E1: Humility in Human-Powered Adventures with HerOdyssey + Sawyer
Photo Credit: Fede Cabrera
It’s finally here! We’ve been working hard behind the scenes to get our new show, Wellness in the Wilderness, up and running. This week we launched the show with our first guests: Bethany (Fidgit) Hughes and Lauren (Neon) Reed of HerOdyssey and Andrew (Peanut) Glenn from Sawyer!
ABOUT OUR GUESTS:
The two-woman multi-sport, endurance athlete team of Bethany ‘Fidgit’ Hughes and Lauren ‘Neon’ Reed have completed a human powered expedition, traveling the length of the Americas connecting the story of the land and its inhabitants. Across 18,221 miles of hiking, bikepacking, and paddling, they engaged local populations in storytelling, connecting to how humans and animals are adapting to a changing planet.
As women explorers, Her Odyssey put sweat equity into the uphill battle toward women’s empowerment and equitable acknowledgment. The ‘Herstory’ Series on their website highlight women creating change. The expedition challenges social norms and prejudices about women in the backcountry and tests the determination of the adventurers.
Bethany Hughes aka Fidgit has more than 20,000 miles under her feet and more than 20 years of writing, recording, and sharing human powered adventures with followers across the globe. She grew up as a third culture kid, climbing in the Andes of South America and the jungles of the tropics. While earning her BA in Institutions & Policy in the Oxbridge Honors Program at William Jewell College, she worked summers as a Philmont Ranger for the Boy Scouts of America. Preparing for her first thru-hike, the Pacific Crest Trail, she worked for Alaska Icefield Expeditions dog sled teams in Tongass National Forest along Alaska’s Inside Passage. For the past 12 year she has focused on planning and pursuing the Her Odyssey Expedition and mission. She is currently writing a memoir series about Her Odyssey.
Lauren Reed aka Neon discovered her joy of the outdoors at a young age, exploring the neighborhood and nearby woodlands with siblings and friends. While attending Penn State University she spent weekends leading climbing, canoeing, and hiking trips. She is a ‘Triple Crown’ thru-hiker, having walked the three primary long distance trails across the US. In her time away from longer trails, she works as a wilderness therapy guide and continues finding enrichment outdoors; learning, writing, sharing, photographing, and exploring along the way.
IN THIS EPISODE:
How did Fidgit and Neon prepare for this expedition? Did they experience resistance along the way?
We can't control what the wilderness will throw at us, what was the first sign that things weren't going according to plan? How did they handle it?
This expedition was spread out over seven years to make it sustainable financially, mentally, physically, and to protect the landscapes they were traversing. In a world that seems more impressed with peak-bagging and fastest known times, what would they have missed if they tried to make this happen all in one shot?
How did the team use their privilege to leave the spaces better than they found them and improve the lives of folks they met along the way?
How did Sawyer step up, show up, and make a difference on this expedition for the communities you were traveling through?
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SHOW TRANSCRIPT:
Please note, we use Otter.ai to transcribe episodes and while the technology is impressive, it’s not completely accurate. Please excuse any missed words, nonsensical sentences, and missed interpretations of foreign language below:
Announcer 00:05
Welcome to Wellness in the Wilderness. Come with us on the trail of life as we inspire you to take a step outdoors to disconnect from the distractions and reconnect with yourself. Sydney Williams in our guests will motivate you to get active and get well. Now, here's Sydney.
Sydney Williams 00:25
Welcome to Wellness in the Wilderness. I'm your host Sydney Williams and today I am broadcasting live from the ancestral lands of the Kumeyaay People now known as Julian California. If you're curious about the first people in your area, we recommend visiting native-land.ca. To learn more, simply plug in your address and the map will populate with the names of the tribes who have stewarded the lands for 1000s of years. This is a great first step in doing research to educate ourselves, and we encourage you to dig deeper and support the indigenous people, places and businesses in your area. Over the course of the time and space we share together each week here on wellness in the wilderness, you can look forward to inspiring conversations with folks from all walks of life, about how they find their version of wellness in the wilderness. Whether you're an experienced outdoor enthusiast or brand new to the healing power of nature. We know that these conversations will inspire you to think differently about your relationship to nature and equip you with tools, rituals and knowledge to help you bring your best self to life love and work. At the very least, we hope that you'll take this time each week to do something kind for yourself, and that these conversations feel like a breath of fresh air wellness in the wilderness would not be possible without the support of our sponsors Sawyer and Gossamer Gear. And please note we will not be taking callers on this episode but please connect with us on Instagram @hikingmyfeelings or join the Hiking My Feelings family at family.hikingmyfeelings.org If you're listening to here if you won the Wellness in the Wilderness giveaway stay tuned I promise we'll get to it. We'll be sharing the winners and the names of them at the end of the show. Now about our guests today. The two woman multi sport endurance athlete team of Bethany 'fidget' Hughes and Laura Lauren 'Neon' Reed have completed a human powered expedition traveling the length of the Americas connecting the story of the land and its inhabitants across 18,221 miles of hiking, backpacking and paddling. They engage local populations via storytelling connecting to how humans and animals are adapting to a changing planet. As woman explores Her Odyssey put sweat equity into the uphill battle toward women's empowerment and equitable acknowledgement. The Her Odysset series on their website highlights women creating change. The expedition challenges social norms and prejudices about women in the backcountry and test the determination of the adventurers. Our guests today are Bethany Hughes, aka fidget, who has more than 20,000 miles under her belt, and more than 20 years of writing, recording and sharing human powered adventures with followers across the globe. She grew up as a third culture kid climbing in the Andes of South America in the jungles of the tropics. While earning her BA in institutions and policy change in the Oxbridge Honors Program at William Jewell College. She worked summers as a Philmont ranger for the Boy Scouts of America. Preparing for her first through hike the Pacific Crest Trail, she worked for Alaska icefield expedition dog sled teams and the Tongass National Forest alongside Alaska's Inside Passage. For the past 12 years. She is focused on planning and pursuing the her Odyssey expedition and mission. She is currently writing a memoir series about her Odyssey. Our other guest today is Lauren Reed aka neon, and she discovered her joy of the outdoors at a young age exploring the neighborhood in nearby woodlands with siblings and friends. While attending Penn State University. She spent weekends leading climbing canoeing and hiking trips. She's a triple crown through hiker AKA a total badass having walked the three primary long distance trails across the US and her time away from the longer trail. She works as a wilderness therapy guide and continues finding enrichment outdoors, learning, writing, sharing, photographing and exploring along the way. Welcome to the show fidget and neon. Thank you so nice to be here. Thank you. Yes, I'm so glad that you are both here. And with those extensive bios, I think we can kind of just jump right into it. Um, Her Odyssey was an adventure that took five years to plan seven years to execute. But before we get into all the learnings and some of the stories along the way, I'd love to know where were you when you first had this idea.
Fidgit 04:18
I was the one who had the idea and it came to me in the darkness that tends to follow thru hike. Since after I'd finished the Pacific Crest Trail. My family and social messaging was a lot of well, you've got it out of your system now. So now you're going to settle down and I was trying I was a manager of the bookkeeping department at h&r block in a high rise in downtown Kansas City. And looking at feeling pretty unfulfilled and the place that I would always go from childhood onward to escape would be into books. And on when particularly heinous traffic laden commute home I just pulled over Behind ended up being behind like a dumpster of a Taiwanese restaurant, and was reading Born to Run in which Chris McDougall mentions that the CNMI that I still see the dial range in Mexico connects the longest chain of mountains in the world to go to the head of the Andes to the Rockies, which were, that's the spine of my own personal formation, as well as of the Americas. And it became instantly clear that by my own powers and offerings, I would reconnect and trace the vein of my own life. Oh,
Sydney Williams 05:34
I just love it so much. So when you had this idea, I mean, this is a granddaddy kind of adventure. Did you get any resistance when you share this idea with your friends and family?
Fidgit 05:46
You know, the way I've come to look at it is that concocting a grand and impossible sounding vision is a lot like building a fire. There's the different stages of it. And that first stage is very intimate, and it's you, and a small amount of fodder, just praying for a spark. And when that spark comes, you tend it. And I felt like in the first few years of planning, I was very careful, I didn't really talk to anyone about it, because I knew that the flame was still so small that it would be easily doused by doubt, and by questioning and by the ridicule, frankly, that we have experienced that every single step of this journey. And then you breathe life into it. And when it catches, then you start feeding it, you feed it in a measured way. You know the same as you'd be putting sticks onto a fire and you'd be grading up your sticks. Like, for me that was working a job saving up money doing the planning, gathering information, contacting Smedes like Yan Dudek of the greater Patagonia trail or George Megan, one of the first modern people to have walked this. And the really cool thing is once you've built up a really good fire, and it's strong enough that you could share it and other people, even those who might have doubted you at the beginning and douse the flames find themselves drawn to the warmth of that.
Sydney Williams 07:08
I'm a sucker for visual and you just lit this whole conversation on fire. So fidget when you had this idea you're building this fire at what point did neon become part of this plan?
Fidgit 07:23
I think she was a part of it. Before I knew what a significant role she would end up playing. She was always someone who held things very steady for me. I got to witness her complete her triple crown and crew for her as she through hiked the Continental Divide Trail right past my home here in Silverthorne. And she just continued to ask really good questions and continue to show up until the day that we have our different versions of how it went down. But I had been sharing my vision and trying to find the answers to her pregnant questions. And then there was about a day about 2014 She was like, alright, I'll do it. But I'll only commit to South America. Like a person who speaks in terms of I'll only walk across one continent is definitely my kind of person.
Sydney Williams 08:23
I love that just South America, we'll see how it goes. Now, neon fidget mentioned that you guys have different versions of this story. Do you have any amendments to make to hers?
Neon 08:33
I'm not specifically, we definitely spent a lot of time like we met on the Pacific Crest Trail in 2010. So I've known her since she's had this vision. Well, a little bit beforehand, but whatever. And so kind of seeing the evolution of it from her being in Kansas City to moving to Colorado to be more intentional about living a life that she wants to be a part of and is like proud of and gets more out of both physically and emotionally and mentally. I got to see that evolution, basically from the beginning. And so I would come through and visit her in Colorado and we'd like go out on an adventure and come back and like talk about what she's working on that month or what she's working on been working on since the last time I visited and getting to hear kind of the ins and outs and ups and downs of planning for such a huge journey. And then being uncertain as to whether like I was definitely interested in joining but I was uncertain if I'd be able to. So I think that was the big part of me taking a while to to come around to it, or else I would have like probably hopped in with at least one foot earlier.
Sydney Williams 10:08
Awesome. Um, so take me through you now. Okay, so we're, we're going back in time, you have this idea, you're committed to at least off America, maybe more turns out spoiler alert, she did the whole thing. So you have this plan, you're committed, and you're in the planning process walk us through. And obviously, five years does not condense down into an hour. But let's let's walk us through the planning process to that literal first step that you took on this adventure? What did that look like?
Fidgit 10:37
So I guess lucky for us all I, I had planned to start in 2014. And I was pretty committed to that timeline, my promise to myself was that I would begin it before my 30th birthday. And then lucky for us all I tore my ACL and was financially and physically crippled. And finding myself drifting further from what I had felt called to do. And that happened to by the time for Nyan to be able to ask her questions. And I got to watch her fall into a snowbank and really struggle because she hates the cold. And she refused help. Not even a poll to pull her out your cross country seeing that it was like you know, this is a person who knows how to have a hard time. And that's what a lot of this is going to be. So some of it was honoring and showing up for the process of that partnership developing. On my end, it was again, just continuing to live on like, work a full time grown up job, but living on a dirtbag budget, and putting every single cent that I could aside to save up for this. And then in the evenings after work, I would come home and I would sit down in front of Google Earth Pro and I would just tediously go through. I was reading George Megan's book I was reading. Greg and Dave did a walk across the length of South America. And another buddy all Joey Shaka also did so they were all providing me with their information and their data points. I was collating that. And then. And then yeah, just following through on that, that diligence and that process and trying to understand like, how the heck do you resupply when I'm so accustomed to the thru hiker, first world convenience of it. And knowing that that was not at all what it would look like, nor what would behoove the people through the areas through which we were traveling. So it was live dreaming and reckoning for those first four or five years until the day that Nan and I met up and bought plane tickets south and then it was real.
Sydney Williams 12:50
So where did this adventure start? And what were you feeling when you were like you're off a plane? I'm guessing you've got all your stuff, what kind of emotions were going through your mind and body and spirit as you got ready to start? What would be a seven year expedition?
Fidgit 13:09
Oh, we hit the ground and Santiago is way too much gear. And then that first night there was an earthquake. And I'm pretty immediate, clear clarity of the the cultural differences and trying to while I was raised there trying to introduce me on to some of those like expectations, and the extra side work on top of though walking 18,000 miles that was coming along with that project. And then I fell and sprained my ankle walking on a sidewalk. I was like, Well, this is definitely a promising start. But fortunately, at each step, you know, magical people arose like Greece, a friend of one of my friends here in Colorado came and swooped us and all of our gear up. Like we were just lofted by the community of people in the areas that we couldn't do it ourselves. And then we landed in Ushuaia, Argentina into the home of another friend of a friend. And then things got really off track.
Sydney Williams 14:17
So, as we all know, well, I'll say this, if you're a seasoned adventurer, if you spend any amount of time in the wilderness, you know that not everything goes according to plan. If you're brand new, hey, we're just gonna set you up for success from the get go. I know that you can plan till your heart's content. And sometimes things don't go the way we hope that they will. So despite a five year stint of planning, and saving, and reading and resourcing, and mapping and buying plane tickets, and finally getting there, we can't always predict what the wilderness would throw at us. It sounds like we had a little rolly ankle to get things started. But what was the first sign that you'd have to adjust your plans and how did you handle that?
Fidgit 14:59
I think You're saying earlier got me thinking, you have to say it's like the adventure begins at the detour. Right? And I do believe that, you know, thorough planning ahead of time does as much for one spirit and intent if not more so than what it does for the actual on the ground logistics. So I think one of my policies is, you know, plan in detail execute with flexibility.
Sydney Williams 15:25
Indeed, oh, man. Okay, so we have a break coming up. And before we do, I want to kind of set up this problem. That was the detour where the adventure started. So tell us, what was the thing that happened. And then when we come back from the break, we'll get into how you came back with a solution.
Fidgit 15:42
So all of my planning, I had been really excited about getting into, into the Darwin mountain range. And I had planned a technical route up through that range, which when we hit the ground, I realized, you know, there's this silly little line drawn on a map. That means country borders, and those apparently matter a lot to people. And I saw that we could have drained all of our savings, or all of the savings that I'd collected over the first five years in a matter of two weeks trying to execute that. So I went for a walk to think about it. And the answers to me came from the Nothofagus trees, it's the only point where the Andes goes east to west. And so it creates this really unique, this unique space that the strange I like the southern beach of the genus is north of fogless. And I saw that these trees weren't like stop, tall, strong, thick and straight, I saw that they were gnarled and they were leaned like with the way the wind went. And I spent enough time sitting with the trees to see that they were telling me that if I wanted to grow in this, I would need to change my plans, and go with whatever the seasons gave us.
Sydney Williams 16:53
All right, so to recap what we've talked about so far, besides opening with this beautiful visual of a fire and how plans, the best ones and the best adventure start and how we can equate that to a fire building. I absolutely love that. We are talking about something that took five years to plan we're getting ready to go on a seven year expedition. And Fidget Neon are some of the most experienced adventurers I've ever met in my life. And while we recognize that not many humans will go and have this kind of Expedition or achieve these kinds of things. 18,221 Miles is quite the distance. We are confident that in this space, and in this time and this conversation that we're having that we will come up with some solutions and come up with some answers and some more metaphors that will help you gain wisdom on and off the trail from these experiences. So with that, when we get back we'll talk about how those trees inspired this change of plans. I love it when a tree talks to me and I hope that if you're listening and you haven't had that experience that you'll allow that to happen for you. And we'll be right back with a quick break from our sponsors.
Announcer 18:25
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Announcer 20:36
You're listening to Wellness in the Wilderness with Sydney Williams. Have a question for Sydney and our guests. Join us on the show at 888-346-9141. That's 888-346-9141 Now back to the show with Sydney.
Sydney Williams 20:54
Welcome back to Wellness in the Wilderness. I'm still Sydney Williams and I'm still here with Fidget Nean. And before the break, we were talking about the planning and the first steps on this adventure, and Fisher was telling us about how she went and spoke with the trees and they said Hey, lady, don't drive your savings. What can we do? Instead? How do we adjust this plan so let's pick it up where we left off fidgeter neon wherever you guys want to jump in. I'd love to hear about how you guys adjusted course after you realize this wasn't gonna go the way we thought it was. It was our first invitation towards the end that I've begun referring to as slow travel and to our definition or our understanding of it, it means setting aside your own intentions and making space for those of others and the way that manifested for us in Argentina and also Chile was drinking yet about my birthday.
Fidgit 21:50
Going around wish I was matter of drinking drinking my thirst Sydney's got some Now you always know who's legit when they got like a good a good bombilia going on. So it was a matter of you know, we had this timeline is seasons down, they're very short. And instead we were drinking Mate with Coco. And then Coco introduced us to another of her friends and we drink Mate with him and he sussed us out. They told us our plan was not viable. And then are they gently alluded to that. And then they sat back to watch and see if we would adapt once we, you know, made ourselves humble and said that yeah, okay, like, what do you guys recommend? Then we went over to drink it by Monday with Danny who designs adventure courses running that crosses the entire island at the end of that of Wagle. And after we had demonstrated that, you know, we knew what we were doing that our intent with crossing the land was, you know, recreational and respectful because a lot of these places that we've walked through, you know, the other folks who come are initially scouting for resource removal. And so this process of respecting their process and showing up for that vetting was extremely important. So we drink him out there with all of the right people. And then we connected with Danny. And he gave us the information on the condition that he would walk with us for the first day because down there that's it's a different sense of responsibility. The responsibility is on the person giving the information for the well being of the person who's going to follow it. So we learned across South America, anyone who's given you information, you needed to call them from the next town to let them know that you were well because they carried you on their heart.
Sydney Williams 23:42
I want I love that this story starts with yerba mate and that my first question is like Did you guys ever sleep in the first however many days you were doing all this saucing and getting vetted? Because I if I drink mine past noon, I'm up till the next day. So I love the the focus though on the cultural rituals and the caring about how they care about the people that they're supporting through these kinds of endeavors. Neon as you guys we're drinking the Yerba and and adjusting these plans. What were you thinking as far as I committed to South America at this point? Were you like okay, I'm in it for the long haul. Were you having any doubts? Like where was your head out while this was getting readjusted?
Neon 24:27
Um, I was neck deep in being overwhelmed by cultural stuff before this trip, I well let me start it by saying I have a tendency to to get in neck deep when I get into anything. Then figure out my way out of it. But I yeah, I was I had never been south of the US Mexico border before. We're flying down to Santiago and then down to TWIA. So I had like some basic Spanish and at that point, Fidget was doing a lot of the translating. So a lot of the, the interpersonal and energy was going through her. And so I was just trying to adapt and adjust accordingly. And at that point, it was also like, when I first started, when we first started this journey, I saw it as like, her journey, and wanting to be a part of it, and also wanting it to still be hers, because she's the one that came up with the idea and like, did a lot of the work and a lot of the back work and just like, has, it's her baby, I'm not gonna steal that from her. So I was, I was doing my best to adapt and adjust, as we all learn, we need to in times, and so when we would, we would go to these people's houses, and then we'd go back to Coco's and have dinner and usually have a discussion about like what we learned that day and what we might need to do moving forward. So a lot of it for me was just like, trying to culturally adapt while trying to like, ask fidget the right questions, so that she could then ask whoever we're interacting with, at that time, the right questions, and then have it be interpreted and then interpreted back?
Sydney Williams 26:42
That sounds like a heavy lift. And I'm curious, before I ask my next question, by the end of this journey, did this feel like something that was equally yours? Or did the entire journey feel like it was fidgets and you were supporting it?
Neon 26:56
I definitely evolved over time, I would say I still gave her the like, end all be all. Because it was still hurts. And like I like with with our adaption or evolution. I took on more of it. And I like got more invested as well, which is part of the reason that I ended up doing the whole thing was just because I could see how beneficial it was to have this experience and to like, be out there. Letting other people have this experience, as we like traveled through their areas. So I would say yeah, it was maybe like 60/40 depending on the day.
Sydney Williams 27:36
That sounds like a nice blend. All right. So I feel like and maybe this is something correct me if and when I'm wrong. But I've only lived and travelled through America. I did like a short stint in Norway for a couple of weeks hiking fjords, but nothing of this magnitude. So the cultural norms and expectations that I'm familiar with, specifically when it comes to outdoor recreation, is America. And what I've noticed in the time that I've been in this industry, I guess in the outdoors, is that there seems to be a really big emphasis on peakbagging and fastest known times and setting these records and being the first and this very like, frankly, colonizing kind of mindset. And I know that that was never the intention of this journey. In fact, instead of going for it in one quick fell swoop quick air quotes fell swoop, this was spread out over seven years for the sake of your mental sustainability, physical sustainability and to honor the route that you want it to take and the people that you would be interacting with. I'm curious what led to the decision to approach it that way. Instead of one fell swoop, let's go set some records and like really run this through,
Fidgit 28:54
frankly, that was that arose from compromise with neon, and one of the many deeply enriching elements that have it, that getting to work in partnership introduces to a project like this, my vision had been just a single straight shot on foot only when we can't proceed, we stop and we wait where we are. And then I you know, through conversations with neon and her awareness and ability to communicate with her body and even with the things that stood out to me on her PCT is that she she behaved like, I'm like any woman that I had ever like seen in her strength and her knowledge of herself, and her willingness to push her boundaries and then also to call it when it's not time anymore. So she brought a lot of the temperance and the patience to this odyssey that I did not have to bring I was way too pumped. I was you know, it became like our dynamic that I would be the one I would get us out of town because I'd be so pumped to go and then she would be the one who would get us back into Tao just coaxing me along with promises of like, We'll definitely find ice cream in this town come on. And then to your, to your point of, you know, the peakbagging. And the Keystone mindset, you know, in the US and in much of the first world, in fact, we've carefully constructed, you know, systems around it that behoove efficiency and convenience and those things foster that. And you need to respect that and much of the world that's they're not, it's not linear, it's not that direct, it's cyclical, it's cyclical storytelling, communication and showing up for that. So as an American, it can be like this feels really repetitive. But actually, it's it's being stirred. If you if you turn that cycle flat, it's being stirred and enriched with time. So it became a matter of balancing covering ground of showing up and communing with locals. As well as investing in our partnership. That was another one of the incredible additions that Nyan brought to it was that she suggested we do daily check ins, that were a safe space for the other to speak her truth on any challenges we were facing. We had quarterly meetings with a therapist. And then on top of that, investing in our partnership was sharing it publicly of writing blogs almost weekly training, creating YouTube videos, maintaining Facebook, and Instagram posts, and then eventually shifting over into Patreon so that a community of folks could help support us in supporting the communities that we were passing through.
Sydney Williams 31:30
I love the the compromise. And I think there's a couple of themes that are already present here is adaptability, flexibility, and humility. And the fact that you establish these daily check ins to create that safe space in it in a land that feels it feels and is foreign, in a wilderness condition, that might not be what you're used to from day to day. That's something that's important on and off the trail. And I'm curious, have you guys continued to check in with each other in that way? Maybe not as frequently, but do you still have those check ins with each other just to see how things are going in life?
Fidgit 32:03
Yes, absolutely. You know, we, after seven years, yeah, those first few years were a challenge because we were within line of sight of each other a solid 95 plus percent of the time. And that is extremely intimate way to get to know a person. And then when it lasts for years, until man had the independence of language, and being able to navigate cultural things like grocery shopping, or even just finding the store down the street. So yeah, we maintain that relationship. And I think it's, it goes like the hiking Did you know it's seasonal? I think the thing I appreciated about that is that that followed the patterns of of the ancient ones whose paths we were following. You know, at first, we're following you know, people who had been erased the illness, who had been killed off by the British sheep herders who came in, and then we were following that there will be a footpath there's these old trees that they'd wedged rocks into that were like, these trail markers that you'd only know if you knew what you were looking for. So we were following their summer migration routes. And then once we got further north through, from Northern Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and into Colombia, we were on the cutback Nyan, the Incan highway. And we found that we were actually covering ground by that point through those food deserts at the same pace as the jet skis, the message bearers of the Incan Empire, and that we were following recovery 27 kilometers a day on average, which was the same as people were covering 500 years ago across the same terrain. So there's the seasonal seasonality and change and also the deep, deep continuity of the human experience.
Sydney Williams 33:48
Oh, man, I was I am just imagining the energy in these places that you're passing through. And the description of the trail markers is such a beautiful representation of exactly what you said, you wouldn't know what you're looking at unless you had been educated about that. And there I imagined that there were so many opportunities for that kind of thing. And I'm curious with the decision to make this a journey that was spread out and following seasons and cycles. Are there any stories that come top of mind where if you hadn't done that, you might have missed out on an experience or happenstance meeting with somebody who became a pivotal part of the journey, if you hadn't split it up into those kinds of times and seasons? Yeah,
Fidgit 34:36
they're most most of the most valuable interactions required. First, the sacrifice and some sort of small ego death that fortunately built up for us to experience the larger eco deaths, which waited further up the trail. But I think the largest one was, you know, as a thru hiker, you're you're set to I'm walking time. And there was one day that we had set out and I am a goal setter. And I'm not always that attached to meeting that goal necessarily. And Neon is excellent about seeing something all the way through. So I said let's do a 50 mile day. And so we got up and we got going and then dang it like 16 miles later we come across this really cool cheese making lady out in the middle of the mountains and she and her sons she's gotten you know, the Argentine the little boys on and the sons all have cigarettes. And then of course, they're drinking the mat, they passing around the gourd, and you have to go see the the cheese making process. And that was a conversation between neon and I afterwards. And she's like, well, you set a goal. We're trying to get to 50 miles a day as like, I didn't know we'd meet a woman at a random pass like making cheese and now is not America takes for granted the varieties of cheeses that we have down there. There's like one time and it is very wet and not terribly flavorful. So man, you know, I'm willing to set aside a 50 mile day in the name of cheese.
Sydney Williams 36:04
Neon, did you like the cheese? I got to know.
Neon 36:07
Yes, I did like the cheese, who was it was very good. Fidgit has a habit of trying to pawn me off on people's sons. So I trade her for food.
Sydney Williams 36:21
Yeah, one round of cheese for this fine hiker.
Neon 36:27
She knows how to make bread.
Fidgit 36:28
That was my I was like, she's very quiet. And she's a great baker. And you know, that was always the mothers were really into their sons.
Sydney Williams 36:39
I love this so much. Okay, before we go to our next break, um, we have been talking a lot about the cultural norms and passing through and respecting the indigenous people of this land, that you're walking through the people that were just completely erased. In America, we are blessed with lots of privileges. And I know that one of the things that was top of mind and a core part of the mission of her Odyssey was to make the world better than you found it and to use your privilege to do good in the world. So real quickly, set us up for an instance where that happened. And then we when we get back from the break, we will talk about it.
Fidgit 37:21
I really appreciate you opening with talking about land acknowledgments. And I think that's a fundamental starting point to honor the ancient experience. I think we can also bring that into the modern day. And the contemporary. People who walk there are many of us who walk because of our privilege. And we had the very humbling experience as we hit northern South America to walk alongside refugees. In that moment, there was this point of clarity when we were walking alongside this family who were fleeing Venezuela, they look like they fallen out of an airport into the middle of this road at nowhere, pulling their luggage along carrying jugs of water, trying to deal with the sun. And in that moment, I realized that there's a huge difference between carrying everything you need in a backpack formed to your body and carrying everything that you have left in the world while you walk.
Sydney Williams 38:19
Wow. Yes. So right after this break, we'll come back and we'll talk about that moment and the decisions that followed and how our sponsor and our other guests today. Sawyer helped step in and make a difference for the her Odyssey expedition in and of itself and also the community that you are passing through. We'll be right back.
Announcer 38:50
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Announcer 40:15
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Announcer 41:13
You're listening to Wellness in the Wilderness with Sydney Williams. Have a question for Sydney and our guests. Join us on the show at 888-346-9141. That's 888-346-9141 Now back to the show with Sydney.
Sydney Williams 41:32
Welcome back to Wellness in the Wilderness. I'm still Sydney and I'm still here with Fidgit Neon and pay not who's here from Sawyer to tell some stories with us on this last segment of the show today. Before the break we were talking about how Fidgit Neon were passing through an area walking with some refugees where they made the distinct observation that they were traveling with the things that they need for a journey that they chose. And the refugees were walking with the things that they have left in their life on a journey that very well could be life or death. Now ladies, tell me what happened next. And how did you guys adjust course.
Fidgit 42:09
I think one of the big things that we encountered next was approaching the Darien Gap, which we knew would be a crux for us in terms of the journey and even some of those who've gone before us, and broadening the scope from our own ambition to cross it. And even having made three efforts in different directions. We realized that our presence there was not contributing to anyone else's well being and in fact, would put others at risk. You know, a crew of four men and motorcycles had gotten through the year before, and really dug deep, deep damage to any chance of trust building and relationship because their intentions were deeply self serving, and there was a lot of money behind it and not much soul. And so moving in that aftermath, and realizing, you know, people say no, you can't go through the Darien Gap. And I'm like, but I'm watching mothers carrying babies on their backs walking into the jungle. And they're like, well, they don't have the same passport as you do. And we just can't risk anything happening to you. And so it was a matter of stepping back and is sitting, you know, with my head in my hands after our third attempt. And we poured a lot of money, cooked for us a lot of money into it, and had been unable to cross. And there was an old man sitting there with his hands on his belly. And he goes, You know, there's only two ways for people like you meaning like, they would always call it duty status. For duty status, you're here and it's either by boat or by plane. And, you know, in the in the back of all of the grief. And the part of my head that keeps notes is like, well, I know how to do one of those without a motor. And once I realized we were putting people refugees at risk by pursuing our own ends. We pulled back we pulled out and we went back to the United States and we got folding trapped kayaks, so that we could paddle the Caribbean coast and just go around rather than making things harder for people who are already struggling.
Sydney Williams 44:16
Oh, man, what? I don't want to say noble decision because it's the right decision. Thank you for making that decision and recognizing the opportunity in the moment that you had resources to go a different way. Whereas the refugees most likely did not.
Fidgit 44:33
I think that's one of the things that you know, folks, those of us who do come from a place of privilege, we have this desire, this this feeling that we need to make things better because of what we have. And what I realize it is in many of these places, the best thing that we can do to begin shifting that tide has just stopped making it worse. For us. It meant you know, showing up and recognizing we come into these impoverished communities and that their generosity is fundamental to their culture. And so being able to receive their generosity and to be present to hear their experiences. And we learned it with small things like, you know, leaving little gifts. And sometimes you could slip some cash into that other times, you know, that would be an offense. But for us, the big thing was carrying their stories and their experiences forward to say, you know, you're not the only ones fighting a dam flooding your entire home and valley that's happening in Canada and the United States right now, like you are not alone. Even though you're on this battle alone. I thought about that a lot with the Bucha people. And then it's just the most fundamental showing up for each other thing that it really mattered to people that you know, their names. And I always carried this pocket notebook and people who would be shy from cameras who didn't, you know, want any sort of, you know, their image taken from them, they would watch over my shoulder and they'd be like, write this down. And if you ask their name, they would tell you their full name, and honoring their full name and what sapping them a picture that you took with them later so that they too can brag to their friends, just like we're doing on Instagram, is just meeting people. As equals, doesn't need to, we're not helping anyone. We're just showing up with respect. Yeah, I, I hope that if anybody's listening that they can take that, and run with it immediately. So one of the last stories I'd love to hear from you is how Sawyer stepped in and really just brought it, I know that you guys have a great relationship with them. They were one of the primary sponsors of Her Odyssey. And I'd love to hear your story about how they jumped in. And then Andrew, I'd love to hear more about how Sawyer works across the globe to provide these kinds of opportunities and experiences for folks. Ah, that was absolutely one of the most rewarding concrete by one or three most concrete exchanges of goods that could make a difference that could empower people was after you know, from Peru north, we were walking alongside Venezuelan refugees, and some of those countries took a very closed borders, oh, they're coming to take our jobs attitude. And the one country where people were being kind to them when I was in Colombia where we'd see him you know, all riding on top of the lorries just stoked for a chance at life. It's one of the misunderstandings about refugees. We all think it's this like, sad death march, but they're singing, this is their chance to live, man, this is so exciting. And as we're walking alongside these joyous people, and waving as they go by, we also collaborated with Sawyer and got to do a takeover on their social media. They're like in exchange for doing this, you know, we'll send 100 Water Filters anywhere in the world. And this was during, like the time that things are really closed down in Venezuela. And it was a lot of struggle. And I felt really tentative to ask because it felt impossible, but it was like, could you get water filters into Venezuela? And they were just like, yeah, absolutely. We've got people on the ground. And that was power, that that was power beyond anything that I could have have hoped for.
Andrew 48:00
Yeah, and that is kind of the reality of Sawyer in Sawyer's partners. That's the encouragement that I get to show up to my job with every day and that there are people on the ground, doing this work every day. As much as I think about filters and my backpacking. And in my job, there are folks that are relying on filters to get clean water in the community. And then there are folks that are showing up showing up in places like Venezuela, like Ukraine, places in the US that don't have clean water, and then they're ones doing training. They're training locals, they are sitting in the homes capturing health data, truly making sustainable change. And then so I'm constantly encouraged, whether it's disaster situation, we're working with refugees. I'm constantly encouraged about how many people are involved into this commitment to get more people clean water.
Sydney Williams 49:05
Well, we certainly appreciate the efforts that Sawyer and other the organizations that you partner with individuals that you partner with, to make that more of a reality for my folks around the world. So thank you so much for that. fidget Nyan, thank you so much for joining us. What do you guys have going on? Now that this grand adventure has wrapped up? And where can people connect with you to learn more?
Neon 49:30
We are still on social media still sharing as we do different events around the way we are fit, it's still up keeping the blog and doing catch up with catching up for our paddling portion. Because we wanted to be in the moment towards the end. And so we do stopped blogging and took a took a break for those three months to just be in the moment. And also we didn't have much service up in the Northwest Territories as we were paddling out Arctic drainage. And so you can definitely find us on social media at _HerOdyssey_ on Instagram. And our website is her-odyssey.org.
Sydney Williams 50:30
Fantastic. And fidgit. I hear it according to your bio, you're working on a memoir series. What's the status of that? And when can we look forward to seeing more?
Fidgit 50:44
Yeah, I will begin, as Nan pointed out, or I'm finishing up writing grant, rounding out the blogs from canoeing the Arctic drainage. So if folks want to go subscribe to our website and just see some of our writing my writing style, there's probably about three or four more pieces that will come out and then I'm giving myself the month of December to rest and then for 2023 I'm going into a space of retreat. I'm working with a writing coach because it's a lot there's a lot has happened. And so to hone that message to work with a professional and that is a gift and and it's what got us to her Odyssey was meeting the right people who knew the terrain. And so I'm approaching working on a book in the same way.
Sydney Williams
Ah, I love it. Well, thank you so much Fidgit Neonn and Andrew from Sawyer for joining us on this first ever episode of Wellness in the wilderness. It has been an absolute honor and privilege to hear your story and share it with our community here. And we're just so thankful for your support Sawyer, and ladies, I got to say you are two of the most badass gals I've ever come across in my entire life. So for everybody listening, be sure to check out Her Odyssey her-odyssey.org and follow them on Instagram _HerOdyssey_and for everybody that is listening to hear the winners of the Wellness in the Wilderness giveaway. I'm going to do a little drumroll I'm going to do an air horn prepper prepper Here we go. All right so the grand prize which includes prizes from Sawyer, Gossamer Gear Sea to Summit Hydropack Lactigo. Credits for Hiking My Geelings retreats and programs is Emily Vanderburgh congratulations Emily. Our second prize includes prizes for Gossamer Gear Hydropack Lactigo credits towards Hiking My Geelings programs and retreats and a gift card to our pals at Illumine Collect is Sarah Lily Stein. Congratulations Sarah Lily, our third prize with prizes from us MontraBand Illumine Collect and some more stuff from Hiking My Feelings is Maggie Shanahan. And then we put together a bunch of sticker packs with some really incredible organizations. Number one Endure Life they are on a mission to bring the conversation about mental health into the forefront specifically around the outdoors and all of our activities. So if you aren't familiar with Endure Life, definitely check them out as well as Abundance Illustration, if you haven't seen what she's up to her illustrations are insane. Her color is wild. Her texture is nuts and we've got some stickers in there as well. Some stuff from Sticker mule. So my big long list of people that want a sticker pack Congratulations in advance to Kevin Shanley, Cindy auric. Jennifer landers, Donna Bowman, Mary Romanowski, Diane climbin, Marian Mohammadi, Mackenzie Conran, Kate Castle, Kenny Naga Matsu James Brown, Aiden Sigmon, Walter Harris, Natalie Taylor, Lacey England, Felice Orlick, Matthew sadena, what up take a hike, New Jersey, Stephanie Eubanks, Darlene como, and Thomas Sims. Congratulations to all of our winners. Thank you so much for entering. Thank you to those that donated as part of the giveaway. We are so just tickled pink to be here. And to be welcoming you to these conversations on this show. Next week, we'll be chatting with Annika Levesque from Mind Body Paddle about her experiences with whitewater kayaking, and how what her parents thought would be just a phase on the water has turned into a grounding force in her life, a career and the community. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram at Hikingmyfeelings and join the Hiking My Feelings family at family.hikingmyfeelings.org Thank you for joining us for the first episode of Wellness in the Wilderness. I'm your host Sydney Williams. And I sincerely hope that today's conversation was a breath of fresh air. I look forward to connecting with you again next Tuesday at 1pm Pacific on the Voice America channel. And until next week, take good care of yourselves take good care of each other. Dream big and be kind.
Announcer 54:41
Thanks for joining us on this week's show. We hope this episode has been a breath of fresh air for you and has inspired you to find your wellness in the wilderness. We will reconnect with nature and you again next week.