.

Bre’s interviews are so refreshing, she lets her curiosity be her guide and doesn’t let herself be held back or get embarrassed by things she doesn’t know or wants to find out more about. At the core of it all, she’s just wondering the same thing I always am - what motivates you? Why do you get up every morning and choose to do this thing?

I’m such a huge fan of Bre. She offers up so much sage advice for beginner athletes of all kinds, from listening to your body, the importance of planning and getting your fundamentals right, taking small steps toward big goals… Even beyond the technical advice, Bre’s attitude toward her training, and athleticism in general, is so healthy and awesome.

Even though I’m probably older than her own mom, as a very-part-time athlete myself who struggles to fit any kind of activity in around all that life throws at me, I find Bre to be totally relatable. I think you will too.

You can check out Bre’s fitness training, yoga and more on her website, and follow her on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. And make sure subscribe to her YouTube channel for access to some great yoga flows to get you moving during these long winter months!

More links from our conversation:

• Lost Dutchman Marathon
• Nike+ app
• ACE Fitness  (fitness trainer certification)
• Yoga Alliance
• Yoga with Adriene
• Down Dog app
• Black Yoga Magazine
• Yoga Blue Fitness Studio
• So You Want to Start a Podcast by Kristen Meinzer
• What is duathlon?
• What is aquabike?

And special thanks to our sponsor, Evans Notch Lodge!

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I’m all fired up today, because this conversation represents exactly the kind of guest and interview that drove me to start Guides Gone Wild in the first place. My guest is Jackie Stratton of Waterways Guiding, a licensed Maine Guide, Maine Master Naturalist, and ACA certified white water canoe instructor.

Like all of us, Jackie had exciting plans for 2020. She had given notice at her so called ‘real job’ and had started her own guide service, Waterways Guiding, and was ramping up on all fronts for her first full season in business. She had big goals for connecting new groups of people to the outdoors, improving access and safety, increasing the comfort level of those who’d been ignored or mistreated because of their sex, race, gender identity, physical limitations, you name it. Jackie was bringing years of backcountry and paddling experience to her new business, and she was stoked to make her passion her profession as well.

But COVID-19 didn’t really give a flying you-know-what about her big plans, and the past year has instead been an exercise in continuous pivoting, testing, reworking, and plan B-C-D-E activation.

Jackie has my head spinning with ideas and hope for the future of professional guiding - she is just the positive force I needed to get back on track after a bumpy start this year!

Check out Jackie's guide service, Waterways Guiding, on the web, Instagram, and Facebook.

And don't miss Jackie’s fabulous Cedar Grove Sauna on the web, Instagram, Facebook!

We covered a lot  of ground in this one, this is just a sampling!:

• Allagash River
• St. John River
• Polly Mahoney/Guides Gone Wild, Episode 10
• Common Ground Fair
• Joy Massicotte/Guides Gone Wild, Episode 26
• Venture Out Project
• Mountainsong Expeditions/Murphy Robinson (VT)
• Jackie featured on The School of the Forest Podcast
• Sauna Magic by Garrett Conover
• Wild Rice from Minnesota 
• Coconut Curry
• Dutch Oven Corn Bread
• Smartwool Balaclava
• Bug net with under-arm straps - this was the only one of its kind I could find :-D

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I had so much fun talking to the Fly Girls last week, that I’m keeping with the buddies-on-the-water theme this week too!

My guests today are Sandy Moore and Kimberlee Bennett, the authors of Paddling Southern Maine, a great guidebook that I just bought myself as a birthday present… to myself.
Yes, I’m one of those lucky people whose birthday smacks right up against the holiday season AND the new year, so I usually spend January doubling down on planning and scheming about how to get my butt out of my desk chair more with trips and activities. I can already tell that my new copy of Paddling Southern Maine, and all the other information these ladies share so generously online and in this episode, will get me social distancing on the water a whole lot more this coming spring and summer.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s had a hard time interpreting guide books in the past. You read about a trip or hike or paddle you want to do, but then get lost trying to find the trailhead, or show up at the parking lot and it holds 2 cars and there are already 10 other people jockeying for position. Never mind when the book tells you something is ‘easy’ or ‘moderate’ or ‘difficult’ - what does that even mean?

These two ladies live in Maine, paddle in Maine, and in some cases, face-plant off SUPs in Maine (see below), so I trust the advice and guidance they’re providing. I feel like a broken record since I basically say this every week, but you’re really going to love this one. These two are a riot together, they know their stuff, and our conversation is jam packed with tips and trips - but thankfully no map scraps!

You can follow Sandy on Instagram @kayakguide1, and Kim is all over the interwebs @mainekayakgirl on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Kim also continues to blog and add trip reports at kayakinginmaine.blogspot.com, and her trusty adventure companion, Miss Gladys, has her own Instagram handle @mainekayakdog.

More cool links from our chat:

• What is a recreational kayak?
• Brownfield Bog
• Uncle Henry’s
• Range Pond
• Anvil Cloud
• Presumpscot River/Shaw Park
• Bonny Eagle Pond
• Great Pond (Cape Elizabeth)
• ROADiD Dog Tags (FixxID)
• Yakpad Paddle Saddle

And that day Kim tried paddleboarding with Shannon Bryan (GGW Episode 05!) from FitMaine :-D

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My interview today is about as far away as we can get from that whole divisive, violent, ugly scene we witnessed in Washington, DC yesterday. My guests are D and Elena, two of the foundational members of an online community called Fly Girl Global that managed to grow like crazy (the good kind of crazy) during the pandemic shutdown.

As you’ll hear, these two young ladies love to fish, but were having a hard time finding local girlfriends to fish and tie flies with.

I tend to be the Grinch when it comes to kids and gadgets and social media usage, but this story is a great example of the good intentions behind some of the 'social dilemma' we are all talking about... With a little assistance and a lot of oversight from her dad, D started finding and connecting with other girls interested in fishing on Instagram, and one of the girls D first connected with was Elena, who lives and fishes in Grand Cayman. Their network kept growing and expanding all over the world from there.

Fast forward to the end of 2020/beginning of 2021, and Fly Girl Global has almost 900 followers and an active virtual community that gets together on Zoom regularly to talk and tie, with big hopes to start fishing together in person in 2021.

I hope you’ll take a short break from the news feed today and let the youthful enthusiasm of D and Elena put a smile on your face for a few.

You and your young fly fishing companions can follow Fly Girl Global on Instagram, and make sure you subscribe to their YouTube channel too - who knows, you might get first glimpse at the TV pilot they were talking about in the interview!

You can also connect directly with D @marchbrowneyedun on Instagram and Facebook, and find Elena @fishingwithelena on Instagram.

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The pod train is stopping at Inspiration Station once again this week. My guest is Amy Margolis, a listener who reached out to me after my conversation with Krista Alderdice in Episode 17. Krista had interviewed Amy and her husband David for her Blue Collar Runners site, because they are the epitome of everyday people doing extra cool things in running - a concept I can obviously get behind!

Amy and David are triathletes, ultrarunners, vanlifers…. There are so many things that make their stories unique and interesting. But what I love above all about my conversation with Amy is that it all comes back to community, every time.

Amy was never athletic, and hadn’t been taking very good care of herself as she turned 30. She felt stuck in a bad marriage, and felt herself spiraling downward toward a place she knew deep down she didn’t want to land. But then she got herself over to her local YMCA. And if her story from that point on doesn’t light a fire under your butt for the new year, I’m not sure anything will….

There’s an old saying, ‘a rising tide lifts all boats’, and Amy’s story is this aphorism in action.

Amy leaves us with a ton of inspiration to end 2020. As she says, let’s just be happy to be out there. Let’s take an extra moment every day to feel gratitude about what we CAN do, whom we CAN see and spend time with, and how we ARE able to move our body. Let’s celebrate all of the opportunity we have, rather than focus on our lack. The light is at the end of the tunnel…. We may or may not be getting close, but it IS there and we WILL reach it.

You can follow Amy's adventures in running, tri, and vanlife on Instagram, @David_Amy_Mira. You can also check out Amy and David’s YouTube channel here, and make sure to watch Amy’s amazing 2020 ‘Boston Marathon’! (You’ll probably agree with me that Boylston street looks like it could use a repave…..)

Some links to rock you into the new year:

• Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
• America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride (Lake Tahoe)
• Light at the End of the Tunnel Marathon (Seattle, WA)
• John Wayne Trail (renamed Palouse to Cascades Trail)
• Unbound Gravel Race (Emporia, KS)
• What is boondocking?
• Hyland’s
• Tailwind Nutrition
• Arrowhead 135
• Laura Siebert of 180 Health (GGW Episode 21; recommending the SheWee)
• XOSKIN socks
• Superfeet insoles

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Since holiday season is wrapping up (ooh, bad pun, sorry)... I’m turning my attention to inspiration - 2021 is just a week or so away, and while the flipping of the calendar isn’t necessarily going to mean the craptastic circumstances of 2020 are going to disappear, it does bring with it a little fresh breath of hope that, come December 2021, things will look radically different than they do right now.

My guests today are Briana and Cambyr Sullivan. If you’ve been listening to the pod for a while, you might remember my episode 19 conversation with CJ Mauger and Bex Wright, the hiking buddies who had hoped to do a single year through hike of the AT in 2020, but got stymied by COVID when they were barely two weeks into their journey. During that conversation, we talked about the difficulty they had with the decision to quit, and they basically, and rightfully, reprimanded me for getting all judge-y about people who stayed on the trail after COVID started shutting stuff down.

During that conversation, I mentioned a mother-daughter team who decided to stay on the trail. And that’s who I’m finally talking to today. Well, actually, I talked to them back in November, on election day, when Cambyr didn’t have school and her mom and I didn’t have to work and we all needed distraction from the nuttiness of the day. I’ve been saving this episode, because there’s a lot going on in it and I wanted to find a good time to share it.

And what better time than during a week when we are focused on family, whether we can be with them or not, and also starting to look ahead to what we hope will be a very different, and very much better, new year.

You can keep up with all of Briana’s various adventures, including the progress of her floating tiny house, at her blog, naturespirit.me. She can also be found on Instagram @BrianaMSully. And as she mentioned, there are ways to see what Cambyr is up to via links and tags on her sites.

Some fun links from our conversation:

• C.J. Mauger & Bex Wright - Guides Gone Wild episode 19
• PCT (Pacific Crest Trail)
• Camino de Santiago
• Bald Mountain (NC)
• AMC Highland Center
• AMC Pinkham Notch
• WetFire Fire Starter sticks

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OK, people, we’re in the holiday home stretch here.
What better time to talk to Jenny Kordick, the Executive Director of Maine Outdoor Brands, an alliance of manufacturers, service and experience providers, non-profits, and community partners that organized back in 2017 to support and grow the outdoor recreation economy in Maine.

As we tend to do on this podcast, Jenny and I talk about the evolution of her interest in the outdoors, how she managed to stay active even during her big city years, and how she wound up in Maine.

She shares with us the origin story of Maine Outdoor Brands (apparently, anything can sound do-able after a few beers and a long day walking the floor of an industry trade show….) From these humble beginnings, Maine Outdoor Brands has grown into a powerhouse alliance of companies and brands ranging from household names like L.L.Bean to smaller brands that might sound familiar to listeners of this podcast: Confluence Collective, Good To Go Meals, Acadia Mountain Guides, Maine Island Trail Association, Teens to Trails… the roster of awesomeness goes on and on.

Whether you’re interested in a new job or volunteer opportunity, finding the coolest new products or experiences, becoming an ambassador for an up and coming brand, or learning more about Maine’s outdoor economy, you will find the MaineOutdoorBrands website to be a tremendously valuable resource.

Last minute shopping to do? Check out the Maine Outdoor Brands Gift Guide, and head on over to the Guides Gone Wild Gift Guide, which is a compilation of all the great products, services, experiences and more that our 2020 guide guests on this very podcast are offering up for the holiday season and beyond. 

And last but not least, so many great links from our conversation!:

• Galapagos Islands
• Rock Creek Park - Washington DC
• Outdoor Retailer trade show
• Maine Office of Outdoor Recreation
• Flowfold
• Good To Go
• Stabil/Implus
• Blaze Partners
• LLBean
• Maine Outdoors Vanity Plate - pre-order now!
• Bri Dostie, Confluence Collective (also featured on GGW Episode 7!)
• Old Town Canoe 
• Casco Bay - Fort Gorges
• Portland Paddle
• Maine Island Trails (MITA)
• Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument
• Maine Huts & Trails
• AMC Maine
• Mountain Biking in Millinocket area
• Inland Woods + Trails (formerly Mahoosuc Pathways)

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Fan-girling for the second time this week - my guide today is someone I’ve worshipped from afar for 20 years, Lauren Hefferon.

Lauren is the founder and CEB (Chief Executive Biker) of Ciclismo Classico, a boutique bicycle adventure tour operator based in Arlington, Massachusetts.

Lauren’s insatiable curiosity and need for activity in her youth got her into bicycling early, to the point that she’d often spend entire days on solo rides, criss-crossing the towns around her southern NH home.

By the early 80s, when other college-grad women were trying out their first Jazzercise class, Lauren’s wanderlust had taken her to Italy, where she was rolling up on all-male bicycling clubs in Florence looking for riding partners.

After proving herself in the peloton, and cutting her guide teeth wrangling a few high school bikepacking groups across Europe, she pulled together, as she says, "a crappy van and some crappy bikes" and sold out her first two bicycle trips in Tuscany.

Ciclismo Classico ran their first officially branded trip in 1989, and quickly became known not only for their breathtaking scenic routes and top-notch rider support, but also for the unique experiential aspects built into all of their trips.

Even as Ciclismo has expanded and she’s spent less time guiding and had to focus more on back-office grunt work, Lauren has maintained her passion for a business that allows her to express all the different parts of her personality and create exceptional experiences for others.

And the same intuition that kept her safe cycling alone through Europe in the 80s came in handy at the start of the pandemic, when she quickly sensed that a 'Plan B' was going to be required if her 30 year old business was going to survive 2020.

This episode is like three podcasts rolled into one - the origin story of an adventure bicycling pioneer, an inspiring tale about making your passion your profession, and a master class in business resilience and pivoting on the fly.

You can connect with Lauren and Ciclismo Classico via their website, as well as on Instagram and Facebook. She’s also got a Facebook group, Club Ciclismo Classico, that’s open to anyone who loves bicycle travel. 

Some useful links from the episode (check out GuidesGoneWild.com for more!):

• NOLS - Wind River (Wyoming)
• Rotary Scholarship
• Ciclismo Classico Tour Guides GoFundMe link
• Cortina Choir
• Sardinia
• What is a gravel bike? (Just don’t forget your bike gloves and handlebar mirror!)

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