The Mary Badass

By Mary Anderson Being in the heart of wildness with no roads for 100 miles. Experiencing lots of biting flies and mosquitoes. Seeing many colors of butterflies, including orange, blue, and lemon yellow. Learning a lot about horsepackers. Going over, under, and through the worst blowdowns I’ve ever experienced. Hiking in record heat. Crossing many…

I have been asked at least 100 times if I am afraid of bears. The answer is no. I take precautions and carry bear spray. I carry a bear-resistant food bag and hang food when necessary. I make noise when going through thick vegetation. But I don’t go around in fear expecting to be attacked…

We are encouraged to take something at the slightest sign of pain. We are not encouraged to sit in those painful places and learn from them. Hiking on crutches in the Great Basin of Wyoming By Mary Anderson Crutches come in many forms. Whether they are an aid for walking or a drug to help…

Snow is melting everywhere around me. It is pouring out of the mountains. I pass close to twenty waterfalls daily and cross numerous streams. All of this glorious water that will help keep the earth green as the sun heats up during the summer was stored as snow during the winter. The earth didn’t need…

I talk a lot about kindness in my blogs. It is because I think it is as important to life as water. And yet, like losing sight of the importance of water when you live in a house where it comes out of a tap, I think it is really easy to lose sight of…

I cut steps into the steep snowy slope, forcing myself not to look down. I don’t want to freak out. I remind myself that panic is the worst thing to do in a dangerous situation. I focus on each step, sometimes only half a foot from the last. I have to force my mind to…

I’ve been asked a number of times by younger hikers how I managed to hike the Pacific Crest Trail before cell phones and the trail apps with GPS. Sometimes I have to explain what I mean by map and compass. The other day, I taught a young man that a compass needle points north. I’ve…

Water cached by a trail angel in the Chihuahuan Desert. The person who makes the first ascent of a mountain gets a lot of recognition and glory. Yet that ascent was most likely accomplished with the help of all the people who tried and failed before. It takes a lot of support to make a…

“I carried my son on my back into the woods when he was still in diapers.” I meet a lot of people who tell me they would love to do a long hike, but they don’t have the time. Some days I feel I don’t have the time to do my leg exercises or my…

By Mary Anderson The colors I see in nature on the trail are diverse and stunning. Daily I am in awe of the multitude of pinks and oranges in the sunrise, the myriad shades of blue in the noontime sky, the shades of white and gray in the clouds, the full spectrum of colors in…