5 Things I Learned as a Female Backpacker - Great Smoky Mountains Backcountry

Catching my breath at this breathtaking rest stop.

In May, I spent one night front country & three nights backcountry with two other women at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Tennessee section).  This trip started when Julia called asking if I wanted to backpack with her as part of her end-of-college celebration before starting a new job. Of course I said yes! Then we did it. Here are 5 of the 100+ amazing things I learned along the way:

1. All-female backpackers get more hype than all-male backpackers.

Gender-borders aside, people were a lot nosier and generally shocked to see three women (all NOT in college) alone in the backcountry. Perhaps it's the area included, but the amount of attention we received from simply being who we were in nature was a lot. Too much. Yet the river is constantly changing. The general gender dynamic provided opportunities to encourage other females outdoors in the same capacity as us and to encourage males in supporting women who also enjoy the sport (backpacking is an extreme sport, btw).

This. This was everywhere.

2. Nature is a safe space to open up.

We each learn this in our own way, and I learned it in a new way out in the Appalachians. When you go outside, your entire mind and body has freedom to be stretched and used in ways most natural to us (yet most distanced from us with our modern lifestyles). You use your muscles naturally on trail. Your mind finds freedom to wander to those deep places inside of you when you step outside. You are safe in the wild. As ironic as it seems, we found ourself going deeper about some hard parts of our lives, simply because there was safety and space for it. When you're walking miles and miles to your next sleeping grounds with your entire home on your back, you learn a lot of new things about yourself.

Jess & Julia crossing the creek.

3. Ultralight backpacking is a thing for a reason.

As much as we were prepared (in the safe sense of the word), we had plenty of things to learn. One thing we learned very quickly was lighter packs are where it is! We gained a new sense of motivation towards ultralight backpacking skills, some of which I hope to share with you in the near future!
For reference, ultralight backpacking seeks to minimize impact on the earth and on our bodies by having everything necessary for survival at the smallest weight possible. With a lighter pack, the body and mind has more freedom in the wild!

Julia's view on Mt. Cammerer. She was the only one brave enough to reclimb mountains for this.

4. Females rock!

I found so much strength and encouragement from Jess and Julia as I traveled up and down mountains. Everything from packing the night before, to the car ride, to the backcountry campsites was made extra unique by my girlfriends and their own wonderful personalities. I love traveling with feminine energy, especially when it comes to surviving and thriving. (I do not mean my words in any sexist way. I'm speaking of natural things in nature, and that is all). We had a lot of moments where we messed up, got off schedule, changed plans - and inside of the entire journey, we chose to be pure in love and compassion in our responses. What an honor to explore this way.

Julia atop Mount Cammerer!

5. Would 10/10 do this again!

Over and over! One of the biggest things I learned is how much I truly enjoy teaching people how to backpack for their first time (Jess) and learning how to do things better and better. If you're interested in organizing a trip with me, please let me know! I include teaching how/what/why to pack and outdoor skills (LNT, first aid, etc.). Nature does most of the teaching. I'm along for the ride.

Jess doing morning yoga at our front country campsite.

One Year of Mother Neff - My State Park Journey in Photos of Visits Throughout the Year

Happy one year, sweet Mother Neff

Check out this awesome state park! Mother Neff State Park in Moody, TX. My very first visit was exactly ONE YEAR AGO from today, so I'm celebrating by sharing my journey with the park in photos. Enjoy the captions and visuals. It's been a wild, wonderful year. If you're interested in visiting my park, come out on Saturday, February 18! I'm organizing a volunteer opportunity. See me on Instagram or Facebook for more details. Volunteers visit for FREE! Plus, the Buffalo Soldiers are doing a reenactment on the same day. Or just come when you can!

JANUARY 31, 2016

On this day, I remember being aching to go outside, so I looked for green spaces on my map app. The first green space that showed up was Mother Neff State Park, and it was DEFINITELY a green dream last January!

Absolutely perfect day. I napped pretty well.

The wash pond was mesmerizing, as always. This is my very first look at the wash pond, so it grabbed me by the heartstrings and never let me go. 

The trails are short yet cozy and beautiful.

NOVEMBER 5, 2016

The next time I came was during a CCC event at the park. It included food, crafts, and fun. I brought my two youngest siblings and introduced them to Mother Neff for their first time.

The wash pond was flowing and lively! 

Parks have a special vibe when its raining. Like this damp yet lovely shot.

This section right next to the cave was entirely alive! My little brother had fun looking cool.

The cave provided a nice relief from the rain, much like we imagine it did back then for native people. My baby sister stands in the background as I attempt to get an artistic shot. Did I succeed??

NOVEMBER 8-10, 2016 

This is the pond near the prairie loop. On this visit, I camped out alone for my first time.  

I had dreadlocks! My first solo trip was very rewarding.  

So many things were gorgeously carpeted with moss.

I did a little backpacking practice to prepare for our training. The park rangers thought I was funny for walking their short trails with a backpack until I explained why!

It was also rainy during my solo trip. This time, the trails were haunting and eerie, which was fitting for the mood I was in at the time.

Overall, I had a great time! During the night it was a bit scary, wondering if any animals or weirdos were out in the woods watching me. Other than that, Mother Neff was an amazing place to practice solo. 

DECEMBER 5, 2016

During this visit, I brought my friend Sarah along for a formal photo shoot! She was raising money for the World Race via photos, and I was introducing yet another person to Mother Neff! Win-win :)

And...Once again...it was raining! Made the shoot extra fun. 

Spicy Cat.

It was Texas fall time, so everything was bursting with color. Sarah did her best to capture the colors in the artsy way she does.

This photo looks like I'm living a pure dream. I love it!

Wash pond water-play. 

This was also the shoot designate to feature my unibrow, which I wrote a blog about and you can find here.

Sarah does absolutely amazing work. I'm missing her as she galavants around the globe.

DECEMBER 10-11, 2016

Mother Neff had a Christmas event and I brought some friends along! Mother Neff events are fun, PLUS we have a beautiful headquarters, which makes the partying EXTRA jazzy.

They had a campsite decorating contest. This is what you can do with borrowing/dollar store items.

Camping with friends is the BEST! And these people were great. Would 10/10 go with them again.

DECEMBER 22, 2016

Then Melissa, the park superintendent had a party and it was a good bit of fun :)  I didn't take photos, so I have screenshots from videos. The human hiding behind this caption is Daniel, one of the park employees. He's pretty cool!

This photo literally says it all.

JANUARY 1, 2017

On January 1, we had our first day hikes. Mother Neff topped the attendance charts with 549 people walking our trails! It was a fun day of dogs, humans, and nature. Photo taken by Ky Harkey.

I helped out Jeremy and Ky with guiding our longer hikes. I got my 'official' on with my ambassador name tag and a walkie   talkie.

JANUARY 8-10, 2017

During this trip, I was filming some videos and taking some more time for myself.

I also met up with my park superintendent and saw another ambassador, my friend Seph!

A perk I got for being an ambassador was staying in our CCC cabin for free and staying in the intern cabin as well.  I created some very cozy feels in those cabins.

The intern cabin!

My adventures are memories here are very dear and treasured. Thanks for taking time to step into my Mother Neff world. See you there soon!

Coming Home to My DNA - Unibrow Power

Let's FACE it...there's something different about my appearance. I grow hair smack in the middle of my face, between my eyes and above my nose. Unibrow, monobrow, Frida Kahlo, Hey Arnold, whatever you want to call it, it's a part of me. Inside of my recent transitions/chaos, I didn't spend as much time keeping up with my appearance, and one day I noticed dark hairs growing where I normally never allow them. As I sat down with tweezers and a mirror, I finally approached the thought of, "why do I alter this about myself?" At any other time, I wouldn't have asked myself this. Or, I wouldn't have addressed the question. This time, I asked the question inside of a million other questions I was asking about my life, so it had a place.

The story is simple - when I was in fourth or fifth grade, a girl in my class pointed out that I have a unibrow. I don't remember anything else about the situation, besides that we were in the hallway. Was she making fun of me? Was she being factual? Was she showing off knowledge she learned recently? Whatever the case, from that point on, I no longer had a unibrow. Since elementary school, I learned the magical art of tweezer wielding.

It doesn't sound like too much of a big deal upfront. In fact, people would compliment my hard-earned eyebrows (back when I had two...). When I began questioning how I felt about my face, however, I noticed a lot of things were packed into shaping my eyebrows - things I no longer wished to carry.  There's a joke about people with a monobrow - one of their fears is if they were ever in a coma, they'd wake up with one! My anxiety about my facial hair came with the thought that if I were ever to be trapped on an island (because everyone just imagines this kind of stuff right?) I would  be a hairy mess. Silly fear, but I was about ready to FACE it!

So what did I do?? First, as it was growing out, I told my closer companions. I wanted to avoid some awkwardness when they would see me for the first time. Next, I eventually built up courage to do an Instagram story on my unibrow. I asked people to tell me their honest opinions - and they did! What was the next logical step of action? A photoshoot of course! Here is what came of it:

 My friend Sarah was offering photoshoots to fundraise for her next big adventure, so I snagged to opportunity to be showered by her magical talent. I told her my only priority was to capture my eyebrow. (By the way, we took these photos at Mother Neff State Park! It was cold, rainy, and perfect. Be on the lookout for my next blog about the ambassador program I am a part of.)

TRUTHS ABOUT THE EYEBROW:

1. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. It's definitely counter to our eyebrow-crazy society's expectations of what beauty is. A lot of times I feel incredibly beautiful. Other times, I feel foreign to myself. It changes the dynamic of my facial features, and I'm still adjusting to the way it looks.
2. I always wonder what people are thinking (if they are thinking about it) and I'm always curious to know other's opinions. Your opinion may not sway me, but it helps me fill in (lol, eyebrow puns) the surrounding experience of my eyebrow. Some people don't like it, and they recognize this is because of our society's expectations. Some people love how goofy it is! Some people tell me I should get rid of it. Some people have said absolutely nothing as well. What about you??
3. It's still growing! The hairs spent most of my life being "killed" before they had any chance to see the light. Now that I'm allowing them to be free, they just keep coming and I'm constantly amazed at how much hair is a part of my face!

Here is a quote I snagged from Wikipedia on the unibrow:

"In both Ancient Greek and Roman cultures, unibrows were prized as beautiful, desirable features worn by the most intelligent and lusted-after women."

Heck yes. I'm definitely boosting myself here. Regardless of what is true or not, the whole point of this story I'm sharing is that I'm learning how to come home to my body as it is.  How else has this coming-home-to-me shown up? Well, I have pretty hairy legs and hairy armpits (I always let people know, I have more armpit hair in one pit than all four of my brothers' armpit hairs put together - not to put them down or anything). I've let these grow out. Truthfully, most of my family is absolutely repulsed by my hairiness, so don't feel bad if you are too. My challenge for you is to ask yourself why. Why? Why is hair, such a natural and purposeful thing, so stigmatized on women? It's more than okay to love your clean-shaven legs, arms, armpits, and other areas. I'm starting to realize, it's more than okay to love the hairs as they grow, too. Here's to growth!!!

If you enjoy my stories/writing and are interested in receiving them as they come, subscribe to my blog via email :) There's a link on the right. (If you're on a mobile version, scroll down to the bottom and click 'view web version') See you via email!

She's beauty and she's grace.