By the Coastrek team
We often get asked why our events are targeted towards women. In fact, our Coastrek hikes have over 90% women participants, which is amazing considering hiking used to be a man’s domain.
Here’s the thing. In our experience, women and men like to walk differently.
While women chat endlessly, men often walk in silence. While women love the journey, men seem to care more about the destination. While women brainstorm to overcome obstacles, men act independently. While women like to finish together, men like to finish first.
Sure, this isn’t true of all men, or all women, but for most of us it’s spot on.
We asked some of our community members what walking, or trekking, means to them, and here’s what they said: “Pushing yourself to the limit, being happy, sweat, having trek buddies by your side, compassion and support, fun! A lightness in the step physically as well as mentally. Reaching new heights and improving your own personal best, strength, vulnerable yet strong, able to smile, can ask for help.”
Another came back with: “Walking out the door and being free, pushing yourself every day and every little victory adds up, you are strengthening your willpower, muscles, increasing your ability to do more, be more, achieve more! All the while connecting with Mother Earth and hopefully inspiring a younger generation of women to be wild in nature and feed their souls. Nurturing, inspiring and empowering each other to succeed.”
When we asked some male friends the same question, the response was quite different: “To experience a wild land without human noise during the walk.”
Silence is great sometimes, but if we’re walking a long way, we want chat, giggles, chocolate, and a glass of bubbly at the finish. And most of all, we want to do it with the support of our friends.
Here's why.
Every woman brings something special to the table
In every group, there's a woman for every occasion. They bring the "little" things, that turn into "big" things when we need them.
Someone is the excellent packer, carrying everything you could ever need in her bag. Someone is great at cooking, and can whip up hearty meals over a camp fire. Someone will be cool, calm and clear thinking in times of perceived danger. Someone is a chatterbox, which is a great distraction on long, hard hikes. And someone is the team mum, offering soothing backrubs, cuddles, and encouragement.
And there's something particularly special about that.
We add that extra sparkle
Sure, walking can still be fun and fabulous when it’s just you and a pair of hiking boots. But it’s so much better when there’s a morning tea stop with a cup of hot chocolate and a slice of homemade cake. It’s so much brighter when you’re doing it with your best girlfriends, giggling, sharing wisdom and smelling the wildflowers on the way. And it's so much funnier when you sit down for lunch and share cheeky stories that make you all laugh so hard you can't stop.
Women add that extra bit of magic that is what it's all about.
We do gourmet, baby!
How good is a gourmet cheese platter with fresh berries, creamy cheese, crisp crackers, and a glass of wine at the end of a long walk? So, so good.
For women, walking isn’t about the hard yakka, getting from A to B, and going home. We want more. We want to eat gourmet lunches and sip bubbly at the finish. We want to slip a slice of chocolate into our mouths to give us that extra boost when we’re walking the last few kilometres.
Because walking is fun, but walking with fab food and celebratory wine is even better.
It’s not about where we end up, but how we got there
For women, it's not just about the destination but how we got there and what it can teach us.
It’s about taking photos of sunsets along the way. It’s about waiting for our friend who’s lagging behind. It's about spontaneously stripping down to our undies and going for a quick dip. It's about taking a deep breath and enjoying the moment.
We’re doing it together
For women, it's all about the team. We don't leave people behind because they're getting a bit slow. We don't encourage them to pull out because they've got blisters and it's impacting our 'time'. We do it together, supporting and encouraging each other when things get challenging.
For women, it's not about finishing fast. It's about finishing together, empowering each other to achieve more than seems possible.
And that's why we hike with women.
If you're keen to find some women to walk with, come and join us in our Wild Women Community on Facebook!
