Guides Gone Wild

My guest today is Amy Wight Chapman , aka @hikelowandlocal and the author of a beautiful family memoir, Just Like Glass .  Amy inspires me for so many reasons - the biggest, hugest reason being that she honors herself. She is creative, and knows she enjoys moving her body, so she keeps those two flames flickering at all times, even when she’s challenged by all the same things the rest of us are: f...

Are you like me, struggling with the overwhelming urge to punch something about 25 times a day right now, for sure every time you read a news headline?!!? Time to put your foot down. Literally! Today I'm catching up with Serena Ryan of Summits in Solidarity , to learn about the latest iteration of the grassroots hiking initiative she co-founded that continues to break down barriers to outdoor...

Last Sunday, I stopped doomscrolling long enough to make it down to the Boston Outdoor Expo, and I can't overstate how great it was to spend a few hours fan girling with many a pod guest, including today’s repeat interviewee, Jen Klein ! I first spoke with Jen back during the early months of COVID, when she was with the Trustees of Reservations in Massachusetts as the Director of Outdoor Expe...

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been in a bit of a funk lately, waking up day after day watching the flames of the dumpster fire we’re living in get higher and higher… so today’s conversation is just the dose of perspective that I needed, and I’m guessing it’ll put a bit more of a smile on your face as well. My good friend and pod partner Tricia Harmon is back to talk about life changes and new b...

Let's kick off 2025 with this joyful conversation with an old pod friend, Caitlin Hopkins ! I first introduced you to Caitlin as one of the Two Maine Mermaids , way back in May 2021. At the time, Caitlin (aka Flow) and Kelsy Hartley (aka Ebb) were spreading the gospel of cold water dipping, which they’d started in earnest at the beginning of the pandemic. Since then, they’ve built a large and...

A few weeks ago I was fortunate to attend the Maine Outdoor Economy Summit that was held at Sunday River, and not only did I run into SOOO MANY of my favorite pod people, I also had the opportunity to finally corral a guest I’d had on my wish list for a while - because celebrity fly tyer Selene Frohmberg , aka Selene of Maine , owner of Selene’s Fly Shop in Gardiner, Maine, led two special add-on...

Genuine Climbing : https://genuineclimbing.org/ Support climbing retreats for breast cancer survivors!: https://genuineclimbing.org/donate/ Join Anyssa & Moira at Climb for a Cause , October 23rd from 3-9pm at GOAT Climbing Gym, Hackensack, NJ In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month, today I’m talking to my long-time pod friend Anyssa Lucena of Genuine Climbing , as well as Dr. Moira Christo...

Back in July, I posted my episode with Nicole Freedman, the executive Director of NEMBA, and she was the one who introduced me to Paula Burton , a long-time mountain biker, NEMBA CT chapter founder, and instructor for NEMBA Trail School . Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to meet Paula in person at the trail school I attended back in June, but we did connect over Zoom for an article I was writi...

Today I am so ridiculously excited to be talking to Lia Lucine and Nicki Ripple , two of the three women behind a film project that is unfolding right now, somewhere off the coast of Maine - it's called Beyond the Compass , and is documenting a group of women in their 60s, 70s, and 80s who are on a four-day Outward Bound sailing expedition. According to Nicki and Lia, ”this short film will ch...

The Summer Olympics in Paris kick off in mere hours, so how appropriate that today I’m going deep with the first Guides Gone Wild former Olympian, Nicole Freedman , now the Executive Director of NEMBA, the New England Mountain Bike Association . As you'll hear, Nicole’s Team USA experience is impressive, but even more amazing to me are the decades of devotion she’s applied to making bikes, an...

Today I’m welcoming one of my wild new Western Maine friends, Julie Sloan , an owner and the lead instructor at Maine River Runners ( https://www.maineriverrunners.com/ ) in Bethel, Maine. Maine River Runners came to town the summer of 2023, and jumped right in to the local business community with their fleet of kayaks, canoes, stand up paddleboards, and accessories for rent, as well as a lesson p...

Today we celebrate the decade anniversary of one of the most storied and epic bike races in the east, the Rasputitsa , with race co-founder and co-director Heidi Myers . So what exactly is Rasputitsa, you might be asking? Short answer is, it depends. This year it was a whole weekend of events built around a 50-ish mile gravel bike ride/race that based itself at Jay Peak in Vermont, and included 4,...

In honor of it being National Volunteers Week, today we're talking to Cindy Hession - scientist by day, hiker and volunteer chair for the 48 Peaks Hike to End Alzheimer's every other waking moment she can manage! Cindy and I talk about her love affair with the White Mountains and hiking, her personal connection with Alzheimer's, and how the 48 Peaks fundraiser grew out of one man’s...

Sliding in better late than never this week (DAMN POWER OUTAGE!!) with my fabulous new friend, Tarin O’Donnell of the Tarin It Up Podcast . Tarin and I met through a women’s podcasting group, and even before I listened to her podcast, I realized I had to have her on because she’s been living a life that a lot of us glamorize and feel a little bit envious of…. Picture snowy woodlands, gorgeous moun...

Today we take a scenic ride through the intricacies of trail development, where the rubber meets the road in terms of community building, advocacy, grant writing, marketing... and bike riding! Marianne Borowski is the absolute force of nature behind the Cross New Hampshire Adventure Trail . For those of you who haven’t yet heard of it, the Cross New Hampshire Adventure Trail is an 83 mile long mul...

Today I bring you another dose of practical, relatable, do-able inspiration with my special guest Val Hopkins from 365 Mile Challenge . Val’s business is all about meeting people wherever they are, bringing them into a supportive community, and providing them with tools, resources and motivation to build a movement habit that works within the limitations of their life, time and physicality - whate...

Today we head OUTside with another fabulous wild guide, Rae-a Moughty , Founder and Director of Campfire Institute , an amazing organization that offers wilderness enrichment adventures for girls and LGBTQIA+ youth. I connected with Rae-a right after she’d wrapped up the Institute’s OUT on the Snow program held at Evans Notch Lodge over MLK weekend. We were both so fired up by the great time had b...

What you need to know RIGHT THIS SECOND is that we are kicking off the Last Tuesday of the Month Virtual Meetup - for any and all Guides Gone Wild peeps - starting NEXT TUESDAY, January 30th, at 7pm . How can you join the virtual meetup, you ask? CLICK HERE or head on over to GuidesGoneWild.com/meet and sign up for the calendar invite and Zoom link! At this first meetup, we will be talking about v...

Read more about Emily's decision about GearME:  https://www.gearmeoutdoors.com/sale-of-business If you or someone you know wants to learn more about the GearME business sale, please contact Michael Hall, Commercial Real Estate Broker with The Jordie Lee Company:  207-773-1111 (office) or email mhall@jordielee.com ** Way back in March 2021, I talked to Emily Kirkton , the owner of GearME , a f...

Hopping into the Wild One Wayback Wagon this week to take a quick look back at 2023 - and while we're at it, grab some last minute gift ideas, giving thoughts and gritty inspiration to take us through this darkest day and into the light of the new year! GIFT IDEAS: https://backcountryfoodie.com/ - use code WILD at checkout to save 20% on memberships https://navitour.com/ - support local Maine...

Today we get back to my wild fan-girling business with Renaissance woman and Registered Maine Guide, Kat Ripley . Kat and I recently worked together on an amazing event hosted by Anna Heath and We Built This , where eight wanna-be carpenters were brought together for a weekend of learning, building, mending, yoga and outdoor mindfulness - that last part was where Kat came in for this event. One of...

Today we're embarking on a culinary thru-hike with registered dietitian and logistical powerhouse Aaron Owens Mayhew , the founder of Backcountry Foodie and the trail mom we all wish we had! I’m not even a long distance hiker (yet?!?), and can count on one hand the number of times I’ve backpacked for consecutive days sleeping outside, honestly - but I’ve been OBSESSED by the Backcountry Foodi...

On Guides Gone Wild, we talk to lots of women who do extremely brave things - but I have to say, being vulnerable and open about a life-changing diagnosis and treatment (and the mental *ss-kicking you are still going through as a result), is the bravest kind of bravery in my book. Anyssa Lucena first graced the Guides Gone Wild airwaves in April 2022, when she was in the early days of building her...

Today I’m talking to Bethany Cass , an awesome new friend I met around this time last year when she and her daughter Maddie attended the Guides Gone Wild Iron Chef weekend that I hosted with Ari Leach of Blackbird Guide Service. At the time, as you’ll hear, Bethany was kind of treading water in a sea of discontent, but getting ready to take some bold strokes in new directions - and less than one y...

I’ve got another special encore for you this week to remind all of us of the absolute power and beauty that can come from making connections, staying curious and just saying YES! (despite your nagging doubts...) Picture yourself in April 2020, flailing around in and out of lockdown, wondering if the world was legit ending. That’s about the time I decided to use some of MY newly found free time to...