Guides Gone Wild

How many times have you put on a piece of athletic or outdoor gear and been totally annoyed at the fit, colors, lack of quality, etc? Probably a bunch, but if you’re like me, you yank the waistband up to your boobs and just go on your merry way complaining.... or if you’re REALLY like me, you take off the offending garment, grab a snack or a beer (or both), and flop on the couch/bail on whatever t...

This week I welcome back my friend Trish for a reunion episode, because we literally just got home from a super fun event in the Northeast Kingdom with a bunch of bad ass women and we can’t shut up about it already... We spent the weekend at the Vertical event, organized and hosted by Heidi Myers of Rasputitsa and Mary Zider and Ande Smith of Colavita, which on the face of it, was about gravel and...

I'm coming at you today with an interesting case study in risk taking, or should I say, the perception of risk taking. My guest this week is Erin O’Toole . Erin’s an avid rock climber, as well as an entrepreneur; and not just some kind of internet digital entrepreneur, she actually founded and runs a small manufacturing company called Oterra Designs . Now, I’m not sure which would scare me mo...

Today I’m honored to introduce you to Bonnie Holding , who is - literally - a legend walking among us. Despite hating bugs and bad weather,  Bonnie has been a Maine Master Guide for over 30 years, and was the first ever female recipient of the Wiggie Robinson Legendary Maine Guide Award in 2019. But that wasn’t even the reason I was most interested in talking with her. For many years, Bonnie has a...

I'm taking you down another one of my personal fixation rabbit holes today with the awesome Alissa Wetherbee from the Axe Women Loggers of Maine ! I was first introduced to the Axe Women Loggers of Maine when they were on the program at the Topsfield Fair, here in Massachusetts where I live most of the time. My dad has been involved with the fair forever, I grew up kicking around in the veget...

I’m amping up the creativity and inspiration today with my guest Mischa Ostberg of East Mountain Designs . Mischa was a language polymath, lapsed artist, and occasional car camper who thought that ‘backpacking’ meant ‘wearing a backpack on a day hike’ - fast forward barely 5 years, and today's Mischa is an avid climber and new Maine transplant who just completed a celebratory trans-Acadia hik...

Today my guest is Sabra Davison , one of the founding powerhouse trio of women behind Little Bellas . Little Bellas should sound familiar to you by now if you’ve joined me for a pod or two before - it’s an organization creating opportunities for girls to build life skills and confidence through mountain biking fun. As Sabra and her sister Lea started getting serious about mountain bike racing in c...

We are back in Maine this week with the kind of guest that made me start this podcast in the first place! Acadia Gantz is an ultrarunner and running coach with the all around best Instagram handle I’ve ever heard - she’s also a certified professional midwife practicing in the Bridgton area with Sacopee Midwives , so she’s on social media @ TrailRunningBabyCatcher . It didn’t take much arm twisting...

We’re leaving New England and heading west this week to talk with teacher, author, and all around activity enthusiast Hayley Diep . This year on March 8th, not coincidentally International Women’s Day, Hayley released her first book, an illustrated kid’s story called If You Give a Girl a Bike . The book takes you along on a fun romp with the main character and her two friends as they try new thing...

Bringing you episode ‘Jen Squared’ today! My guest is Jenn Minery , a mountain biking coach, gravel biking phenom, Regional Coordinator for Little Bellas , Creator-In-Chief of Indigo Sole , and Fun Team Hall of Famer... I’m going out on a limb here with my similes, but talking to Jenn is like looking through a kaleidoscope that’s stuck in a salad spinner - she is all energy and rainbows and dynami...

Have you ever stopped to wonder when your favorite outdoor activity or hobby became mainstream? How lesson and training programs get started? Where the threshold is that gets crossed, making it apparent that training instructors or guides has to happen so that newbies stay safe and maximize their enjoyment? My guest today, Cathy Piffath of H2Outfitters in Harpswell, Maine, is ready to fill you in....

Bringing you a little backcountry inspiration today with my guest, Laura Beebe! Laura is on the faculty of Environmental Humanities at Sterling College in Vermont, and you might recognize that name, because I was introduced to Laura by Heidi Myers of Rasputitsa fame, whom I interviewed back on Earth Day. I've linked my conversation with Heidi up here because I just know you’ll want to go back...

I’m taking you on a little adventure today, a 'Ladies Adventure', with the Ladies Adventure Club of Maine . I had the privilege of hosting some of the amazing members of LAC at Evans Notch Lodge back in early June for a weekend of hiking, biking, camping and chilling by the fire. I was so impressed with the way the weekend flowed, with the members dropping in and out, taking part in the...

My guest today is Paige Emerson , the mastermind behind Chubby Hiker Reviews on Instagram and Facebook. Paige’s story really resonates with me, because she took some hard stuff she was working on, mixed it with a dose of COVID, and is coming out the other end with an amazingly engaged and fast-growing community full of kind, fun, outdoorsy women – ummmm, sounds familiar?!? Anyone who’s ever used A...

Before you launch into Part 2 of my conversation with Rebecca Sperry , aka Socked In….. if this is the first time you’ve listened to Guides Gone Wild, or if you missed my last episode, I HIGHLY suggest you go back and listen to the last episode first. This is the second part of a long-form conversation I had with Rebecca, and while you don’t necessarily need to hear her back story to appreciate wh...

This week I’m doing something unprecedented in our short Guides Gone Wild history, I’m presenting a part one, and I’m going to keep you on the edge of your seats until Monday to hear the rest of the story. My guest for the next two episodes is Rebecca Sperry , otherwise known as Socked In, from the phenomenal blog and Instagram account Socked In Hikes . As you’ll hear in this conversation, Rebecca...

Today we’re diving back into some of my favorite topics: outdoor business building, life-long learning, and personal evolution! My guest is Jen Deraspe , owner of a lovely off-grid retreat property called Nurture Through Nature , located on Pleasant Mountain in Denmark, Maine. Jen is truly the hostess with the mostest when it comes to all she offers through NTN - healing arts workshops and retreat...

We are coming up fast on June 19th, which marks exactly one year since I pushed ‘publish’ and officially released Guides Gone Wild into the world and pretty much threw up in my mouth. I hope you are all also aware that June 19th is also Juneteeth. Some think Juneteenth is a holiday celebrating the so called end of slavery, but it actually commemorates the day that a group of slaves in Galveston, T...

Eavesdrop as my friend Trish and I head to/from the recent BOW (Becoming an Outdoors Woman) Spring Mini. As a first-timer, Trish shares her perspectives on what she thinks she's in for, and what she wound up getting out of the day. Plus we re-hash some of our glory days, like 50-somethings do. And of course we take a stab at all the significant questions of our time: Does taking a day for you...

Today I have the distinct pleasure of being able to fawn all over the woman behind one of my most favorite things in the world. I feel like I talk about the BOW, Becoming an Outdoors Woman, at least once every 3 or 4 episodes, and Emily MacCabe , who is the Director of Information and Education for Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, is the wo-MAN when it comes to BOW. Emily grew...

I’m in dynamic duo mode again this week for a fun convo with the powerhouse promoters behind " The Send" newsletter , Katie Wolitarsky and Katherine Englishman . Katie Wolitarsky is a PR pro who landed (willingly!) in Maine after stints in Denver and Jackson Hole and isn’t looking back, but instead is steeping herself in all the creative, foodie, beery, outdoorsy excellence her new home...

Today my guests are Ebb and Flow, otherwise known as Kelsy Hartley and Caitlin Hopkins, otherwise known as Two Maine Mermaids . In yet another case of me disappearing down an internet rabbit hole, I somehow saw a post about an ocean swim in honor of the pink full moon in April, and the next thing I knew I was doing a deep dive into the back stories of these two creative and inspiring young women....

SPECIAL EPISODE! Today I’m letting you listen in on the awesome live Q&A event we hosted last week with three new(ish) Maine Guides - Jackie Stratton , Travis Clough and Cathy Hill . It was so awesome to see some audience faces and names on my Zoom screen, and to moderate this fun and informative chat. It turned out we had a few new guides in the audience, as well, so everyone was dropping val...

My guest today is Tami Rogers from Maine’s Outdoor Learning Center . Anyone who has become a guide or is considering becoming a guide in Maine has Tami and her husband John to thank for the abundance of 4-7 day intensive, field-based guide training offerings that now exist in the state. Until the mid-90s, if you wanted to go to Maine Guide school, you’d be giving up one night a week for 15 or more...

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-foun...