Guides Gone Wild

Put Your Foot Down! Let's Hike Together for Racial Justice with Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity

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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 access by raising critical funds for BIPOC-led organizations.

The 2024 Summits in Solidarity Hike-a-Thon launched March 20th with an ambitious goal: collectively hiking 5,000 miles between the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice to raise $50,000 for two remarkable organizations: MANA (Maine Association for New Americans), that supports immigrants in connecting with nature and community resources; and Unlikely Riders, that creates welcoming mountain sport spaces for BIPOC Vermonters in skiing, snowboarding, and beyond.

My 2025 hike-a-thon is underway, and I hope you’ll pop in @GuidesGoneWild on Instagram or Facebook to follow my progress this spring!

There will be no talk of FKTs or thru hikes or 24 hour traverses, and I might not even go to the White Mountains, because I honestly don’t have time for that right now! Instead, I’m going to be getting ALL of my 75 pledged miles on my local trail systems - a few of the hikes I intend to do are less than a mile long! 

Whether you support my hiking efforts, do your own thing solo or with a team, or donate to win some swank raffle items, it’s all good! Join me in supporting Summits in Solidarity, Maine Association for New Americans, and Unlikely Riders this spring over at summitsinsolidarity.org.

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Jen:

Welcome to the Guides Gone Wild podcast. What is Guides Gone Wild, you ask? This is where you'll fill your ears and minds with the stories of everyday, extraordinary women who will inspire you to take your outdoor adventure game to the next level. Whether you're starting your journey from the couch or the trailhead, this is the place for you. So let's get a little wild, awesome, awesome.

Jen:

Okay, it's early morning and I'm doing one of my favorite things to do at this time of year, which is talk to Serena Ryan of the Notch Hostel about the kickoff for the Summits in Solidarity initiative that they've got going for this year, which is like kind of a new structure, and I'm loving the way it's all. I'm loving seeing all the corporate sponsors, I'm loving the way it's structured. So it's. This is exciting and it just started on the Solstice, not the Solstice on-.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

Today. Yeah that's right.

Jen:

Today, the 20th of March, we're kicking off, so, serena, let's start talking about it. I don't really have any questions prepared and I haven't had enough coffee, but I love, love, love. I'm directly familiar with one of your recipients for this year, the Maine Association of New Americans, which is awesome. Tell me a little bit first, I guess, about the recipients first, and then we'll get into how we are going to support these folks in this extraordinarily important time. To be doing such things and I love the name of it I should have thought about it myself. Put your foot down.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

Thank you. It's great to be here with you again and it is amazing to be talking to you on the very first day of spring, which is the day that the hike-a-thon for Summits in Solidarity kicks off. Yeah, just to give a little background, summits in Solidarity is a nonprofit that I started in 2020 with other hikers from the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and our mission is to foster justice and equity for Black, indigenous and people of color. Specifically, we focus in New England and we have done ever since 2020, we have done a big hiking challenge every June, and when we gather up the community to do this hiking challenge, the goal is to raise you know, 30, 40, now it's $50,000 that we then give out as grants to local BIPOC-led justice and outdoor access work happening in New England. So that's a little background on what we're doing. This year, our hike-a-thon launches today I'll tell you what it's about in a minute but our goal is to raise $50,000 between the spring equinox and the summer solstice so June 20th and we're going to be giving that money out as unrestricted grants to two different organizations in New England that are doing amazing work on racial justice and outdoor access.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

Maine Association for New Americans is one of them you had mentioned.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

They are an immigrant-led organization that really works on like with the immigrant communities, specifically like Portland Maine is where they're based, but they do work outside of that area.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

A lot of their work is in like decreasing mental health stigma and social empowerment, like you know, helping people who are just coming to Portland from you know often like horrific genocide or war-torn countries that are coming over to Portland Maine.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

They come in and they get together with MANA, this group who can help sink them in with the community, help them get rides to places they need to go if they don't have a vehicle yet, but also make connections with them to get established job, housing etc. And then help them join together with other immigrants in the community there to do things like go outside, and they've done several retreats at the Notch Hostel for youth, women and elders where they are going out and going hiking, biking, even skiing, like all sorts of different programs that they have running. So that's what one of our grants will be going to. Is like help, especially this year. They're working on like ramping up their gear closet, like getting outdoor gear so that people who are just coming here from other countries and may not have like even a backpack or a pair of hiking boots can make sure that they're like fully outfitted before they go out on hikes.

Jen:

Yeah, awesome and yeah, and I'll definitely link up both of these groups in the show notes because it's it's just the more you do a deep dive on all the great work they're doing, the more inspired you get to just help these, help these folks get outside. So what are we doing for unlikely riders?

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

unlikely riders is the other recipient this year. They're based in vermont, um, they're also a non-profit. Both of the we're a non-profit and both of the organizations were raising money for a non-profit. So unlikely riders is focuses on mountain sports. Uh, they started out with like ski and snowboarding, specifically trying to um eliminate barriers to skiing and snowboarding for BIPOC Vermonters and creating a community for people to like fully access snow sports and enjoy snow sports together, rather than feeling like, you know, they're the only black person on a mountain full of white skiers. You know, trying to create their own space on the mountain. Now they're actually a four season organization.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

I was just talking with Abby, the director of the organization, the other day and they're doing like mountain biking, hiking, rock climbing, water sports, like they're. They're really expanding and our grant this year will be funding a physical base lodge. They are looking right now at different properties so that they can have a base lodge with like a small ski hill, you know, not necessarily with like a chairlift, but like here in Lincoln we have the Kink Rec Center which has like a small ski hill with a rope tow, but it's awesome and you can. I've skied there a number of times. It's a great place to learn how to ski. You can build jumps, do you know? Clinics, so they're looking to do one. Do something like that in Vermont. They're also getting a gear closet together and we'll be funding that as well and even like funding teacher training, so people who are looking to get certified to be a ski or snowboard instructor.

Jen:

Which would be amazing. Honestly, I mean, I can't think of it. I can't think of a better way to learn how to ski than to come and see somebody that looks exactly like you, who's like yeah, let's try this, let's do this, so that's awesome. Yeah, both, both extremely amazing groups. So I'm I'm excited about this.

Jen:

So in previous years, a lot of your efforts have been kind of focused around solidarity a solidarity night and solidarity day, which is exactly. You are still having such a thing. It's not all. But this year it's not all about kind of like hiking, trying to hike around the same day, trying to do that, it's, it's there. There's really no excuse anymore.

Jen:

If you can be mobile in any way, shape or form outside, there is a way to participate, and even if you can't, there is a way to participate With the raffle, which is another thing. I love the way you structured it. This year it was so fun to kind of see the impact because, as you mentioned, all of these organizations are nonprofits and they're all nonprofits that are not. You know, this isn't like Susan J Komen, g Komen. They're all nonprofits that are not. You know, this isn't like Susan J Komen, g Komen, like this is like literally a handful of people doing an intensive amount of work at a certain time of year to get this happening, and like literally pretty much everything you donate is going directly to all the good work. So let's talk a little bit about the structure of Solidarity Night and the hikes, the hike-a-thon.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

Well, the hike-a-thon starts today. I am, as soon as we're done this, I'm going to go out and put in my first 10 miles today.

Jen:

I was going to say you can already sponsor Serena. I saw you there on the list today she's like I'm in.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

Yeah, it's so great to get motivated for just getting outside this spring through the hike-a-thon. Yeah, in previous years we've focused more on like doing a single hike. You go to the summit, you hold up your Summits in Solidarity sign, which some people use like the flags that we send out and others just do like a cardboard and marker sign that says Sumits and solidarity on it. You get to the top, you take a picture and you post it on your social media, email it to your friends and family with a link to with you know, an explanation of why we're raising money and a link to donate. And that's been really awesome. Some will still certainly be doing a lot of group hikes this year, but rather this year the shift is, rather than focusing on like one single hike or one single day to go out and hike, we're doing a challenge where we are as a group of solidarity hikers. You know, across the country people participate in this all across the country we are trying to hike 5,000 miles collectively before between the spring solstice and the sorry, the spring equinox and the summer solstice to raise $50,000 for these amazing groups. So we actually have on the hike-a-thon page where you sign up, you can register your mileage goal. Mine is extreme, it's like 300 miles, but some people are registering for like 10 miles. You know it's not this. This is not about like who can do the most number of miles. It's more about every bit counts and like together we want to get to 5,000 miles. So if you sign up, you can register for a goal any amount One mile to 500 miles is great and it's something that feels realistic to you, that you can commit to doing between the time frame and then, after you register with your goal on your fundraising page, you can like send that link around to people and you'll update. It's pretty easy to just go in and say like, hey, I'm up to like 10 miles, I'm up to 20 miles, I've got 45 miles. Like you could update it so people can see like how far along you are and you can post like little updates along the way, long you are and you can post like little updates along the way. So, yeah, it's a great way to get inspired to get outside this spring. I know I'm I need to get my butt back outside, but you might be thinking like well, it's mud season, it's not great for hiking.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

We are taking the focus off of like hiking in the fourth 4000 footers of New Hampshire, which you know was an easy focus in the beginning, because that's where I'm located and the 48 are a huge draw for a lot of people. They're also extremely inaccessible to most of the world. So, like we, I've never really felt great about like focusing on the 48, 4,000 footers as kind of the focus of like the hike. The social media that we're posting is these groups up on 4,000 footers because it's just simply not accessible yet to a lot of people who do want to participate.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

So yeah, this year we're changing the definition of a hike to outdoor enjoyment of a trail or path by foot or, as needed, with mobility assistance. So solidarity hike could be you could be going to the top of a mountain, but it could also be a visit to a local nature preserve. A walk or a wheelchair powered adventure on a bike path downtown Boston also counts under our definition. We have one person who's doing a through hike of the Appalachian Trail this year and she's you know that also counts. She's put like 600 mile pledge in. So we're really trying to get folks to just get outside in whatever way they can. If you want to do a road walk like that also counts under our definition, but it's really just about getting out there, moving, showing your solidarity, taking pictures along the way with your summits and solidarity sign, and keeping sharing a link to donate as you go and letting folks know why you're doing this.

Jen:

Yeah, that's, that's amazing and I'm psyched. So, like you've got 300 miles, or how did you think about it when you were thinking about what your goal was going to be? I mean, you, you knew you had some stuff coming up. Is that how you kind of said, all right, this is how I think this is realistic, like let's give people a few tips of like, know, don't, don't get overwhelmed by this. This is something that I mean. This is the. This is the time to be starting to get out. The buds are coming out and on the trees, everybody start taking their allergy medicine and start thinking about this. So how did you think about it for yourself?

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

um well, I'm in a.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

for me it's 300 miles, that's probably like higher than what a lot of people are putting in, but I work in a seasonal business and we are in the slow season in spring, so for me like to do 300 miles in the middle of our busy season would not be possible, but right now it actually does feel pretty feasible, especially because if I calculate like 90 days and I, if I'm just like simply going out and walking my dog, like you know, three miles a day, times 90, that's 270 miles. Yeah, and like my standard dog walk loop is three miles. So that's kind of how I calculated. It was like okay, I can. I mean I do I walk my dog three miles every day. No, I haven't done that this winter Cause it's been negative bazillion, but I'm really like committed to doing that. I'm also personally like signed up for, um, the Kilkenny Ridge half marathon at the end of this summer, so I'm like already starting to train for that, and I have a section hike of the Haiti trail out in Utah, the first hundred miles planned for April.

Jen:

So, yeah, yeah, so you should have no issue getting to it because you're just. You know that is your lifestyle, but I think I think you're the way you framed that with your dog walking is perfect. It's like you know, if you're one of those people that you know is trying to get 10,000 steps in your Fitbit or whatever, just think about what that means. And then you know, do the math and that's a great goal and it might actually help you stay on track for getting a little bit more movement going now that we're coming out of the negative bajillion.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

Yeah, more movement going now that we're coming out of the negative bajillion time of year. And, yeah, I know some people are like either their work situation or maybe they're coming off an injury or just like not interested or able to commit to like a large mileage goal. And I just want to stress that this you know a lot of times with these fundraisers it's like all right, you get, you know, a special prize if whoever gets the most number of mileage, and we're not interested in people trying to like put in the most number of mileage to win the game. That's like a very kind of capitalistic, like rooted in white supremacy way of thinking about this. We're really just encouraging people to do what feels right for them.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

We have like some people doing some unique numbers, like the REI Bedford store in Bedford, new Hampshire. Their store number is 181, like of the REIs. Their store number is 181, like of the REIs, and so they have a team, an REI Bedford team, with all of their employees and they are pledging 181 miles, you know, and divided among their group, that's actually like a pretty doable number. So, you know, there's all sorts of different things. I've seen people register that are pledging 30 miles and what it's really about is getting out there and learning about why we're doing this fundraiser, understanding like what it means to hold privilege, forms of privilege that allow us to hike and recreate outdoors, and to use that privilege to help reduce others barriers to the outdoors so that everybody can experience the joy and the healing of nature.

Jen:

Yeah, absolutely. And if you just absolutely can't find a way to work it into your own schedule, just go on to the site and sponsor somebody else, because there's like already a handful of folks up there and it's just kicking off today who've committed to you know mileage amounts and you know they'll. They will, I'm sure, graciously accept any support they can get along the way to get them inspired to get back out. Tell us a little bit about the raffle. I'm so excited about these corporate sponsorships. It's so exciting.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

Oh, thanks. Yeah, we do have some pretty good raffle items coming up. We've got, I think, our grand. We have a couple of grand prizes this year. So anyone who wants to donate, if you want to donate to somebody else, like to a hiker who, like my one of our friends, to somebody else like to a hiker who, like my one of our friends, sarah yawada, is now through hiking the at she's pledged 600 miles so you can go online, go to her page, make a donation towards her goal and then, when you're making that donation, you can make it as a plain donation or you can make your donation in the form of buying raffle tickets for prizes that are outdoor gear focused. So some of the things that you might win, if you're, I mean for me, like if I were entering, if I were going to donate to someone, I would just like donate as raffle tickets if I were interested in any of the prizes, because why not, you know?

Jen:

Yeah there's like gear, apparel, like mapping, like there was all kinds of stuff, all kinds of uh accommodations, which was pretty cool. If you do like to hike in the white mountains or, you know, anywhere along new england, there's a billion different opportunities to win free nights and places yeah hyper light 35 liter pack is one of the big ones.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

We also have an Arc'teryx. Arc'teryx Boston, specifically, has donated a pack. I don't know the specific one yet, but they're going to be letting us know. We also have a ULA equipment circuit backpack, which is my personal favorite. That's actually the pack I use, a ULA pack. So if you're thinking about which pack to enter in the raffle, I highly recommend the ULA. But they're all amazing. Yeah, we have like clothing from Stio. We've got a full. We've got actually like a guided day of hiking with Philip Karsarsha, one of the biggest hikers in the white mountains. So if you're trying to work on a hiking goal out here and you're not sure, like, about doing it alone, he'll come out with you and spend like the entire day like getting you through that single day prezzy traverse or getting you up to, uh, your last 4000 footer that you aren't, you know, comfortable going out on alone.

Jen:

That one's pretty cool and then he takes amazing photographs too. And he'll just be there. My guess is he'll be taking a lot of really nice photos of you to document the fact that you were there.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

Yeah, we just actually we went yesterdayip just finished doing four rounds of the 48 4 000 footers yesterday. Uh, he just finished four rounds of the 48 in the single winter season, which no one's ever done before.

Jen:

Yeah, which is not considering the weather we've had. That's crazy yeah.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

So we went up yesterday and you know the public was invited to and one of the folks that joined was this guy who had actually won Phil's raffle prize in the Summits in Solidarity raffle last year and he is planning on taking for him. He hasn't redeemed it yet but he's like training towards doing a single day presidential traverse with Phil in June actually, which is coming up.

Jen:

So that's awesome.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

Yeah, it's like not that. That's not that if you win it you have to go do a single day pressie, but it was pretty cool. Talking to him about it, he's like, yeah, I won this last year, set that goal, and I've been like working out to it ever since.

Jen:

That's, that's amazing, that's that's and that's like. That's definitely a thing that would take a lot of training for me at this point.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

Yeah.

Jen:

But such a beautiful and amazing hike. Yeah, that was like 20 years ago with like an entire bottle of Advil. I accommodated that, I accomplished that, but I definitely wouldn't try it now. That's awesome, yeah. So the raffle looks amazing and what I liked about it, too, is that you know you, even if you just want to go on and buy raffle tickets, you know whatever. You know every time you, when you click on something, you're like it shows you like okay, so they're. You know every time you, when you click on something, you're like it shows you like okay, so they're. You know, $1 less per per chance, but it's like it equates what you're investing in, what that you're going to actually do or could actually do with that amount of money, which is pretty, pretty amazing.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

Like it really shows you, really brings it home, like how much of an impact you can make, even with like a $25 donation or a $50 donation, which you know I, which I really appreciated yeah, like, for example, if you would like to donate $50 to someone's page, you can donate it in the form of buying raffle tickets and that $50 pays for a full day of gear rental for like hiking, you know, like a pair of skis and ski boots for one of our fundraising recipient groups to be able to get out on the mountain.

Jen:

Yeah, exactly, and so it really just hammered home how effective and this is so important right now, because I mean I don't know, I guess I don't even need to explain why is so important right now. Because I mean I don't know, I guess I don't even need to explain why it's important right now, because we're all using somebody's lift ticket?

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

yeah, their lift tickets are getting more and more expensive. You can cover someone's lift ticket, yeah, and even like, if you want to go big, you can. You can support like an entire safety training day where you're like supporting people's backcountry access by like getting a, you know, a day of avalanche safety training, which is very important. Weren't you just saying you were out?

Jen:

yes, you know, and like there was an avalanche that buried the road. I was not there, thankfully I was on a plane, but uh, yeah, yeah, no, that is all very important and you know just any any ability to support getting into the outdoors, because I mean, I know from a personal standpoint that that's like the only time I kind of can try to forget that we're living in the end times and you know it's a dumpster fire all around us. So it's important for everybody to get those times and and have access and feel comfortable in the outdoors, and this is all the work that you've been doing this whole time. So I really appreciate you, serena, and all of the group of extraordinary people who will work on the Summits in Solidarity and your February anti-racism initiative every year. That was something I did last year and I really enjoyed and have revisited the book many times since. So it's just great. You're doing great work and I don't know what have we missed what else? Oh, let's talk about Solidarity Night and all that.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

Solidarity Night is a very special night, best night of the year for summits and solidarity. It will be June 7th and this is a night where we host a big celebration at our headquarters, which is the notch hostel in north woodstock, new hampshire, which is right in the heart of the white mountains, right by, you know, franconia notch moose walk. So come to the hostel, join us for a big potluck feast and we have a mini film festival. We do in-person raffle for stuff that you can only win at the event and, really, like you get a chance to meet not only the volunteers and board members that run summits in solidarity, but you also get a chance to meet the people that we are fundraising for this year.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

So we'll have representatives from Unlikely Riders. We'll have representatives from Maine Association for New Americans there with us. You get to actually meet people, talk with them, form connections. It's really like a unique and very intimate way to see, exactly like who your money is going to. I think in a way that some of these like larger fundraisers. You'll never really see it again after you hit one eight, but you can come right up and like hang out and go hiking. All of us will be going hiking that weekend. I think together we'll be doing several different group hikes and yeah.

Jen:

And there are yeah, and there are options to to. There are a few options to stay at the hostel or at on the hostel property. You know it's a. It's a very robust place, uh, close to lots of other lodging accommodations too. Because I'm guessing this, the, uh, the hostel will get sold out pretty, pretty quick. Um, because who wouldn't want to be there on site and hanging out? Um, it's it which. It's a lovely place. My family and I stayed there years ago and we really enjoyed it.

Jen:

So I'm hoping I got to look at my schedule. But I'm like, oh, maybe I'll go up and throw a tent in the backyard. I got to get on that and figure out if I can do it. That would be so fun. Um, yeah, so, and it's always, the recaps of that event always look amazing. You do a lot of amazing things at the hostel, just in general. So you're a good follow because you've got so many fun things going on there, especially even before all the AT folks start tooling through. So where let's see where it's summitsinsolorg is, where is the best jumping off point and you can get to all kinds of different places from there. The fundraising and hike-a-thon page.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

Yep, you just go right on to summits and solidarityorg and then click on the hike-a-thon.

Jen:

Head to the menu and it'll get you into all of the information that we just talked about, and more. And where else else? Your summits and solidarity on all the social media? Yep, what else? What else do we need to know?

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

Um, we need to know how many miles you're doing this spring.

Jen:

Ah, yeah, I know I got to get my. I'm going to get my calculator out after this because I definitely am adding my list myself to the list of participants today, but I want to figure out what's realistic for me. Um, you know freaking jobs and all that, but I need some inspiration to get out there, so I'm going to be on there. Look for the guides. Gone wild, uh.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

Individual or team I'll be looking for it. Yeah, I mean, teams are fun, like I know people doing it with their you know, with their kids. Or we've got even Latino Outdoors. Boston just set up a team. They're one of the previous fundraiser recipients and they'll be going out. I can't remember what their mileage goal is, but teams are fun because you know you don't have time to do a ton of mileage.

Jen:

You can form a team and then get a team and do a bunch of miles. You know Right Well. I'm actually thinking maybe I'll try to link up a bunch of the you know, maybe I'm going to, I'm going to take you at at your actual uh word and try to encourage people to do stuff just right around them, and maybe I'll try to link up some of our, you know, conservation areas in this, in this space, and do a lot of those.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

Love it.

Jen:

Lots of hikes instead of just one big hike.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

Yeah, that's what we're really. I think a lot of people are doing this year is just getting outside as much as possible rather than focusing on one single hike.

Jen:

Yeah.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

But do send pictures along the way if you're-.

Jen:

Of course you gotta do it.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

We wanna be posting about this, um, so send us your photos. You can send them on instagram to me or facebook or email and um we'll share them.

Jen:

Dig out my bandana. Yeah, you can also buy a bandana or get some guidance on how to make a good sign on the site. I mean, it's got, you got it. So I'm going to get my bandana out and start hitting the pavement slash trail.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

You had a really cool group of sign that you did for. I can't remember what year it was, but you had a group of people, a bunch of kids with you.

Jen:

Yes, we took all the kids.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

You did like four or five different pieces of cardboard and had painted in rainbow colors summits and solidarity across the cardboard and holding a piece One of my favorite pictures it's actually on. If you go to the homepage for the hike a thon, it goes through like a series of Is it on the carousel oh?

Jen:

it's in the carousel, one of my favorite photos ever.

Jen:

Oh, I'm looking at it right now and that's a great example, like that hike because you know we were with a bunch of kids and none of them are real hikers. I mean that hike, that was the roost in heaven's notch that we did. I mean the whole hike round trip is like I don't know two, 2.2 miles or something like. It's like a little pimple on the edge of the White Mountains, but it has a great view and we got them to get up there and hold their signs and they all, like you know, I wouldn't say they enjoyed it, but they did it and it was fun. The adults enjoyed it. So that's awesome. That's so cool. Maybe, yeah, yeah, I'll, I'll put the roost, I'll add that mileage, maybe I'll do a. I'll revisit that as part of my, my mileage for this year. So cool, awesome. Well, now you got me all stoked up, as stoked as I ever get at this hour of the morning. Thank you so much, serena. Thank you for continuing to do this. Happy fifth anniversary. I know this has been.

Jen:

This is it has been really exciting to watch you grow and watch this expand and and really do amazing work, and it's just one of those fun things I love. I love hearing about it every year and now you got me all fired up. So time to head outside people, because we have the privilege.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

Yep, that's right.

Jen:

So, um, and you know, let's, let's let that privilege trickle, trickle down to some people that really need it more than ever. Um, in the world we're living in right now, oh God damn it.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

Anyway, all right.

Jen:

Well, on that note, let's wrap this up. You, you get back to work, I'll get back to work. I appreciate you so much and um, have an awesome day and have an awesome trip to Utah. I want to hear I'm looking forward to seeing all about that too when do you leave?

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

I leave on the 13th of April.

Jen:

Oh, my gosh Right around the corner.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

Right around the corner. Yeah, I'm very excited. I try to go somewhere every April.

Jen:

Yeah.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

While the hostel is closed for mud season. And this has been on my bucket list for five years, but I've been too afraid to start it because it's a very like daunting route without any like actual, you know trail signs.

Jen:

Just like desert navigation?

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

Yeah, like actual, you know trail signs? Um, just like desert navigation. Yeah, so I'm.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

I actually like listened to one of the summits and solidarity board members did a talk recently about day hiking versus section hiking versus through hiking and kind of break down some of the like stigmas about um day and section hiking, because, yeah, like a huge focus on like, oh well, if you didn't through hike it, then it's not as great, you know. And right after listening to her talk I was like, okay, I don't have the time to take like two months off of work, don't want to take two months off of work. Uh, even if I did um have the time to do that, uh to like do this as a through hike, um, so I just decided, like I can just do it in one week sections for the next, you know, eight years, right, right?

Jen:

Yeah, exactly. Or you get out there and you're like, wow, this, this, this variety of hiking is not my jam. So then you know that and you haven't like disappointed yourself by committing to something that you're like I have no intention of ever finishing this. So there we go. You know yeah.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

Hopefully that doesn't happen. I've been out and done like a couple like small, small sections of the Haiti trail before and really fell in love with it. So, um, kind of know, know what I'm signing up for, and uh, yeah, into the wild we go.

Jen:

Yeah, how much what I'm signing up for. And uh, yeah, into the wild we go. Yeah, how much. Um like, do you have to do a lot of road hiking and stuff too to just like link all the places, or is?

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

it pretty. No, it's like desert, you know, for canyons, washes, yeah, plateau, you know like benches, um some overland hiking, but there's some. There's a little bit of road walking, but it's not that you're really like out there, like sometimes you're swimming yes, I remember you.

Jen:

You did a slot canyon last year or the year before where you had a little swim going on, and that was like I was like, oh, it makes you kind of think like, would I, would I do that? Would I just plunge right in like you just did it?

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

looked. I didn't think I would until I got out there and the only option was to go through it or to turn back.

Jen:

You know, 10 miles and it's like okay, I guess I'm gonna swim yes, but I, if I recall correctly, you did share your trepidation around that as you were doing it, and I'm like I'm glad she put this up because you, you know, people like to just gloss over and look like a badass. And I'm like, no, here she is, who does like a shit ton of hiking in all these different places, who's like this is really uncomfortable for me.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

I really appreciate that Can't see the bottom. There's like crawdads everywhere. Yeah. Yeah, it's scary, but but you did it and here you are I guess the scarier thing is no water, right, right exactly, exactly.

Jen:

well, I can tell you that there will be water, um, because I watched a lot of it fall from the sky while I was out there lots of good snowpack to uh tap into for this spring season out there. So hopefully not too much, though. Well, best of luck and I'm looking forward to seeing you on the hike-a-thon page. And I don't know, I don't think I even accomplished 300 miles, but I'm going to get on there and get something on the board soon, because it's a good excuse to get outside. So thank you.

Serena Ryan, Summits in Solidarity:

Thanks, jen, we'll see you out on the trails. Heck, yeah, you will.

Jen:

I tried something different on this. One jumped right into it instead of blathering on and on and risking losing your interest up front. I'm curious to hear what you thought. Let me know. The easiest way possible is to scroll on down to the bottom of the show notes and hit the link to send me a text. It's a cool new feature from my podcast hosting platform and I am dying to get a message from someone other than one of my trolling family members. But, more importantly, head on over to summitsinsolidarityorg to learn more about this year's hike-a-thon supporting racial justice and equity. I don't know about you, but I'm guessing you also get the overwhelming urge to punch something about 25 times a day right now, for sure, every time you read a news headline. The hike-a-thon gives us a much more productive way to dissipate that energy, because we are putting our foot down outside a lot. In fact, my 2025 hike-a-thon is already underway and I hope you'll come on over to Guides Gone Wild on Instagram or Facebook to follow my progress.

Jen:

This spring, there will be no talk of FKTs or through hikes or 24-hour traverses, and maybe not even very many mentions of the White Mountains, because I honestly don't have time for that right now. Instead, I am going to be getting all of my 75 pledged miles on my local trail systems, like literally a few of the hikes I intend to do are less than a mile long. No need for high tech gear here, but guess what? It's still a hike. I'll be moving outside. Hooray, whether you support my hiking efforts, do your own thing solo or with a team, or donate to win some swanky raffle items, it's all good. Join me in supporting Summits in Solidarity, maine Association of New Americans and Unlikely Riders this spring over at summitsinsolidarityorg. And with that time, to start planning my next early morning adventure while I try to convince my kids to sponsor me for like 10 cents a mile. Anyway, that should get a little wild.