My story of backcountry camping starts in the spring of 2014 with a guided trip to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. I was hooked. I have dedicated my life since to spending as many days under the stars and out of my bedroom as possible. And admittedly have been extremely lucky in that I have never knock on wood had a serious accident in the mountains. But somewhere along the way I realized that time in the outdoors is also where I get my best thinking done. Away from the dings of cell phones, the horns of cars and familiar, albeit distracting, voices of friends. The place I go when I need to find myself. That and a series if really flaky camping buddies - and here I am. An avid solo female backcountry camper (the female part I do have no control over). And I know it can be intimidating - a thin sheet of nylon your only protection when you are at your most vulnerable. So I jotted down everything I think would help if you are just getting into backcountry camping. I hope it helps!

When heading out into the backcountry, with the mandatory requirement of carrying everything you need on your back, saving weight is the name of the game. And one of the easiest ways to cut weight out offer pack is not carrying extra water in the form of food. Although MRE (meal’s ready-to eat) have a long standing reputation of being bland flavourless pouches of barely edible food… in the past several years that has changed a lot.

My hiking journey began more as an exploration of my backyard. I was fortunate enough to be raised in the countryside, on the western slope of a foothill - our front window looking out over the Canadian Rocky Mountains. My brothers and I would be locked out of the house and told to go, explore and play. We built tree-forts in the forest above our house, swam in dugouts intended for irrigation and roamed the quarter section our parents made our home as if we were explorers to a new land. My first hike, in contrast, was a steep scramble up the side of a loose mountain. Far out of my skillset; I had never heard the words “leave no trace” and if you count a handful of gummy bears form a gas station as nutrition, I may have one of the ten essentials. It took me years to learn the basics.

I once posted a story on Instagram, perhaps my most replied to story ever, explicitly stating the reason that I do not personally geotag specific locations on social media. I have a small set of rules that I follow that summed up are “if there is a parking lot, I can tell people where it is” - outside of that I am fine receiving pushback for allegedly gatekeeping locations or being selfish. I understand the innate privilege that I have in being born (oftentimes too) curious.It is what drives me to find new and interesting places to see, it is the reason that instead of going out for drinks with a friend or watching a movie with my partner I can more often than not be found scouring old guidebooks and the depths of google earth and Pinterest blogs to find places I have never been before.

Making friends as an adult is hard - making friends as an adult with the caveat that they also like to do outdoorsy things sometimes feels damn near impossible, especially when first starting out. I was fortunate enough that my introduction into the world of hiking camping and backpacking came via a romantic partner. On our first date he asked if I liked to hike (I had never hiked a mountain before) I, eagerly said yes and figured that I could fake it until I made it. I showed up that afternoon in short running shorts, a pair of hot pink nike free sneakers and without food or water. He took me up a scree pitch and offered to leave me at the saddle while he went to the summit. My ego got in the way and I made it up tot he summit. We spent the next several years hiking and camping together and amid those years I realized my passion for the outdoors and implemented nearly every of the below suggestions to make friends that I now am fortunate to hike, camp, trail run and travel the world with.