“Have you heard of the garnet fire tower hike? …it’s all booked out except for this coming Monday night…..”

“Yeup! We hiked that before we had kids. It’s beautiful.”

“Did you stay there?”

“Yeup! I very much wrote a blog about it haha

Check out the original post here 🙂

“It’s a cool cabin”

“Oh nice lol would you want to go Monday? Be home by 12 on tuesday?? Still need to run it by Dan lol”

“Like with all the family?”

“Nope lol Just moms”

“OH cool then that’d be fun. The hike would be too hard with kids. Let me also run it by Patrick”

——————

In the Age of Mom, all adventures begin with a question, a request, an idea…

Usually over text or during a playdate.

The adventures we seek are usually based on our ideals of what we used to be able to do. And inevitably end up being a bit harder than anticipated and very appreciated and cherished. 

One of the friends who came, as it turns out, had never backpacked, never peed outside, and definitely never hiked such a rocky mountain!

I lent her all the gear she needed and gave her plenty of pep talks (in the day leading up to the hike).

Let me tell you this spontaneous little campout went down for us…

Here in Bozeman we have basically hit spring. We’ve had beautiful sunny days, warm temps, and the snow is noticeably melting from the mountain tops. All the adventures we’ve been saving up all winter are suddenly the only thing we want to do. We might forget that we did not spend the winter hiking. We did not go camping. And we are definitely moms in our 30’s.

We set out on this campout totally optimistic and ready to conquer the world. 

There is a gate on the road to this trailhead. It is locked until sometime in May or June and adds at least 1.3 miles extra to the hike which ends up being 2.6 miles total to the whole trip. 

The trail is over 4 miles up with over 2200 feet of elevation gain. So with the added road, we had nearly 6 miles of hiking on day 1. BUT not just any old hiking. Snowy, icy, muddy hiking. 

Once we deviated from the road and got onto the actual trail, the struggles began. We put on our shoe spikes. The post-holing began soon thereafter. 

So. Much. Post Holing. 

Though it was beautiful, the hike up was tedious to say the least. It was long, boring, and so abundantly beautiful

Generally at some point during a hike like this, you get over it a bit. You put your head down and just power through it. When we got above the treeline, the wind picked up and we got over it. 

I put my head down and just went. I didn’t stop till I was at the lookout. I stomped up the stairs, took in the vast beauty around me, unlocked the door, went in, got my fire starting stuff out of my pack, started a fire in the stove, changed into my dry shoes, went to the woodshed, split some more wood, went back to the fire, added more wood, then sat there and waited for the other two to show up. 

All of us had cold, wet feet and were pooped. It’s a hard hike even without all the snow. 

But none of the side effects kept our spirits down.

WE HAD DONE IT!!!

We did the hike. Conquered the mountain. We hiked 6 miles just to sleep in a fire tower on a mountain. We were on top of the world!

And that is what allowing yourself to adventure and play can do for you as a mom. It allows you to push yourself. Try new things. Push yourself beyond your limits. And discover what you are truly made of. 

When you go with other women, especially epic women, they will support you. Quell your negative talk. Celebrate your victories! Because Empowered women Empower women. 

You don’t have to be a certain body type to do these things. You don’t need the best gear or to achieve a certain physical goal. All you need is to do it. And maybe recognize that its not a competition haha

One of my friends on this trip kept saying that she wants to be the person who does this stuff.

I kept reminding her that the fact that she was doing it NOW meant she IS the person who does this stuff. Because what makes you any type of person? Being that person!

That is what I love about outdoor recreation adventures. They truly bring out the epic in us. When a woman chooses to get out of her zone of comfort – when she chooses to be who she knows she can be, that is who she is. 

Isn’t that beautiful?

No one can tell you who you are. No one can tell you your limits. 

Once you arrive in this headspace, you can truly begin to thrive because you are living life on your terms. Not on anyone else’s.