Glacier National Park Retreats

September 18-22, 2025

Hike + Heal Glacier National Park is a Wilderness Wellness retreat facilitated in collaboration with the Glacier Institute, the official educational partner of Glacier National Park.

Support and education via our Blaze Your Own Trail to Self-Love program.

Healing with the land through environmental stewardship.

Mindful hiking through a diverse and breathtaking landscape.

Guided self-discovery activities to help you reconnect with yourself.

Adventures to help you remember what you’re capable of.

Making memories with friends who feel like family.

📍We acknowledge that the area known as Glacier National Park and its surrounding areas are the ancestral land and historical territory of the Blackfeet, Salish, Pend d’Oreille, and Kootenai people. Curious about the history of the land where you work, live, and play? Native Land is a great starting point for additional research.

Welcome to Hike + Heal Glacier National Park, an experience designed to rejuvenate your mind, body, and spirit amidst the breathtaking landscapes of the rugged Montana wilderness. By combining environmental stewardship, self-discovery, and the serenity of nature, you can look forward to a truly immersive weekend in the wilderness.

Healing With The Land: During the retreat, participants will be introduced to our environmental stewardship project focused conserving the natural resources in Glacier National Park. Led by experienced guides and environmental experts from Glacier Institute and Glacier National Park, participants will engage in a conservation project, working together to protect and preserve this wonderful landscape. This impactful endeavor not only contributes to the conservation of the environment but also fosters a sense of responsibility and connection to the land.

Meals Included: Throughout the retreat, guests can look forward to delicious and nourishing meals. Our partners at the Glacier Institute have created a menu that not only satisfies the taste buds but also supports the principles of sustainable and mindful eating. Meals will be enjoyed in a communal setting, fostering a sense of community and shared appreciation for wholesome, healthful food.

Accommodations Included: As the day's activities wind down, participants will have the opportunity to return to The Glacier Park Field Camp, a National Park Service facility operated by the Glacier Institute, is located just inside the West Glacier entrance of Glacier National Park on a bluff overlooking the Middle Fork of the Flathead River. Field Camp has five cabins for student housing, a community kitchen where the chef will prepare our meals, an energy efficient bathhouse with hot showers, a classroom and the Morris Brown Myerowitz Memorial Library, that contains a myriad of educational materials on the Crown of the Continent ecosystem.

Self-Discovery Workshops: By the time we meet in Montana, you’ll be well-versed in our methodology. The retreat offers a series of self-discovery workshops designed to enhance personal growth and well-being. Sydney and Barry Williams will guide participants through activities such as meditation, journaling, and group discussions. These workshops will encourage self-reflection, mindfulness, and the development of strategies for achieving balance and harmony in daily life.

Hike + Heal Glacier National Park Wilderness Wellness Retreat aims to leave participants with a sense of rejuvenation, a deeper connection to the environment, and newfound insights into their own well-being. It's a holistic journey that combines the beauty of nature, the joy of community, and the fulfillment that comes from contributing to the preservation of our natural wonders.

Blaze Your Own Trail to Self-Love in Glacier National Park

If you’ve made it this far, you already know that this is a once in a lifetime experience. This retreat is part of a special cohort of our signature program, Blaze Your Own Trail to Self-Love. As we explore the intersections of environmental stewardship, mindful movement, and personal well-being, we are combining our virtual self-reflection program with our innovative Wilderness Wellness curriculum in the field for a fully immersive experience.

Registration: $1,999

Click the button below to complete your registration information form. We will followup via email to collect your registration fee. We have 12 spots available for this event and participants will be contacted in order of applications received.

What’s Included?

  • This retreat includes Blaze Your Own Trail to Self-Love and our Next Steps Program.

    Limited to 12 participants, this format runs February-December and includes the full program, a retreat in Glacier National Park, and post-retreat integration support.

    • This cohort meets with the Class of 2025 for the live workshops and has an additional monthly meeting for discussion and support, creating an intimate atmosphere for deep healing and community building in advance of our in-person retreat in September.

      • Blaze Your Own Trail to Self-Love Program: Includes two meetings per month - one live teaching to review curriculum, one for community and connection. Full access to the Curriculum + Community space via the BYOT Trailhead - our hub for all things Blaze Your Own Trail to Self-Love, hosted on Mighty Networks.

      • Retreat in Glacier National Park, September 18-22, 2025: program registration includes a retreat in Glacier National Park, the perfect opportunity to put the work we’ve been doing all year into practice! Accommodations, meals, and all programming included - all you gotta do is get there!

      • Next Steps Integration Program: inspired by Sydney’s new book, Hiking Your Feelings: Blazing a Trail to Self-Love, this program helps participants integrate the experiences shared online and in person, setting you up for success.

    This isn’t a diet plan or fitness regimen, this is soul work.

  • Your registration includes pickup from FCA - Glacier International Airport in Kalispell. We can also provide train pickups if you choose that route. There is an Amtrak station in West Glacier and in Whitefish.

    We advise participants to arrive in the Kalispell area before 3pm on Thursday, and to plan to depart any time after noon on Monday.

  • Your registration includes park entry and transportation within the park from the Glacier Institute to our hikes, stewardship projects, and workshops.

  • Your retreat registration includes four nights at the Glacier Institute Field Camp, located just inside the West entrance to Glacier National Park.

    Participant Cabins: The Glacier Institute cabins are basic, hostel-style cabins with 5 single beds, bedside lights, and electrical outlets. Based on custom group size, participants may have to share a cabin with up to 4 other people, cabins are separated by gender. Couples may be paired up in the event there is ample space. Glacier Institute provides a bottom sheet for your bed as well as a pillow and pillow case, but please bring a warm sleeping bag. Sleeping bags are available to rent for $15 per participant. Be sure to bring a flashlight or headlamp for night trips to the bathroom as it is a short, level walk away.

    Showers + Restrooms: A short walk away from the cabins (less than a minute), hot showers, flush toilets and running, potable water makes your stay extra comfortable. The rooms in the bath house are private, spacious, and sparkling clean!

  • Since everyone has different needs when in the field, you are encouraged to bring your own snacks. We’ll take care of breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the following schedule:

    THURSDAY: Dinner
    FRIDAY: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
    SATURDAY: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
    SUNDAY: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
    MONDAY: Breakfast

  • We’ll be enjoying different trails in Glacier National Park during this event.

    FRIDAY - Length: up to 5 miles roundtrip Elevation Change: 730 feet
    The Avalanche Lake day hike is one of the most scenic and popular hikes in Glacier National Park! After traveling past the gorgeous Lake McDonald, we will begin our educational hike at the lush Trail of the Cedars trailhead. This boardwalk portion of the hike winds through an ancient forest thick with western red cedars and western hemlocks. We will then continue climbing along the Avalanche Lake trail, marveling at avalanche blowdown, massive glacial erratics, and a glacier-fed cirque basin that leaves every hiker misty-eyed.

    SATURDAY - Length: up to 6 miles roundtrip, Elevation Change: 800 ft
    This is the ultimate hiking experience! The Highline is arguably Glacier National Park’s most famous trail. Departing from Logan Pass, this trail leads you through some of the most scenic vistas in the lower 48, all while in view of billion-year-old geological features. We will wind our way up the Going-to-the-Sun Road from the west entrance, taking time to learn about the geology, wildlife, and cultural history along the way. Once at Logan Pass, we will begin our hike for an in-depth look at alpine environments, wildlife habitat, and geology – all while enjoying the sweeping views from the trail. NOTE: This is an out-and-back hike and the length of the hike may vary based on group ability.

  • The research is clear, spending time in nature is beneficial for the body, mind, and spirit. On our guided hikes, you will learn techniques to turn any outdoor activity into a mindful experience. Experience the healing power of nature via guided self-discovery activities all weekend long on and off the trail. Participants will be provided with a small journal to take notes in as they hike, and we infuse self-reflection into all aspects of the event.

  • Through guided self-discovery workshops throughout the event, participants can look forward to a weekend of disconnection from every day life to facilitate a deep reconnection with themselves and each other.

  • While our healing journeys are deeply personal and unique to our lived experiences, we all have at least one thing in common: we’ve survived everything life has dealt our way so far. Healing in community reminds us that we are never alone in what we’ve experienced and that together, we rise.

  • We’re providing everything you need for the stewardship project.

  • Turn your pain into power. Part inspirational memoir, part practical guide, Hiking Your Feelings offers a toolkit to unpack your “trauma pack” and step into the best version of yourself.

    Join wellness advocate and wilderness guide Sydney Williams as she shares her healing journey from eating and drinking her feelings to hiking her feelings. When Sydney unexpectedly found herself diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, while grappling with grief and unresolved trauma built up over a decade, she set out on a quest to turn her pain into power. Two hikes across Catalina Island and eighty miles later, she learned to disconnect from distractions and reconnect with herself, all through the power of nature. Now, she’s encouraging others to get outside and blaze their own trail to self-love, turning buried traumas into healthy coping mechanisms. With affirmations, prompts, and reflection exercises throughout—all presented from Sydney’s supportive and self-effacing perspective—Hiking Your Feelings offers a toolkit to unpack your “trauma pack” and step into the best version of yourself.

    INSPIRATIONAL & INSIGHTFUL: Follow Sydney as she reflects on her own journey from buried traumas and poor body image to acceptance, healthy coping mechanisms, and self-love.

    RELATABLE & UNIVERSAL: Touches on themes and problems that many struggle with, including grief and loss, sexual assault, poor body image, career stress, and the stigma of diabetes, all presented from Sydney’s supportive and self-effacing perspective.

    HEALING POWER OF NATURE: Discover how getting outside—even just for a walk around the block—can help you tune into your body better.

    HIKE YOUR OWN HIKE: Learn to love yourself as you are now. Go from eating, drinking, working, or spending your feelings to hiking your feelings.

    UNPACK YOUR TRAUMA PACK: Identify new activities and rituals that will allow you to choose love over fear and lift the invisible weight from your shoulders.

    PROMPTS, ACTIVITIES & EXERCISES: Apply the lessons Sydney has learned to your own life, through thoughtful tasks at the end of each chapter.

What to Bring

Glacier Institute

Strengthening Connections to the Natural World Through Guided Hikes and Education Programs in Glacier National Park

Retreat Facilitators


  • ABOUT SYDNEY
    When former collegiate athlete and competitive skydiver, Sydney Williams, unexpectedly found herself on the receiving end of a Type 2 diabetes diagnosis, while grappling with unresolved trauma from a decades-old sexual assault, she set out on a mission: turn her pain into power. Two hikes across Catalina Island and 80 miles later, she founded Hiking My Feelings® to help others tap into the mind-body connection and healing power of nature that helped kick her self-limiting beliefs and disease into remission.

    Having more than 15 years of communications experience with Fortune 500 companies and emerging brands, Sydney serves up her “truth juice” style of storytelling to break wide open tough conversations with practical, powerful content and experiences. Over the years, she’s been featured on the SXSW stage, as well as in Health Magazine, Diabetic Living Magazine, San Diego Union-Tribune, Huffington Post, Psychology Today, US News & World Report, and numerous other publications. Today, she is the author of Hiking My Feelings: Stepping Into to the Healing Power of Nature (2019) and Hiking Your Feelings: Blazing a Trail to Self-Love (2024), and she travels across the country empowering others to summit their personal mountains on their way to becoming Well Beings.

    Sydney is a certified Wilderness First Responder, an instructor at the Desert Institute at Joshua Tree National Park, and the Field Institute at Sequoia National Park. Sydney facilitates guided self-discovery exercises, and is here to help you blaze your own trail to self-love.

  • ABOUT BARRY
    Barry was living in the Upper East Side of Manhattan selling technology to banks and working with Fortune 100 companies when he had the opportunity to skydive the first time. That first jumped changed his life, and within 18 months, he went from living in the same building as Derek Jeter to living in a trailer in the backwoods of Maine, pursuing his instructor ratings in the skydiving industry. After a 16-year career as a professional skydiver, Barry was all-in on Hiking My Feelings.

    Hailing from New Hampshire, he spent his life hiking and backpacking in the White Mountains, where he also earned his Wilderness EMT certification. Barry lives by Bruce Lee’s recommendation; “be like water” and finds inspiration in the works of Alan Watts and Jiddu Krishnamurti. When he’s not leading hikes for Hiking My Feelings, producing content for our weekly videos, or driving the van, you can find him on his paddleboard, at a local reggae show, or cooking up an incredible meal.

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Contact Us -

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