CELEBRATING HERSTORY
HIKING YOUR OWN HIKE
“Hike Your Own Hike” is a phrase often used in the hiking/backpacking world to encourage people to go at their own pace– to focus on their unique journey. The women we’re highlighting today did just that. They paved their own way and took bold action towards their dreams and truest selves.
The first woman we’re writing about today is ‘Stagecoach Mary’ Fields. Taking her first breath in 1832, like many at the time, she was born into slavery and little is known about her early life.
After the civil war and the “freedom” that came with it, Mary made her way to Ohio and then further west to Montana, where she lived and worked at different convents.
Outspoken and fiercely protective of her work, she was eventually let go and had to try her hand at other jobs.
At age 60 she found her calling and her “tough reputation” led to her being the first Black woman employed as a U.S. mail carrier who braved bandits, wolves, and thieves to cover her postal route. She trekked through Montana blizzards on snowshoes, trekking 34 miles round trip to deliver the mail, often accompanied by her firearms under her aprons, proving grit knows no gender.
From our own generation, Jamie Logan has inspired climbers and queer people alike. In 1965, Logan was just another kid who’d come to Boulder to attend the University of Colorado, where she ended up finding her love of climbing.
Over the years she achieved numerous climbing accomplishments, including first ascents in Gunnison Canyon and the Canadian Rockies, becoming known as one of the great pioneers in North American free climbing.
But her bravery didn’t stop on the climbing wall. In 2015, at age 69, Jamie decided to live as her truest self, a woman.
She’s been known to have said that transitioning was not an easy decision, one she called “way scarier than the Emperor Face” (the first ascent she set in the Rockies).
In an interview, Jamie shared, “When I was climbing, I was climbing. There was no gender stuff; there was just the next pitch. When you’re on something hard and scary, there’s a rule—you gotta take your pitch. You think, “How hard is it going to be? Is there going to be protection? What am I going to do up there?” And gender doesn’t make any difference. When I was climbing, I was just climbing.” (Source: climbing.com)
If you’ve seen pictures of Indigenous Bolivian mountaineers, summiting mountains in colorful skirts, you’ve likely come across Cecilia Llusco Alaña.
Growing up with a father who was a trekking guide, she was exposed to mountaineering early on. At age 8 she recalls seeing Huayna Potosi for the first time. “I saw a very beautiful mountain that was all white with snow. I said, “Why can’t I climb it? How does it feel to be up there?” It became a dream I had as a child.” (Source: Climbing.com).
Despite tourism being a predominantly male field in Bolivia, Cecilia paved her own way, first working as a porter and eventually completing several mountaineering courses.
In 2015, she made the dream she had as a child a reality and summited Huayna Potosi with 11 other women. This was the start of many more summits to come and the inspiration to create Cholitas Escaladoras Bolivianas.
A decade later, her group is going strong and has their eyes set on climbing big peaks in other countries, all while donning their traditional polleras (skirts).
Lovers of the Colorado Trail, a 567-mile (912 km) path between Denver and Durango, are likely already familiar with Gudy Gaskill.
Gudy was around in 1974 when the idea for The Colorado Trail gained footing. Then chairwoman of the Colorado Mountain Club’s Huts and Trails Committee, she was asked to lead the organizing effort.
She and a small band of supporters rescued and revived the initiative after initial efforts to create a cross-state trail languished for years. She simply would not give up, and the moniker she was later given, “Mother of The Colorado Trail,” was well earned. (Source: coloradotrail.org)
Today, you can help ensures legacies like those of Mary, Jamie, Cecilia, and Gudy are just the beginning.
By donating to our Celebrating herSTORY Fundraising Challenge, you’re helping ensure girls and non-binary youth have access to outdoor experiences and tap into their power, confidence, and sense of belonging.
Even a small gift can make a big difference in reaching our goal of raising $15,000 by April 3.
Written by Steph Zoccatelli
Director of Marketing & Development
Steph (she/her) spent 7 years working in the coaching industry and childcare, where she applied person-centered, social justice, and sustainability lenses to her work. Always curious about learning new skills, she joined Women’s Wilderness in 2022 and after working as Gear & Transportation Intern that summer and is now our Director of Marketing & Development.
