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Christine Reed
8 Plays4 hours ago
Christine Reed is an author, publisher, through hiker, former van lifer and trail runner. Join Alasdair and Christine for a conversation about van life, the juxtaposition of being alone and wanting community, as well as the power of the written word
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Transcript
Introduction to 'The Outdoorsy Educator Podcast'
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Outdoorsy Educator Podcast, the show where curiosity meets the open road. I'm your host Alistair and I invite you to join me as we explore the world through travel, nature, getting outside and the power of learning.
Inspiring Stories of Educators and Adventurers
00:00:17
Speaker
Each episode we will dive into stories from inspiring educators, adventurers and global citizens who are reshaping what it means to learn whether it's in a classroom, on a mountain trail, or even halfway across the world.
00:00:31
Speaker
From backpacking trips that change your perspective to educational journeys that transform communities, we will cover it all. So pack your curiosity, lace up your boots, and let's discover how the world teaches us.
00:00:44
Speaker
One step, one story, one adventure at a time.
Guest Introduction: Christine Reed
00:00:55
Speaker
And on this week's episode of the Outdoorsy Educator podcast, we have Christine Reed. Christine, how are you today? ah Best day ever. How are you? Having an equally good day. My to-do list is getting checked off rapidly, which is always good because it's only and about noon here.
00:01:13
Speaker
So, yeah, a good day indeed.
Christine Reed's Background and Adventures
00:01:16
Speaker
Well, I first came across your name when, I wish I could remember, who somebody recommended the book, Alone in Wonderland. So before we get into that, i'd love for you to introduce yourself and then I'm super excited to to dive into that book. So could you tell our audience a little bit about yourself?
00:01:33
Speaker
Sure, yeah. I am ah through hiker and trail runner an author and now a publisher um and I live in New Mexico, which is amazing and yeah, I feel like that kind of covers the basics.
00:01:51
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And I've got, i want to dive into pretty much all of those things. I will tell you, New Mexico, I'm just next door in the Dallas area. And i've I've kind of driven through New Mexico. I've been to one town for a couple of days, but the more and more I look at it, the more and more I think I need to get exploring out there. Like there's some real beauty that I think a lot of people don't know about.
00:02:15
Speaker
For sure. Yeah. And it's been i lived in Colorado for a long time. And then I lived um on the road in a van. And I just kept saying, I'm going to explore New Mexico. I want to spend more time in New Mexico. And I just never got around to it. And then last year, the opportunity to move here sort of just landed in my lap and I could not be happier. Like it's been so good.
00:02:35
Speaker
Yeah, we have friends, I wish I could remember the name, um who just came back from some mountains. They're in sort of southern New Mexico. And I mean, just stunning. It really is. How did I not know about these things? And how how how do more people not know about some of the beauty that's there?
00:02:51
Speaker
yeah Yeah, it's definitely, I think, a ah hidden gem in some ways. Yeah, absolutely. Well, I'm looking forward to ah exploring more. One of my previous guests lives in Rio Rancho, which I think is just north of Albuquerque, I think. um And I look at some of the pictures you'll post online and it's, man, again, how are people from all over the world not flocking here? Which I'm sure they don't want, but I'm going to be that guy, though. I'm going to come explore the land of enchantment soon.
00:03:23
Speaker
Yeah, well, it is full of Texans for sure. That's probably our our number one place that people come from. i have no doubt at all. But I came across
Christine's Book: 'Alone in Wonderland'
00:03:34
Speaker
your name. It's been least two or three years ago now, i think, when a Alone and Wonderland came out. And I just, I love the book. And I'll tell you, for various reasons, it talks about things I enjoy. And I like looking at that the hiker behind the trail. You know, it wasn't ah here's the Wonderland trail. was about your story on the trail.
00:03:54
Speaker
but It was an easy read and yet deep and meaningful at the same time. um which just really struck a chord with me. So I've been a fan of yours since then. But if you could tell us a little bit about a Alone in Wonderland, where the idea for the book came from, where is the Wonderland Trail for those who don't know? That would be great.
00:04:13
Speaker
For sure, yeah. The Wonderland Trail is a 93-mile loop that goes around Mount Rainier in Washington State. um So I would say it's on the short side for through hiking, um but it's a beautiful almost 100 miles. um And if you've never been Mount Rainier, it is,
00:04:30
Speaker
just one of the most magical places. It's really a special place. um And I had hiked about a third of the Appalachian Trail a few years before I got on the Wonderland Trail. So I had a little bit of hiking experience um and I found myself
Themes of Loneliness and Independence in Hiking
00:04:48
Speaker
tooling around in my van. I had just moved into a van for the first time and I made my way up to the Pacific Northwest where I had never been before And a friend of mine invited me for a day hike to Mount Rainier. And I, I honestly looked it up. I looked up Mount Rainier and I saw it's a national park around this one mountain. And I was like, it's probably not that exciting. Right. I was like, this is one mountain. So I, when I got there and I saw Mount Rainier, I was like, Oh, okay. Like I, I was wrong. um It's so beautiful here. And, it happened to be like late July, right when all the wildflowers were starting to bloom. And it was just like so magical. um And I crossed a sign for the Wonderland Trail. And I thought, I have heard of that before. And so I looked it up. um And I saw that it was 100 miles. And I was sort of looking for something to do. Like I had been in the van and was just feeling a little bit aimless. And
00:05:44
Speaker
I saw the sign and I thought, you know what I'm just going to get on trail for a little bit. And like, maybe that'll help me sort of like figure out what I'm trying to do right now or give me some direction. um Because I had really been struggling since I moved into the van to figure out like, what's the point of this? Right. You know, I'd seen all these people doing the van life thing. And I was like, this seems so cool. Like I want to do that. And this was gosh, this was before van life really took off. Right. This was 2018. And so I was just I was searching for something and I was feeling kind of lonely on the road. And and I just thought going on trail might help me sort some things out. And so I got on the Wonderland Trail, hiked for 11 days. I actually ended up spending a lot of the time that I was on trail talking to other hikers and asking about their experiences of loneliness um sort of on trail, but also in life. And it was just something that was sort of plaguing me. And i
00:06:44
Speaker
started to ask the question and listen to people's stories and experiences. And I just realized like, oh, we're all feeling some sort of way, right? Like where i write I just heard people say things that felt so true to me and true to my experience. And I thought, why aren't we talking about this more?
00:07:03
Speaker
Um, and so sort of through my time on the Wonderland trail, I was pondering loneliness as a concept and independence as a concept and sort of like how those things are at odds with each other and fueling each other in different ways. Um, and my relationship with both of those concepts. And by the time that I finished the trail, i was like, I think I want to write about this. I want to share my experience sort of of loneliness in hopes to like make other people feel less alone and maybe in turn make myself feel less alone. And so that was sort of like the seed of the book.
00:07:40
Speaker
I love it. It's, I mean, I've talked out to, I mean, when I've been out hiking, i generally do two or three times a year, I'll go and do a hundred miles somewhere. And that's, that gets out of my system for a little while and then I get back to my life. But the people that talk to, the people I've met, authors,
00:07:58
Speaker
and Almost everybody who goes on trail is looking for something. um There's something not necessarily missing because that's got a negative connotation, but there's there's some some feelings they're looking to resolve. And it it sounds like you had a very similar experience with the people you met.
00:08:17
Speaker
For sure. And I will say it's one of the things I say the most about my experience on that AT back in 2015 is like everybody was sort of running from something or looking for something. Right. yeah It's one or the other. Right. I find that fascinating. Yeah. Yeah.
00:08:32
Speaker
Yeah, it's ah you know, we've and and you will notice to like the ages like back then, especially on the AT, it was like everyone was either in their early 20s, or they're like late 50s, early 60s. And I think it's because that's when we're at junctures in our lives where we don't know what we're doing, where it's like, okay, I've just finished this big thing, like college or high school, or my career. And now I'm trying to figure out what's what what am I supposed to be doing now? Like, what is the next thing for me? um So I did, I noticed those threads were really strong on the AT. And of course, there's like, the Wonderland Trail is so much shorter. So people are sometimes just like on spring break or on like on vacation. It's a little bit of a different experience. But I do think so many of us turn to nature when we are unsure where we're going. I couldn't agree more. and That's almost the mantra that I'm living by. um And in terms of permits, says it is it really a lottery system to to get a permit? Because I believe it is quite regulated, right? The amount of numbers that could be on the trail.
00:09:33
Speaker
Yeah. So all of the camping on the Wonderland Trail is designated campsites and you're in the national park. So you do have to have a permit. um And they, gosh, I haven't researched in a while and it was 2018 when I hiked. So don't quote me, but it used to be that 70% of the the campsites were assigned by lottery early in the season.
00:09:54
Speaker
and the other 30% was kept kept for walk-ups. And so I was able to get a walk-up permit um that week since I was just like, I'm gonna go do this. right um and And I think you know based on other conversations I've had with people who've done the Wonderland Trail, like the walk-up permits are pretty easy to get because Mount Rainier is kind of remote and a lot of people aren't going to take 10 days off work hoping to get a permit.
00:10:20
Speaker
Right. So if you are able to do, if you're able to show up and just be like, I hope this works out. Um, generally it does from what I've heard. Right. And that and see that would be me. I'd be the guy who flies up there and just keeping my fingers crossed that it worked out. Um, but if you have a couple of days where it's like, okay, I could start today, tomorrow, two days from now. Like if you have a little bit of a wiggle room in terms of days, um, I think you should have no problem.
00:10:48
Speaker
Good to know. Good to know, because it's very, ever since reading book, I hadn't heard of it before, um this trail, before reading your book, and it's been on my radar now ever since. um Yeah. because it's It's just the right distance for me to step away from life here and then come right back and everything's okay.
00:11:05
Speaker
yeah so Yeah, like 10 to 14 days, pretty doable for most people, yeah. Right, we can I can handle that. That would be all that'd be all right. well We'll jump forward a couple of years, and I'd love to hear again you a second book, and i'm I'm probably going to misspeak several times and say you wrote the book, but it's a collaboration with lots of other authors, um and I'll misspeak again. I've read it, and I always call it Blood, Sweat, and Tears, but know it's just Blood, Sweat, Tears.
00:11:34
Speaker
um I find collaborations like this really interesting. um How did this concept and this idea come up and then come to fruition?
Collaborative Book 'Blood, Sweat, Tears'
00:11:43
Speaker
Yeah. um Don't feel bad. People blood spend tears. People also love to add punctuation that doesn't exist. I'm sure they do.
00:11:53
Speaker
But yeah, it was it was kind of a long labor of love and also happened very quickly. um i had had the idea for a while to do a women's collection and I just it was sort of brewing, but I didn't really know what that entailed. And I was intimidated by the idea of trying to get a bunch of people together. And how do you do contracts and how do you like just sort of the logistics of it were intimidating to me. And so I didn't pursue it for a long time. um But then a few years ago, I was at Appalachian Trail Days.
00:12:27
Speaker
ah They have an author section. And so there's usually like six to 10 authors all hanging out, selling their books about trail. um And so it's a really cool place as an author to be, to like network and make friends and just like meet other people who are doing the same thing you are. And I was sitting next to another author, Nancy East, and she and I were talking about projects that we were interested in doing. She was working on a guidebook. I was like, oh, that's also really big and scary because there's so many elements that are beyond my knowledge for sure. I was I was asking her a bunch of questions about that. And then I was like, you know what I've always wanted to do that just feels scary is like a women's collection. And she was like, oh my gosh, you should do like, what, why are you so scared? Like, you didn't know what you' were doing before you wrote your first book. Like, why not? um that I was like, damn it. right now Now I'm in. Yeah, no excuses. point. point um And so we, we brainstormed a little bit and threw some ideas back and forth. And I was like, you know what people really want to talk about that I think we're not talking about is our periods. Um, Right. And every time that I have given a talk in a women's only space, like it's the first thing people want to talk about. um And it's so it's so taboo, but for such silly reasons. And I was like, I really think just normalizing and like telling some of those stories would bring a lot of value to the outdoor community.
00:13:51
Speaker
And so that's sort of how the idea was born. um But that was Trail Days 2023. And the book came out, launched Trail Days 2024. So from conception to book existing was exactly a year, which I would not recommend. I was going to say, i know I know nothing about this world, but that seems very hasty.
00:14:14
Speaker
It was very fast. um And I very naively thought having a bunch of other people write the book for me would be easier. Right. I wrote it myself. And so I was like, great, I'll get all these stories. We'll just edit them quick as can be. And then like, we'll be ready to go. um And it was a really intense process with a lot, lot, lot of hours of work. um But I'm super proud of the collection. Like it, it,
00:14:42
Speaker
came out beautifully and also i was blown away by the vulnerability and the things that the women in the collection shared. um It's just, it there's so much power in those stories.
00:14:55
Speaker
Yeah, it's one of those books that I tend to, if i if a book is very impactful to me, I tend to try and have the author sign it, whether that's ahead of time, because I know it's just going to be great or in hindsight. And sometimes I think, my kids, my daughters going be stuck with these books when I pass and they're going to chuck them all the way.
00:15:15
Speaker
This one is one of those ones that I'm saving for them. You know, it's not just for me because at some point they will flick through it and they will see these impactful stories.
00:15:25
Speaker
um I was thinking where I was making notes this morning, I was thinking it's funny how my my different worlds come together sometimes. Off to the side, I run a friend's rewatch podcast with a good friend of mine. We just sit back for an hour a week and laugh at the show and talk about it. But just oddly enough, this week, we were discussing the fact that um Courtney Cox in 1996, I'm not sure if you've watched the show, she plays Monica.
00:15:52
Speaker
um She said the word period in the show. And it was kind of a tip of the hat, a little nod to the fact that a couple of months previously, earlier in 96, she'd been the first woman to say that word on television.
00:16:06
Speaker
Wow. It was a, you know, I was a young teenager at the time. I don't know. But it was apparently a big deal because it had to go through the FCC, whoever it is that monitors these things. Had to approve Right. I mean, which seems ludicrous now. I mean, just absolutely laughable. But it was apparently really quite a big deal. know, she went on television talk shows and discussed it. And we kind of had a little deep dive into this. Amazing. Yeah.
00:16:36
Speaker
yeah i should I would love to watch an interview of her talking about that. Yeah, she's it's it's I can't remember what company it was and what the commercial was, ah but I did go back and watch it. um But again, it it was kind of groundbreaking, which just seems absolutely, I just, I can't quite believe it that that that such a thing was ever groundbreaking not too long ago. um Yeah, not a long time ago at all. And it's, you know, it's funny because we do think like, wow, that's quite silly. But we still don't talk openly about these things, right? Like, it's not like we're like, oh, this is totally blasé. It's just like, slightly less taboo than it once was. Yeah. Only a little, all right? See, and I'm very aware, of course, I've got only got a guy's perspective. It's all I'll ever have. However, I've always worked in predominantly female environments, being an elementary school teacher. I'm now a professor at a university that is 92% female. I'm often the only male in a room, which I think is really good for me, to get just it an ever so slight. I don't pretend that, it oh, now I know what it feels like to be a minority, to be this, not at all. But it gives me just a tiny glimpse of,
00:17:48
Speaker
um into that world and I do find it interesting sometimes people they're still very awkward because I'm the only guy in the room and you can tell there's there's still that like like you said not taboo but it's still we can't just talk about things yeah there's a filter that's why I say like like when I when I have been in women's only spaces is when these conversations come up, right? It's like when the room is full of women, immediately someone is like, let's talk about her. I love that. It's such a great thing. there's one man there, it wouldn't happen.
00:18:22
Speaker
Well, on that note, is I'm jumping down my list a little bit. I'm kind of fascinated by, and I hope I've got the name right, the Outdoorsy Women Plus book club that you run. yeah It sounds like it was probably born from some of these experiences. Could you tell me a little bit about that?
00:18:39
Speaker
A hundred percent. Yeah. I wildly, I've been running the book club for two years. wow. Started in January of 24. I've only just in the last couple of months started like really promoting it. um And it's growing crazily. And it's also like,
00:18:54
Speaker
every time I post about it, i get a thousand new followers and I'm just like, oh my gosh, if I had known people were this interested, I would have talked about it two years ago when I started it. Right. Instead of just getting my buddies to together and be like, hey, let's do this. um But yeah, we we read ah an outdoor adventure memoir by a woman or a non-binary person every month.
00:19:16
Speaker
um And it's fun because when I first launched Alone in Wonderland, I did a ton of book trades and I traded books with a bunch of other hiking authors and I read just like an extensive volume of ah through hiking books specifically. So I've read about every trail, but when I started the book club, I was like, I'm not going to make everybody read a through hiking book every month because I'm not going to lie. Reading ah hundred through hiking books, you get bored, right? Like it gets repetitive through hiking stories do tend to have a lot of the same themes. Um,
00:19:50
Speaker
And I was like, nobody wants to read a through hiking book every month. So I was like, okay, how like I'm going to expand and do this just like outdoorsy stuff. um And so we've read like bikepacking stories. There's been ah like road trip van life type stories. Yeah.
00:20:06
Speaker
and like ah several mountaineering books, rock climbing. um We recently read Hot Shot, which is about a woman who's a wildland firefighter. um we also read one about a woman who's like a wildlife biologist. So we're you know we're kind of like expanding into all these different areas that aren't my area of expertise, which has been super fun. um and it's also fun to see like, even though they're different subjects, again, they still have a lot of the same themes, right? Like these books by women.
00:20:36
Speaker
shared experience. um And yeah, we've just been having a super fun time with it. And then, like I said, about three months ago, I started promoting it more. um That was around the same time we switched to a platform called Allstora that it's a subscription model so like i pick the books everybody gets the books delivered to them there's a discussion form um and then we have a zoom call every month and we like honestly we usually talk about the book for like 15 minutes and then we like we do what book clubs do which is like my hang my good my my good wife is a member of a book club and the word book is used loosely because everyone reads it, they talk about it for five or 10 minutes at some point, but it's just, which to me actually I think is the beauty because yes, if you met for an hour, who talked about the book for an hour is great.
00:21:25
Speaker
There's lovely in my eyes that for her, the book is just the entryway to fellowship and laughter and community and just, you know, if if that's what book club is, that's a wonderful thing in my eyes.
00:21:39
Speaker
Yeah, i think I think it's lovely to have shared something, to be like, we've all read this and we all like felt something about it. And I think, I mean, we definitely always spend a little bit of time, like, who liked it? Like, what did you like about it? That kind of thing. Yeah.
00:21:53
Speaker
But yeah, I mean, the the point of the book club for me is community and it's also sharing women's stories. And as a group of women talking about the stories, like, do we like, I guess the power is in having read the story, right? Like it we don't necessarily need to like dissect it together. Yeah.
00:22:12
Speaker
And that the the last thing that we always do before we hang out is I ask everybody, what do you feel inspired to? um And that's always like a really lovely, because it's never, it's never, I'm gonna go climb Mount Everest, right? Like the things that we're inspired to do right are often more on the human side um than the adventure side.
00:22:32
Speaker
But to see women doing these amazing adventures is its own inspiration. I love it. And then I was reading on your website, you have a book that you, I think it's fair to say, promoting and it's coming out later this year, Unsupported.
Publishing 'Unsupported' by Bethany Adams
00:22:46
Speaker
Is this a book that I believe somebody else has written? Are you perhaps helping publish it or editing it or are involved? how How are you involved in this book?
00:22:54
Speaker
Yeah, so with Blood, Sweat, Tears, I launched a publishing company. It's called Rugged Outdoors Women Publishing, um specializing in women's stories of the outdoors. And so I am the publisher for Unsupported. um which is by Bethany Adams. And she is a contributor from the Blood, Sweat, Tears collection. So she wrote a story in there and then she just said, I want to publish a memoir. um And I was just sort of like opening that door for myself. And so i was like, great, let's work together. um and yeah, it's going to be actually coming out in February. So quite soon, we're we're just about there. um But it's been two years that we've been working on it. And so I've been
00:23:32
Speaker
there i have done a lot of editing. We've also had professional editors because I will say editing is not my profession. right um I have lots of opinions about how they should be, but I am not a qualified editor. um So yeah, we've had we've had editors. We've had that. We just launched the book cover design publicly. um and yeah, it's a memoir following her fastest known time.
00:23:58
Speaker
ah attempt on the Adirondacks 46 High Peaks Thruhike. That's long name. so if you're not familiar with the Adirondacks, if they are a small mountain range in northern New York. almost to the Canadian border. And I don't know much about the geology, but it's like separated from the Appalachian Mountains. It's like west of that. And it's kind of, they're kind of like their own little pocket. um And right in the center of the range, there is ah an area called the High Peaks. And there are 46 mountains that were originally measured to be over 4,000 feet tall.
00:24:34
Speaker
um youness um Some of them were later to discover not to be quite 4,000 feet tall. But the list of 46 still stands. And there is a pretty competitive FKT scene in the Adirondacks um with these mountains kind of at the center. So back in 2020, Bethany and another woman, a team of two, um were the first women to complete the through hike of those peaks um after nine year journey of hers at attempting this. So she had found out about it in 2009, I guess 11 years of her having decided she wanted to do this and making a couple of attempts and then finally completing it with a partner.
00:25:16
Speaker
i can't wait. So said it comes in in February? Yeah. is that fantastic yeah it's available for pre-order now so if people want to get their order in um it's on my website and yeah we'll be shipping them in february fantastic i've got a further question on this theme but like to take just a quick sidestep i didn't think i'd be asking you about this but like everyone else in in this world van life looks very appealing and you know the idea of minimizing so many things and how did you find it I know it's a very broad question, but your time kind of living in a van, I'm sure I can only assume there were wonderful aspects and challenging
Living in a Van: Freedom and Challenges
00:25:55
Speaker
aspects. But if somebody came up to you and asked you, what's van life like? How would you kind of summarize it?
00:26:01
Speaker
Oh, gosh. um I think it really depends what you're trying to get out of it. And I i lived in a van for seven years, which is pretty long time. um actually lived in three different vans. So I had i had sort of like everything from the really luxe, custom-built Ford Transit.
00:26:20
Speaker
to a very tiny Mazda 5 minivan. Right. Yeah. So I've, I've done the whole range. And yeah, I think there's, there is a lot of freedom in the experience. um the The accessibility to do the things that you want to do is, is certainly great. And,
00:26:42
Speaker
there i It's like hard because you want to like not over glamorize because I think it's so over glamorized. This is the thing. You look at Instagram or whatever and you're like, these people living the dream. But you know it's, yeah well, it could be.
00:26:56
Speaker
It's not all it appears to be, I'm sure, at times. Yeah. And it really depends on your, it depends on your comfort level with like being dirty and like being outdoors and being uncomfortable. And I do think that the through hiker to van life pipeline is really strong because if you can live in a backpack and a tent, um a van is like luxury. Right. Perspective. Yeah. If you're coming from like having always lived in an apartment, having always had the things you need so close by that it can be a huge adjustment and like quite uncomfortable.
00:27:29
Speaker
um So, yeah, it just depends. It depends on your perspective and it depends what you're looking for. And I think having been in the community for as long as I was, um it seemed like a lot of people make it about six months.
00:27:42
Speaker
A lot of people think they want to live in a van, move into a van, and then they're immediately like... This is not's not as as fun as I that was hoping it would be. Right.
00:27:53
Speaker
You know, it's it's figuring out where to dump your toilet. And it's like getting gallons of water, like maybe maximum you can hold seven or 10 gallons of water. And then it's like every three or four days being like, how do I get more water? And where am I going to sleep tonight? And like, where are people I can hang out with? And there's, you know, there's just like endless sort of figuring things out.
00:28:17
Speaker
um And yeah, I think at a certain point, like i I, had a lot of love for that life and thought like, maybe I could do this forever. um and I think what really pushed me last year to, to stop and like find a place to live and, and go back to being a quote house person was community. Like there is certainly is community to be had in the van, in the van world. um But I, I was ready for like,
00:28:47
Speaker
yoga class on Tuesday night and like showing up and seeing the same people at the same places. And like, one of the things I love about the town I live in is very small and I cannot go to the grocery store without seeing people I know. I can't,
00:29:00
Speaker
There's just really no space in the community that I can go to where it's not like, oh, there's so-and-so from like the other thing that I did last week or like the the interwovenness of the activities and what's going on in town is something that's really beautiful. And that's hard to find on such a consistent way when you're moving all the time.
00:29:19
Speaker
That's and really funny you bring this up. i was listening to another podcast yesterday, a travel-based podcast, and it was a lady who'd lived in Denver her whole life, got rid of everything and moved to France um and was only planning on going for a year. Since she got rid of everything, put in storage. And she, I say lasted, does it that sounds negative. She made it six months and she decided to come back because france she had friends. It was beautiful and she had she took her remote job with her. There was all these wonderful things, but she missed her community. She missed her people.
00:29:51
Speaker
And because she was moving around and didn't really have roots, she found she found herself being quite lonely and has no regrets because she's come back to Denver. more excited than ever to really have some deep roots somewhere it's reinvigorated and no regrets at all but it's so interesting you happen to bring that up as well because it does seem great to be on your own but the problem is you're on your own Yeah. And there's, I think, especially for women, but for everyone, I think there's some really lovely self-learning and kind of like knowledge that comes with spending time on your own or going out into the world and doing something alone to be like, look at what I'm capable of. Like it's so empowering
00:30:35
Speaker
to kind of be self-reliant for periods of time and to try new things that are scary and not have someone by your side to hold your hand. Like, I think all those experiences are super valuable. But at a certain point it's like, am I still getting something out of this or am I just like doing it for the sake right of it, you know?
00:30:53
Speaker
Yeah, and that's on a personal note, in 2019, I went back home and walked ah there's a 100-mile trail in Scotland called the West Highland Way. And my wife and I were walking it together. And maybe halfway through, she basically blew her knee out. It just twinged and it hurt a bit. And then the next day, it's swollen up. And...
00:31:12
Speaker
But she didn't, neither of us wanted, you know, obviously I was, let's just go back to my parents' house. Let's just go, we're done. But she was like, no, you've wanted to do this for a long time. And she ended up, so I ended up continuing to walk and she got taxis and buses and trains and this and met me where I was going to be every night.
00:31:32
Speaker
And she'd never traveled really alone before. She'd never done these things. And by the end by the end of it, we suddenly sort of sat back and went, we both got the the trip we needed.
00:31:43
Speaker
She was able to do all these things without me by her side because she knows that that's my home and I know things and I know how stuff works. But she did it independently, changing buses, changing trains in the middle of nowhere, all of that stuff. And it's funny how life works out like that. You do get what you need out of things, even though that might not have been your intention going into it.
00:32:04
Speaker
Yeah, sometimes we are... we are forced to to be uncomfortable and to do hard things and learn stuff. yeah um Sometimes we make that choice. Right. Yeah. Yeah.
00:32:17
Speaker
I feel like I had that experience on the Colorado Trail in 2021 was my next trail after the Wonderland Trail. And I went out and I i had a friend with me and I was like, i actually don't want to be alone. Right. After writing the book, after everything with Alone in Wonderland, I was like, I don't feel compelled to force myself to be alone anymore. I am allowed to say I would like company. I would like to do something with somebody. i don't have to be independent all the time. And so I had a friend start the trail with me and then she got injured and had to get off the trail. And I panicked because I was like, I don't want to be out here by myself. And I got another friend to agree to come meet me. And I had to hike for four days in between her getting off the trail and my second friend coming to meet me.
00:32:58
Speaker
And within that four days, I actually had a really good time by myself. And I was like, oh yeah. Like, honestly, I think that almost was meant as a reminder that all of that time on trail alone was wasn't just meant to like make me strong and like do you know prove something that I was capable of something it could also be for enjoyment like I could be alone for periods of time because it's nice to be alone sometimes you know right absolutely I could couldn't agree more well we've talked about your past quite a bit but if we look forward into the next year two years five years what kind of goals do you have where do you see things going in the life of Christine Reed
00:33:37
Speaker
Um, ah funny you should
Future Goals and Aspirations
00:33:39
Speaker
ask. Yeah, things have been shifting a lot for me lately. um I mean, I'm certainly i'm helping Bethany publish her book and that's going to come out and we're going to spend most of this year um promoting and doing all the things that go along with that. um a Alone in Wonderland was recently purchased by Rocky Mountain Books, a publisher out of Canada.
00:33:58
Speaker
right um and so it is being republished relaunched in april of this year um so i will be on my own little book tour look at this tougher new i feel like i've been on book tour non-stop for five years now but i'm like okay this is like new and fresh exciting um yeah and then my other big goal for 2026 is to become a hot air balloon pilot That's a huge goal.
00:34:27
Speaker
And you're in the right place, right? I mean, one of the things I know best about New Mexico is this hot air balloon festival. It's thing, yeah yeah. So I was like, you know, I'm here I've always been really fascinated by hot air balloons. I think it would be really fun. and A new chapter.
00:34:44
Speaker
Why not? I think that's super exciting. I can't wait to see how that goes for you. um As we kind of come around the corner here to the end of this conversation, I've got three questions I would like to ask you that I have not prepared you for, but I promise you it's nothing too crazy.
00:35:01
Speaker
First of all, I'd like to ask you, how has your definition of success changed over the years? o I think I talk about this a tiny bit in the book, but I certainly was raised with the idea that success meant financial independence. um You know, we live in a capitalist society and um my parents definitely wanted me to like get a college degree, make a lot of money, like be be secure. um And I think in the last 10 years, I've really...
00:35:32
Speaker
unraveled that idea and I think my idea of success is so much more about being true to who I am and like the connections that I make in the world um and just so so little about money as long as I'm not going hungry like I'm making enough Yeah. And the older I get, the more I'm, i I've never been particularly materialistic and I'm in education. I'm not in it to become rich, you know? i sorry
00:36:05
Speaker
But yeah, the older I get, the more it's look at what's important in my life. And yeah, as long as I've got the bills are paid and there's food in the fridge, we're good. you're good it We're good. We're good. Yeah. I think Americans have a hard time with the concept of enough.
00:36:19
Speaker
There's just, there's just never enough. i get it's um i I think so there was a comedian passed away many years ago, said many years, maybe 10 years ago, called Ralphie May, and he did some skits about that. You buy the new car because you think that'll make you happy, and two months later, it's the next car. You want the next thing, the next thing, and like it's never enough. It's just, it's never enough.
00:36:41
Speaker
yeah um So I think I'm joining you in pushing back against that, ah but and looking around and going, what I've got is plenty. So, yeah. um Has there been a piece of music or art that has been particularly impactful in your life?
00:36:58
Speaker
um I have such a hard time with these that type of question because there's just so much. Right. Yeah. I think my friend is going to kill me if she listens to this. But two years ago, I read a book and i I haven't stopped talking about it. And she gives me a hard time about it. It was called Shark Heart.
00:37:17
Speaker
Have you heard of it? I have not, but writing it down now. It's wildly outside the genre we've been talking about, but it's right said a fiction, kind of a literary fiction type book. um It's called Shark Heart, A Love Story is the the subtitle. um And it's just this like, really strange, lovely story about a world that is our world. And the only difference is people sometimes turn into animals.
00:37:42
Speaker
um And this story is about a woman whose husband turns into a great white shark. And it happens kind of slowly over time. And there's just this beautiful thread of like, what it is like to love someone who's changing. And not the person that they were when you met them and like being able to love them through it and sometimes let go and it's like heart-wrenching and beautiful the prose is wonderful and it just I will never stop thinking about this book Yeah, when you said it, it sounded kind of wacky, but it's actually really beautiful, isn't it? That's that's really oh beautiful.
00:38:19
Speaker
And yeah, there's certainly a suspension of of disbelief that you have to be like, okay, in this world, like this man is turning into a shark. And was it was friend of yours that wrote it, did you say or somebody recommended it to you?
00:38:31
Speaker
Honestly, I picked it up in a little bookstore in Massachusetts, and it was one of those things where I just saw it and was like, oh, i like for some reason, i need to read this. Right? It was just meant to be.
00:38:44
Speaker
yep I love it. My final question for you is if you could go, let's just say the Wonderland Trail, you could take anyone from history, from you know from now, somebody you know, somebody you don't know, could be anyone in the world to go hiking on the Wonderland wonderland Trail with, who would you like to go with?
00:39:04
Speaker
um I'm going like really sappy and say my dad, he is not a hiker at all. And when I first got into this world, he didn't understand what I was trying to do. Right. He didn't, he didn't get it, you know? And I think over the years since then, it's been about 10 years since I like entered into the through hiking world. He has read my book and, and follows along and like, I think he kind of gets it now, but he's,
00:39:36
Speaker
60 about to 61 and he's not super active he's never been a hiker he's not really interested in that um he went to the grand canyon and said like that's a hole in the ground and then left right and i just i wish that hiking was something we could share and i think that an experience like that could be really like lovely for us Well, I will tell you that I've had a huge range of responses to that question from the sweet to the bizarre. Dad has come up more than once and I love it. I absolutely love it. i hope that one day somehow it happens for you. I think that would be amazing. Where can people find you? Where can they find out more about Unsupported, about Alone in Wonderland, even your book club, if they're interested in that, what's the best way to reach you?
Connect with Christine Reed Online
00:40:25
Speaker
For sure. Yeah. the The best amalgamation of everything is definitely on Instagram. um I'm at ruggedoutdoorswoman there. and there's like links to everything else. But I also have my website is ruggedoutdoorswoman.com. So same, same. And I am extremely accessible. So if you want to chat to me or ask me questions or get pointed towards something, DMs on Instagram are like the easy way to go. Yeah.
00:40:52
Speaker
Fantastic. Well, I cannot thank you enough. Christine, thank you for being here with me. Yeah, this has been great. Thank you so much.
00:41:01
Speaker
Thank you again to this week's guest and I hope today's episode was as enjoyable for you as it was for me and perhaps even inspired your next adventure. If you did enjoy the show, please be sure to subscribe, leave a review or follow us wherever you get your podcasts. You can find more information at theoutdoorsyeducator.com or follow us on Instagram, TikTok or Facebook. Until next time, thank you so much for listening to The Outdoorsy Educator Podcast.