Mother’s Day in the Wild: The Women Who Went First—and Why It Matters Now
Before ultralight tents, The DEAN, and the inflated pillow there were women carrying babies, burdens, and bravery into the unknown.
Women who crossed rivers without bridges.
Women who summited peaks no one believed they could climb.
Women who walked into the wilderness not to escape life—but to understand it.
This Mother’s Day, it’s worth remembering that the outdoors has always had women in it. Not as guests. Not as sidekicks. But as leaders, guides, protectors, and teachers.
The Women Who Went First
Sacagawea
At just 16 years old—with a newborn baby on her back—Sacagawea helped guide the Lewis and Clark expedition across some of the harshest terrain in North America. She identified edible plants, navigated mountain passes, and quite literally kept the party alive.
She didn’t do it for adventure. She did it because survival, knowledge of the land, and care for others were inseparable.
That’s motherhood in its rawest form.
Junko Tabei
In 1975, Junko Tabei became the first woman to summit Mount Everest. She was a mother. She trained while raising children. She ignored cultural pressure telling her women didn’t belong in mountaineering.
Her reason for climbing? She wanted to show her daughter what women were capable of.
Not with words. With action.
Cheryl Strayed
When Cheryl Strayed hiked over 1,000 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail alone, she wasn’t chasing a record. She was grieving her mother, trying to piece herself back together.
Her story reminds us that the outdoors isn’t just a playground. It’s a place for healing, reflection, and rediscovering who you are when life breaks you open.
Something many mothers quietly understand.
Why This Matters for Moms Today
Most moms today aren’t crossing uncharted mountain ranges.
But they are doing something just as important:
They’re deciding whether their kids grow up knowing the sound of wind in trees… or just notifications on a screen.
They’re deciding whether “outside” is a place their children feel confident in or uncomfortable in.
They’re deciding whether their kids learn how to build a fire, sit in silence, be bored without panicking, and respect nature instead of consuming it.
That doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because a mom, aunt, or grandmother says, “Let’s go outside.” Even when it’s inconvenient. Even when it’s messy. Even when it would be easier to stay home.
The Quiet Power of Taking Kids Outdoors
When a woman takes a child camping, hiking, backpacking, or even just exploring a trail, she’s doing more than planning an activity.
She’s teaching, Resilience (weather changes, plans change), Problem-solving (how do we set this up?) patience (good things take time), gratitude (for simple things like warmth and food), confidence (I can do hard things), and maybe most importantly, she’s teaching them how to feel small in a way that makes them feel grounded, not insignificant.
The outdoors has a way of putting life in perspective. Kids who grow up with that perspective carry it into adulthood.
This Is the Modern Version of Bravery
Today’s bravery doesn’t always look like summiting Everest, sometimes it looks like, loading kids into the car for a weekend camping trip, letting them get dirty instead of keeping things tidy, choosing connection over convenience, and saying no to screens and yes to stars.
That’s legacy work.
That’s the same spirit Sacagawea had. The same spirit Junko Tabei climbed with. The same spirit Cheryl Stayed held onto.
Different terrain. Same mission.
This Mother’s Day
Celebrate the women who teach kids how to pitch a tent, pack snacks for the trail, know where the extra socks are, stop to point out animal tracks, and say, “Listen… hear that?” when the world goes quiet, because they’re not just raising children, they’re raising future adults who know how to exist in the world with respect, confidence, and calm.
And that might be one of the most important gifts a mother can give.
Not just life.
But a love for the living world.