Summer's Ending

Mountain Adventurer 307 Photography - Summer's Ending 2018

As the common question goes "Where did this summer go?", "Where did August go?", and now looking at today's date "Where has this month gone??". But today, September 22nd, is National Public Lands Day! So why not get back on the blog post grind. 

So today's topic is getting back up when it gets tough and keeping your dreams always on your horizon. Now I know this sounds cliché, however, it is so true and something I've been experiencing the past few weeks (hence the no postings... sorry guys!).

So let's jump right into it... 

Getting Back Up: Life happens. We all know this. But sometimes it happens way too quick, or way too aggressively and many of us tend to go "ahhh! no! what is happening!?? what am I doing with my life!?!". If you're like me, you tend to "turtle" in, freak out at least 10x a day about what your next steps are, and ultimately determine the feelings I'm feeling are just me being "stuck". THIS IS NORMAL and we all need to know that. However, we can't stay in that place forever and we must pick ourselves up and move forward at whatever capacity we can. 

Keeping your dreams ALWAYS on your horizon: Now, I'm not fully upright and put back together because honestly that is a long time coming for me. However, to even start at getting back up, you must know WHY you are getting back up. This is where your dreams, goals, visions of life, etc. come in. Even if you don't achieve that goal in a day, 2 weeks, 2 months, 2 years, as long as you are working towards your life dreams, you are on a good road my friend.

Great! Now what? These things sound awesome, but I wanted to take this post a step further today and outline what I have been using as my organizational and motivational methods lately. This is in hopes that I can provide my fellow peers with another way of going about their dreams, the challenges that come with that and some straight up corny stuff from yours truley (lol). If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to inquire further! 

Mountain Adventurer 307 Photography - Golden Hour 2018

Bri’s Methods

1.     Start a Dream’s Book – I hate journaling and so I am not telling you to commit yourself to consistent or lengthy entries. However, it is important to write down your goals to keep them straight when times get tough. 

      As an entrepreneur, I have about 5-8 business ideas in mind at all times and I must keep them straight and also figure out how much time I want to commit to each. Some of my ventures are very small and easy to forget when I am researching and meeting with individuals about a larger, more encompassing business plan. The point is here, a Dream’s Book will keep your organized and on track whenever you are feeling overwhelmed. 

2.     Paying attention to those you are motivated by – Some people are super into celebrities, public figures, etc., and literally everything they are doing! I tend to think that I am not this type. However, with the evolving world of social media, I noticed that there are a few “idols” or people who I am actually pretty motivated by and I pushed myself to acknowledge this simple fact. Once I did this, a whole new mindset arose for me - once I finally acknowledged it, I had to do something with it..

For contrast, I would like to provide two examples of what in the heck I’m talking about. One is of an “idol” we all know and one is of a local entrepreneur that I have now been able to meet and have been given an opportunity to work with her through my photography this upcoming October! 

-        So, first one – Jamie Anderson. While I don’t snowboard, I ski and love the snow community. But as I have followed her on Instagram for about 3 years now, I started watching her Instagram stories and realized how positive, life-loving, and fearless this woman is – I also realized I WANT TO BE JUST LIKE HER. So, I make it a habit to view her stories each day, view her IG page when I need a reminder that even idols are real humans, and just see what she is doing on a daily basis to see if I can learn something new and become a better person in this world. 

-        Second is Entrepreneur, Rebecca Walsh, located here in Laramie, WY and the owner of an outdoor gear shop and outdoor women’s blog (linked at the bottom of this post!). Now Rebecca is a very humble human being and doesn’t quite know how big of impact she has on this world. Between our small town connection and my determination to meet her, I was able to successfully connect with her, sit down with her to pick her brain about some things, and now will be working with her blog team next month at one of her guest mountain retreats! Through the handful of times I've spoken with her, I have been inspired, grounded and reminded that we are all human. All of this happened because of my own consistency and commitment to make myself known to her and her outdoor women’s blog team – they didn’t know I existed until I made the effort to show myself. How did I do that? I simply stalked the organization (I mean this in the most non-creepy way, I promise!). I then started sending emails, saw there was a local event and took the risk of going to it and putting myself out there!

3.     So once you do something with it, what else can you do? You give yourself a break. Realize that you are not going to climb the summit of your dreams in one day. Dreams take time, work, and a lot of patience. So, you must give yourself a break from time to time and be realistic. 

I often get mad at myself because I wake up motivated, start making big strides in one of my business plans, and then get distracted. Whatever that distraction may be – I get asked to go hiking, something personal hits that day, I forgot about a meeting I had scheduled, whatever it may be – realize you cannot take your actions back and that tomorrow is coming, and that means you get another shot. If tomorrow is full of obligations, remember another day off or another afternoon of free time will come. We cannot get stuck in what we should have or could have done and can only move forward!  

Also, this is a kind reminder that it is okay to ride on the wave of your accomplishments, even if it feels that it's been too long of time since they happened - it's been weeks since I met with Rebecca, but I wake up every day still riding the wave of excitement I get when I think "Wow, I actually met her!" and use that small proud moment to figure out how I am going to keep chipping away at living my dream.

So while these 3 points ended up being heavy, they are genuinely some of the big focuses getting me through this tough, tough time as a new entrepreneur and just young adult. I hope that as a fellow human, my words can be at the very least “food for thought” as you think about your current frustrations and challenges! 

 Mountain Adventurer 307 Photography - Medicine Bow National Forest 2018

Mountain Adventurer 307 Photography - Pondering 2

Upcoming News About Bri and the Blog:

• New Blog Name! - After months of figuring out what in the heck I'm doing with this thing, I have decided to link it to my Instagram page and new online product store to my blog as the same entity! If you are not familiar with what I'm talking about, please see the information at the bottom of this post. 😊
• New Blog Direction! - With this restructure, I will be POSTING MORE! Yay!! After some deep thought and consideration, I realized recently that I need to commit to the blog, even if I don't think I am a good writer. It's not about me and it's more about sharing my content with YOU and possibly even inspiring the spark of adventure or new things in even one other person in this world!
• Upcoming Newsletter! - In the coming weeks, I will be starting a newsletter that you may join! I believe this is important because I don't want to clutter this blog with all of my business venture ideas! However, to create an effective business, I need to know what others think and I have many topics I would like to start discussions about! I will be sure to update you all as I start this new process and the direction I plan to take with it.

As always, thank you so much for your time in reading my content and support in following me! As promised, here are all of the links mentioned throughout today’s blog:

Jamie Anderson: 

Instagram Account:  

https://www.instagram.com/jamieanderson/

Rebecca Walsh:

Outdoor Gear Shop located in Laramie, WY: 
https://www.instagram.com/laramiesbasecamp/

            Women’s Outdoor Hiking Blog, Hike Like A Woman:  
https://www.instagram.com/hikelikeawoman/

Mountain Adventurer 307:

            Instagram Account: 
https://www.instagram.com/mtn_adventurer307/

            Online Product Store: 
https://mountain-adventurer-307.myshopify.com/

Giving Back - Outdoor Mentorship

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Throughout my life, I have noticed that some people just don't get it when it comes to being in nature and that is okay. Why? Because it allows us to provide resources to one another in ways that don’t always come to mind right away… what I am I talking about?? Mentorship.

Mentoring others in the outdoors can be a very daunting but rewarding task for those who are intrigued in doing it and are prepared to invest their time into the process. Further, mentoring others in mountain activities such as camping, hiking, climbing, etc. AND establishing educational and conservational awareness is key.

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In the terms of Bri, effective mountain outdoor mentors must hold the following attributes:

1.     Being genuine and true to yourself – In order to be a good mentor and find the right mentee(s), you must be your most true and authentic self. Being a good mentor does mean being knowledgeable in what you are guiding the individual(s) through, there is no doubt about that. But you must also find those who will allow you to lead them and will appreciate the strides of growth you anticipate bringing forth in them as well.

2.     Showing knowledge and passionate about what you are leading – No one ever wants to be led by an unmotivated, seemingly annoyed person in any circumstance and thus being passionate about what you are mentoring one in is an absolute must. When mentoring and leading those around you, curiosity is ignited and being prepared to show each crook and cranny of what you’re doing should be expected.

3.     Knowing your boundaries – Some may think about mentoring another person and think “this is cake” and others will run the opposite way. Regardless of your initial comfort level, knowing and enforcing boundaries of how you plan to handle the responsibility of mentorship is vital and must be taken seriously. You must be prepared to lead by example and provide consistency in your leadership and mentoring strategies. If you cannot establish these boundaries for yourself, then maybe it’s not the time for you to take this on. With that being said though, don’t put too many boundaries on what you are doing and remember this experience is supposed to be fun! With each person you mentor over time, the more experience you will gain and the more in control you will feel in establishing your boundaries.

4.     Taking on the effort to do continued research and education – While some may argue that what they learned as a child or in their first years of mountain adventures is deemed the best, outdoor education and conservation measures, including the areas of wildlife and forestry initiatives, is constantly expanding and updated to the public year-round. For starters, I highly suggest checking out the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service webpage to see the general Land and Resource Management’s current objectives and public information available in your region. Also, see what your local community organizations offer in terms of various outdoor education classes. You may also check out REI’s Co-op Journal for new tips, tricks, and pieces of information to know before hitting the trail next. Nevertheless, regardless of what resources you utilize, yearning for new knowledge and the ability to learn must be in full-gear to be an effective mountain outdoor mentor.

Useful Links:

·       U.S. Department of Ag | Forest Service Regional Office Listings website: https://www.fs.fed.us/about-agency/contact-us/regional-offices

·       REI’s Co-op Journal website: https://www.rei.com/blog

·       Websites to consider when searching for local outdoor education courses:

-        National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) website: https://www.nols.edu/

-        Outward Bound website: https://www.outwardbound.org/

o   Their promotional video: https://youtu.be/noMrKQ326ew

-        OutdoorEd website: https://www.outdoored.com/

If you have outdoor resources that you would like to share, please drop them in the comment section below! 

With that, I will wrap up today’s blog by saying thank you for reading and please check back often for more mountain outdoor and adventure blog posts! 

 -B

 
 

New Beginnings [again...]

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This is the new Bri writing at you here on this fine Thursday evening in Laramie, WY. Four days ago, the sudden end to my salaried paycheck, benefits, and 8-hour computer desk commitment occurred. Why you might ask? Because I was not happy. And so I left.

I had tried my hardest to get through the past 6 months to make the job work and to live off the pride that I got the interview (and offer) only three days after walking across the stage for my bachelor’s degree. In short, this does NOT work, folks, and I do not recommend it for anyone – doing what everyone else pushes for is not always what is best for you and this is so important to know.

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So, what's next? Bri time, which consists of a lot of different things.  It's very scary but one thing is for sure - your own well-being, mental health, and self-happiness will always be more important than any place of employment or paycheck that you may receive. That is one dear lesson that I will never let go of as I move forward and will always fight for no matter what. With this motivation, I have many dreams and ideas that I hope will come to life one day, each in their own time. So please stay tuned because this girl is on the start to following her dreams and big things are coming for those who want to get in the outdoors!

Just to highlight where I’m going: I am a motivated individual who wants to bring those far and near to the great outdoor escapes that the Rocky Mountains have to offer. With that is a responsibility of awareness, conservation, fellowship, education, and safety. I am fully prepared to do this through the coming years and am blessed to be surrounded by link-minded individuals who I am excited to ask to join my team one day! In the meantime, this blog, my Instagram feed, and my return to school in an energy and natural resources-focused program will be the base of this journey and I am excited to have you join me!

Within the coming months (and let's be honest, maybe years), I will be asking my followers on both platforms mentioned various questions about their outdoor interests, experiences, and more. I invite you to please share your opinions and participate as you can!

I am very excited to start this next phase of my life and bring the entrepreneurial ventures I've dreamt of to light - thank you for joining this journey with me!

Until next time,

-B

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Step Out

Ever since "adulting" started for me a little over 6 months ago, I have struggled BIG TIME. But what's kept me grounded? Literally sleeping on the ground as much as I can.

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The typical reaction I get from a lot of people is "you go camping alone??" or "Aren't you scared to do that by yourself??" And the answer is yes. I do. And I'm damn proud of it. Because here is what I've learned:
- we all are naturally equipped to handle damn near anything. And if we aren't, that's why they make bear spray and sidearms.
- confidence is born quicker than you'd think when trekking alone in the woods.
- being one with mother nature is the number one grounding effect.
- time goes by a lot slower when you are caught up in the beauty of rocks, plants, wildflowers, and mountain air in front of you.
- you must be and need to be your own best friend. 

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Pole Mountain, WY - The Quick Escape

Being in southeastern Wyoming, some (and many) individuals can’t help to think that there is nothing to do here, especialy being on the opposite side of the hotspot of the state, Jackson Hole and Yellowstone National Park. 

But they are respectfully wrong.

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Just a few days ago, a work colleague and I were talking about the many things to do around the area including the various outdoor activities to choose from. We joked that if you move here and you aren’t outdoorsy, you’re going to have a hard time appreciating the beauty around you. But really, he was right – there is far more beauty in the depths of the Medicine Bow – Routt National Forest than many know and it’s on both sides of Laramie, despite contrary belief.

The point of my post today is to bring awareness to Laramie locals and guests that they need to get out beyond what they find on Google and TripAdvisor reviews.. Being in an isolated part of the state, let’s be honest, can be very hard on the mental play of anyone. But there is a resource right out your front door that could keep us all entertained (and happy!) for many, many years if we were to just let it!

As you head east of Laramie on Interstate 80, taking the exit to Happy Jack Road is the ticket to a quick camping trip, day hike or climbing sesh. It astonishes me how many southeastern Wyoming residents here do not go beyond the typical Vedauwoo and Curt Gowdy State Park attractions when heading that direction. Well let me please be one of the few to tell you, there is so much beyond the over advertised recreation areas in this region and it is all only a small drives distance away!

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I'm sure we can all agree that sometimes you just want your own space when getting out for a relaxing weekend camping trip. Sometimes you just want to crank your music up in the morning as you are setting up breakfast. Or sometimes you just want to find that place within the boulders to take a small cat nap under the nice summer sun. Regardless of your mountain adventuring wants and needs, Pole Mountain is the quick escape for anyone traveling to or living in Laramie or the nearby capital city. 

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Just north of Vedauwoo and Happy Jack Road on Forest Service Roads 714, 712, and the like, are areas where you will find countless pull offs that can satisfy all types of mountain fun and adventure that an outdoorsy individual may lust for. I’m talking rock climbing and bouldering formations, trails with less people, and finding hidden beaver ponds galore. Camping in this area is mostly dispersed, however, all spots are marked via the Motor Vehicle Pole Mountain Map (below). While the 2018 summer was extremely busy, it always seems the hype of camping in the Pole Mountain area calms as the summertime continues. Finding your favorites spots open on a Friday night becomes more and more common, especially going into the month of August. You will find camp trailers in the “easy” spots to access almost all season, but if you have a 4-wheel drive vehicle, you will be sure to find a hidden spot tucked away from the other campers. 

As you view the MV Pole Mountain Map, once you find Happy Jack Road (in blue below), look north and see all the roads waiting for you to explore. 

 (The Full Map can be found on the USFS website here - look for "Laramie Ranger District - Pole Mountain" )

In my experience, there are many areas you can hike into as well, especially in areas that have been closed off as old 4-wheel drive trails that end at old camping spots. Seriously folks, the Pole Mountain area provides a lower elevation outdoor experience that can provide much more than what we see on Wyoming Toursim phamlets (which is crazy, I know! It DOES get that beautiful around here!).

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For day mountain adventures, you have both established and not so established trails to hike on and endless boulder formations to choose from when you're feeling limber and really adventurous (most formations take at least a few days to explore completely in the sense of day trips). And of course fishing - the countless beaver and small ponds in this area are hidden but are often times stocked by state entities with trout. While most of the catches are small "stocker" fish, sometimes catching a lil brookie 10x over on a spinner can actually be alot of fun. 

No matter your style of mountain adventure, this is genuinely an amazing area to explore and if you haven’t taken the time to check it out, please do. Just always remember to prepare for changing weather conditions, go with a friend when possible, and always follow the Leave No Trace Seven Principles.

Until next time!

-B

Updated December 2018