The Adventurous Reinvention

🚨 GET READY! Our Backpacking Badass Black Friday Event is coming November 16–20, 2026! 🎉 And y'all... we have some seriously FUN things planned this year! In this quick bonus episode, I'm giving you the inside scoop on our final big Backpacking Badass enrollment of 2026, including some BIG savings, exclusive bonuses, limited gifts, and a secret surprise you won't want to miss! Here's the MOST im...

Backpacking season is winding down. The days are shorter, the holidays are coming, and that little voice is starting to whisper: I’ll pick this back up in the spring. I hear it too. I just got back from what’s likely my last backpacking trip of 2026, my gear is cleaned and put away, and I don’t have another trip on the calendar until next year. Even as someone who lives for this stuff, I notice ho...

You can have YEARS of backpacking experience and still not feel totally confident making your own adventures happen. And that's exactly why I wanted to bring my client Kara onto the podcast! When Kara joined our Backpacking Badass Program , she was far from a beginner. She'd been backpacking regularly for about 15 years, had been on some incredible adventures with her husband, and genuinely loved...

🚨 BIG NEWS! Our Backpacking Badass Black Friday Event is coming November 16–20, 2026! 🎉 And y'all... we have some seriously FUN things planned this year! In this quick bonus episode, I'm giving you the inside scoop on our final big Backpacking Badass enrollment of 2026, including some BIG savings, exclusive bonuses, limited gifts, and a secret surprise you won't want to miss! Here's the MOST imp...

What if your life was the greatest adventure story you ever told? In this reflective episode, I’m pulling back the curtain on how I live (and teach) an adventurous life, not just on the trail, but every damn day. These are the 3 personal rules I come back to again and again, whether I’m navigating a rainstorm in Scotland, reworking a route mid-backpacking trip, or chasing a goal that is outside my...

If you’ve ever packed for a backpacking trip and wondered, Am I bringing way too much food… or somehow not enough? Then this episode is for you. I’m joined by Aaron Mayhew, registered dietitian and founder of Backcountry Foodie , to talk about what it actually takes to fuel your body well in the backcountry. Aaron originally dove into backpacking nutrition while preparing to thru-hike the Pacific...

What if you didn’t wait until January to get back into adventure mode? Inspired by Karin Nordin’s “27 Before 2027” concept, I’m putting an adventurous spin on the challenge and creating my own list of 27 adventures, experiences, and future-self favors to help me finish 2026 feeling strong, energized, and excited about adventures ahead. In this episode, I’m sharing what’s making my list—from climbi...

Ever wondered what it’s actually like to try rock climbing for the first time—or join a women’s rock climbing retreat? In this episode, I’m joined by Kate , our longtime Team Alpine coach and certified AMGA Single Pitch Instructor, to talk all about our Joshua Tree Women's Rock Climbing Retreat and why this kind of guided outdoor experience can be a total game-changer. Whether you’re climbing-curi...

In this episode, I sit down with my client Jeanna, a traveling nurse who lives out of her van between assignments, to talk about the trip that changed everything: her solo thru-hike of the entire John Muir Trail . Here's the wild part. This wasn't just her first solo thru-hike. It was her first solo backpacking trip, period. We get into the real, unfiltered story: the spreadsheet she painstakingly...

In this week's episode of The Adventurous Reinvention Podcast, I'm bringing back one of your favorite series—Hot Topics in Our Backpacking Badass Community—with my teammate Kellie. We recorded this one together in person in LA, so you're getting our real, unscripted takes on what's been coming up with our students lately. Here's what we cover: Big Trip Season: Why we're seeing so many students tac...

This week we're publishing an MVP episode where I’m joined by outdoor writer and long-time mountain adventurer Meg Atteberry for a raw, behind-the-scenes look at what really happens when you have to hit the SOS button in the backcountry. On day six of a seven-day high route in Wyoming’s Wind River Range , Meg and her friend found themselves in a true emergency — an injury miles from any trail, shi...

In this episode, I'm breaking down something that showed up over and over again across our entire 2026 ARE trip season: two women can do the exact same hike — same trail, same weather, same physical challenge — and come home with completely different experiences. One depleted and complaining about the bugs. One lit up and already planning her next trip. Same conditions. Different lens. Every singl...

Today I'm joined by one of my closest friends, Charlie, who I met almost by accident in a local climbing league, and who's since become the person I train, plan, and chase big goals alongside. We're pulling back the curtain on our friendship: how it started, how it turned into a full-blown climbing partnership, and how a casual "let's climb together" turned into a shared, audacious goal — sending...

One of the most common patterns we see in Backpacking Badass and the Adventurous Reinvention Experience isn't a gear problem, a fitness problem, or an education problem — it's perfectionism , and it quietly derails more big goals than bad weather ever could. In this episode, my team member Kellie is taking over the mic solo to talk about what she's learned from doing halfway check-ins with our big...

One of the most common questions we get inside Backpacking Badass (and in my DMs) is how to know if your pup can handle hiking and backpacking, and how to get them ready if they're not there yet. In this episode, I'm joined by Kellie, one of our coaches at She Dreams of Alpine, to break down everything you need to know about adventuring with your dog. Between the two of us, we've raised sight houn...

Ever stared up at a steep climb on trail and felt that sinking sense of dread? You’re not alone. For many new (and even experienced) hikers and backpackers, uphills can feel like the toughest part of the journey. But here’s the truth: it’s not just about stronger legs or more training, it’s about the mindset you bring to the climb. In this episode, I’m sharing the exact mental shifts and trail-tes...

It's officially halfway through the year, and Allison is pulling out her 2026 adventure goals list for an honest gut-check. In this episode, she walks through everything from training her puppy Oliver for backpacking trips to her big goal of leading a 5.12 outside—sharing what's on track, what she's let go of, and why this kind of mid-year recommitment matters more than the goal-setting itself. Co...

Welcome to the Bougie Barr Camp to Pikes Peak Trail Series — a set of 2 mini episodes from a low-key, high-comfort backpacking weekend in Colorado with my friends Meg and Charlie. Day 2 was summit day — the whole reason for the bougie detour. We were up at 4am and on trail by 5:10, climbing through overnight storm leftovers, a sunrise cloud inversion that put us "in the meat of the sandwich" betwe...

Welcome to the Bougie Barr Camp to Pikes Peak Trail Series — a set of 2 mini episodes from a low-key, high-comfort backpacking weekend in Colorado with my friends Meg and Charlie. The premise: tackle Pikes Peak via Barr Trail over three days instead of one, with pancake breakfasts and spaghetti dinners built in, because if Barr Camp's going to cook for us, we're letting them. Day 1 was the hike in...

By now you've seen it. Some version of this plays out in every solo hiking forum, every Facebook group, every comment section where a woman dares to ask about going outside alone. 👉 "Just bring a gun." This advice is lazy. It's often irresponsible. And it completely misses what women are actually asking. Because the question underneath the gun question? It's not really about firearms at all. It's...

By now you've probably seen it. The TikTok videos. The comments flooding in. Women sharing their own versions of being left behind on a trail by someone they trusted. Alpine Divorce is real. But here's what nobody in that conversation is actually saying, and it's the thing I've been talking about since the very beginning of She Dreams of Alpine. Every single one of those stories has one thing in c...

In today’s episode, I’m taking you back to the solo backpacking trip that shaped me in all the best ways, my very first overnight alone on the trail. I share what inspired me to go solo in the first place, how I handled the fear, the unexpected snow that changed my plans, and the plot twist at the trailhead that almost stranded me. This trip wasn’t perfect, but it gave me huge confidence in myself...

This week's episode is a takeover — and a good one. Kellie, community manager at She Dreams of Alpine and coach inside the Backpacking Badass Program, steps in (while Allison is off with clients on a rock climbing retreat in Greece) to share something we think is one of the most important episodes we've published. A few years ago, we surveyed over 300 women about what was actually stopping them fr...

You had a goal. You were fired up. And somewhere between January and now… the momentum quietly disappeared. In this mid-year check-in episode, I'm breaking down the six real reasons women stall on their adventure goals, and none of them are what your brain is currently telling you. Whether you're stuck before you've started or losing steam mid-pursuit, this one's for you. In this episode, I share:...

In this episode, I’m sitting down with Marissa , a past student of the Adventurous Reinvention Experience, to talk about what it looked like for her to navigate that really common (but rarely talked about) season of life… The “what’s next?” phase. Marissa wasn’t unhappy with her life. She had a solid career, a stable path, and had checked a lot of the boxes she thought she was supposed to check. B...