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Ladies Choice: Top Hikes in Northern Nevada

FRIDAY, 26 JUNE 2009
Submitted By: Sherwin Mapanoo

Given a map and a pincushion full of pins, Northern Nevada women 'pinned' their favorite hikes at the recent Nevada Women's Expo. It turns out that women like to hike almost anywhere - from open range to forested trails. But above all, they like to hike together.

The map, set up by Ladies Hiking, a website encouraging women to get out and take to the trails, started the conversation rolling, says Ladies Hiking editor Judith Harlan. "We supplied enough pins to mark 50 hikes within driving distance of Reno, Nevada, and we used all 50, often with several pins in one site."

Women pinned trails all around the Reno and Tahoe Lake area, showing places that they liked to walk with their dogs, quiet trails on the hillsides that overlook the city, and park trails that wind through pine and aspen forests, all within a short drive for residents of Reno and Sparks.

Those hikes were then all loaded up onto the ladies-hiking.com website as a foundation for future sharing of hikes, trails, and hiking stories.

If there's one common denominator we discovered by chatting with women over the map, Harlan adds, it is that what draws women to hiking is not just the value of it as exercise. Women are attracted by the beauty of it. Almost all of the women sharing their hikes talked about the scenery, the overlooks, and the wide vistas.

Many women hikers also said they like to go out in groups, and several were seeking local groups to go hiking with. The interest in hiking and in connecting with other ladies hiking was thrilling, says Harlan, because she set up the hiking site (http://www.ladies-hiking.com) and runs it as a community project for that very reason: to help women connect with each other and with the outdoors.

Blue Sky Hikes owner Kellie Lee, who shared the booth with Ladies Hiking, says she, too, left the Nevada Women's Expo with a renewed excitement for her vocation – guided hikes for groups of all levels. She shares space on the site, and is a moving force for many women getting their hiking mojo going.

Women connect on the site itself, sharing their stories about hiking, and then on Facebook, too, meeting on the Ladies Hiking fan page. "We're sharing photos and connecting on Facebook, and we're sharing longer thoughts, tips, and articles on the Website," says Harlan. "We’ll be adding more features as we go, and, most importantly, as they are requested by the women using the site. They're in charge, not me."

Source: www.prlog.org

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