The Hike Like A Woman Podcast
Hi, I'm Rebecca 👋 I'm a guide, ski instructor, Army Veteran, cancer survivor, and a big fan of adventure travel. I started HLAW in 2014 because I wanted to smash barriers to entry into the outdoors and help women explore. I'd love to have you join me on an adventure. Please reach out if you have any questions 📧 rebecca@hikelikeawoman.com
The Hike Like A Woman Podcast
Behind-The-Scenes of a video shoot
Today's episode is weird.
I'm taking you behind the scenes of a video shoot that I did a year ago. I think you just might enjoy some never heard before thoughts all about how Hike Like A Woman got started.
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Hey, it's Rebecca. The pod is a little different today. I was going through my old voice memos on my phone and I stumbled across an interview that I did about a year ago that hasn't been published yet. It was an interview with Visit Laramie. So I live in Laramie, wyoming, but I thought the audio was kind of fun to listen to. It gives you a behind the scenes kind of experience of what it's like to be on a video shoot. So I thought I would just publish it today. It's kind of fun, listen to it. Don't listen to it, but I'm just throwing it out into the universe because it gives you a little bit of perspective and maybe shares a few things about me that you don't quite know already. So here is my interview with Visit Laramie. Can you talk a little Sure? What do you want to do? You want to hear a joke?
Speaker 2:Yeah, there you go. What's a good joke? What do?
Speaker 1:you find in a clean nose what Fingerprints that's my kid's favorite Whoa.
Speaker 2:That's a good one. That's a good one. It's all I got. Is that working all right? Yep, do you want me to hit record? Yep, let's record, and then I'll just have you clap one time for sync purposes. Perfect, and then. Great, this is looking actually just like I kind of wanted here. So great, we'll just have a spot on the ground that's hardcore, um cool. So can you start by just uh, what's your name? And will you spell it for me for the title later?
Speaker 1:yes, rebecca Walsh, r-e-b-e-c-c-a-w-a-l-s-h awesome.
Speaker 2:Thanks again, rebecca, for coming out. Okay, um, how long have you been in Laramie?
Speaker 1:I have been in Laramie since 2011. So I did my undergrad at the university of Wyoming, then I was active duty army and then, when my husband and I left the army, we were like where's the last place? We had a lot of fun and it was Laramie. So we came back here and decided this is a good place to raise our family.
Speaker 2:Oh, no way, Really. Yeah, that's awesome. Um, yeah, so I guess just diving into it. I want to know I have better questions, but they got all wet so I'm going to just actually ask you a question.
Speaker 1:Freestyle it man.
Speaker 2:I know I should. Okay, um, yeah, what is the name of your company? Or this? Yeah, can you give me a little bit of info about a hike like a woman?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I founded hike like a Woman in 2013. It initially started as a mommy blog. I had a brand new baby and a toddler and I was trying to figure out how to get outside and adventure with my young children, because that's a whole different thing, and so I just started getting outside with my kids and blogging about it, and eventually a lot of people started asking me like, how do you do that? So I started a local hiking group here in Laramie the Little Laramie Hikers and all of a sudden, my mom friends started to join me on hikes and getting outside with their children, and then Hike Like a Woman just grew from there. So now we're an organization that leads outdoor adventures all over the world, from Kilimanjaro to right here in Laramie. And, uh, we also offer online outdoor education. So we teach people how to read a map, use a compass, navigate in the back country. Um, I teach people how to hike and how to go backpacking.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's all Um so awesome. Um, can you kind of uh, go into let's see here like the, the outdoor education part of it and just like, what is it about? Hike Like a woman, that that brings you the most joy? I guess to kind of two questions, but I want to.
Speaker 1:I don't want to sound like a moron here, so one of my missions at Hike, like a Woman, is to break down barriers to entry in the outdoors, because I believe that there's space for everyone out here in these beautiful wild spaces, and I want every woman to be able to come outside and feel confident and feel like she has the skills that she needs to go out and have an adventure, whether it be something like how do I change a diaper when I'm out camping with my family, or how do I cross-country ski and how do I put on snowshoes and how do I plan my route and plan for food and all the logistics, and so I really want to break down those barriers.
Speaker 1:So I do that through outdoor education and online classes, but also in person, so when someone comes on an adventure with me, we teach them the skills that they need to be confident in the back country and safe too. Um, a lot of women also feel like the outdoors is dangerous or scary, or there's wild animals or creepy people, and so I just want to help reduce those fears, and I think the way to do that is through outdoor education and experience.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's awesome. Um, can you kind of talk about, like your history and how that makes you a great person to be educating everyone you know and a great role model and just like good at your job? I know that's a little self-posting, but maybe just talk a little bit about your, your previous experience and how it makes it, you know, you comfortable in the outdoors as a leader, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I grew up in a really outdoorsy family doing all of the outdoor things you know hiking, camping, mountain biking. Family doing all of the outdoor things you know hiking, camping, mountain biking, fishing, skiing and I realized that once I started hiking like a woman, a lot of women didn't grow up in that kind of family and in that kind of environment and that getting outside can be really, really intimidating. And so I think, because I have this background as a child doing all of those things and then my former career in the army, where you know those it's not really like you're not really on an outdoor adventure, but you're still, you're still, you know, in the field All of those skills really translate into what I do now.
Speaker 2:Awesome what I do now. Awesome Um. Can you speak a little bit about you? Know how this has brought and brought the Laramie community together, or people that you've met on these? You know, because of your company, high Clayton Woman, um, who've joined and maybe become friends for long-term and stuff, kind of just how it, how it helps build a community. Um sorry, I don't have a better way of asking.
Speaker 1:No, I got an answer for that. Okay, great. We have a little saying at Hike, like a Woman, that we always start the trip as strangers and we finish the trip as friends. And one thing that I've noticed with my community is when women sign up to join me for a trip, most of the time they don't know each other and they don't have any friends on the trip with them.
Speaker 1:And they found us through our social media channels or our YouTube channel and they come on a trip and they're really scared and kind of nervous because it's like a whole new environment, doing a whole new thing with people that they don't know. And usually the first day of a trip everybody's a little bit tense and nervous, but by the second day of the trip everyone is friends. And the last day of the trips are always really special to me because it's like the last day of school and everyone is getting each other's phone numbers and email addresses and planning the next adventure. And it's really cool too because a lot of women join me for different adventures. So I have women who've been on two or three backpacking trips with me in the past that just keep coming every every year that we're able to offer trips because they just really like the community that we're working hard to build and develop at hike.
Speaker 2:like a woman, that was so great. Um, is this thing still on, by the way? No, is it never on? Did I? Don't think it's on at all? Is it never on? Did I break it? Uh-oh, if it's a rental right, dun, dun, dun, I got your deposit Shh.
Speaker 1:It's probably just-.
Speaker 2:You're crushing it, by the way, and sorry about this. Yeah, dude, that's. I don't know. I mean it didn't even get that wet. I bet that's fine. See, these batteries are hot, so maybe it just went out. Oh, there you go. Oops, sorry, don't look into it Striking. I'm supposed to tell you that I'm sorry about that.
Speaker 1:It's good, it's good.
Speaker 2:Okay, great. So just because I'm trying to We'll try to make this as short as possible, but can you talk about like For someone who's never been to the Snowy Range and some of the areas around Laramie, can you just talk about? Why Can you describe the outdoor areas and how it's kind of given you the opportunity to start this business as well as have these outdoor experiences?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I think I can roll with this. If this isn't the answer you want, we can redo it. One of the things that I really love about adventuring in southeastern Wyoming is we have a little bit of everything. You can go from the prairie to big rocks at Vita Vu, and then you can go to the forest and then be here where we are in this high alpine above timberline area, and so I love the diversity of terrain that we have in Southeastern Wyoming. It kind of offers a little something for everyone and it's really. It's really just a unique place. I don't know that a lot of places have such unique diversity when it comes to our actual physical terrain.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's perfect. You know, can you maybe even get into like some of the descriptions just a little bit more? I'm going to just try to push here for, like you know, can you maybe even get into like some of the descriptions just a little bit more? I'm going to just try to push here for, like you know, uh, it's been like a green year. We have flowers everywhere, kind of talking about those details that you see, and it's kind of second nature because you've lived out here for so long. But maybe just describe like the snowy range and what you will see on a day of hiking.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The snowy range in particular is a really special place to me, and one thing that I love about the snowy range is that it's true to its name and we're here in July and there's still snow on the ground, and I love coming out here because it's peaceful, it's quiet, you can hear the birds chirping, we have a lot of wildlife moose, elk, deer. It's common to see, you know, moose hanging around some of these alpine lakes, and I love the higher you get. You're able to look down on the valley and I think it's just really special to be at the top of a summit like this and look down and see all the beauty below. It really makes you feel small in this really big world that's, those are awesome lines.
Speaker 2:Thanks so much. No, it's all right, though it's really dumb, I like it.
Speaker 1:No, I wonder like what happened to this thing? Could I actually I could grab my headlamp. It's coming again. We got some great stuff though.
Speaker 2:We did, and you know what, we're just going to roll with it. Okay, last thing, um, for someone who's, like, never been to Laramie and has maybe a young family or some friends, why would you recommend coming to Laramie for an adventure? That's kind of repetitive.
Speaker 1:Laramie's really cool because it offers a little something for everyone. There's a lot of really family-friendly trails in Laramie and near Laramie relatively flat trails where you can see really cool stuff. We have trails that are every ability. We have trails that will accommodate every ability, from young children all the way up to people who want a serious mountaineering adventure perfect.
Speaker 2:Um, I think it was good. I'm just trying to, I'm trying to pick your brain for just like. I'm trying to think of how to come up with a question for the end. Honestly, I have a lot more questions, but I just feel like we kind of are getting screwed with this weather and I think we got a lot of really good stuff. So let me just think for one second.
Speaker 1:I'm just gonna read through my questions for just one second, but you did so good thank you so much and you can always stop me on the trail too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, cool. Yeah, I know I tried to do the nice setup. Yeah, alright, let's just do it before we get um, any final words you want to say, or are you good?
Speaker 1:can I throw in like a leave no trace message exactly, let's do it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, um. Something about like Are you good, can I throw in?
Speaker 1:like a leave no trace message, exactly. Let's do it Anything you want, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:You know what? Actually, I think just the way it looks, let's just All right, that's a wrap.
Speaker 1:My leave no trace message that wasn't on this little audio snippet is to just leave no trace and to just be responsible when you're playing outside. So thanks so much. Hope you enjoyed this behind the scenes glimpse into a video shoot. If you want to learn more about hike like a woman what I do over here head on over to our website hikelikeawomancom. Thanks so much. Bye.