I’m back with Part Two of my Brooks Range 2025 summer trip! If you missed it, you can catch Part One right here. 

Nothing Like Training in Action 

When I think back on this summer’s trip, one of the things I’m struck by is how much the first half of the journey set me up perfectly for what came next. With a foundation of prep work – through Summer Strong, weightlifting with Allison Tenny’s Alpha program, and as much spring hiking as I could squeeze in (we had an early spring melt and good hiking earlier than usual) – I had set myself up for success. Last summer, I was sick most of the season with walking pneumonia and lost a lot of fitness & lung capacity, so I had been motivated to get as much as possible back this season! Luckily, it seemed to be working. 

The structure of the trip itself helped, too. In the first half of the trip, we used a basecamp at the airstrip to allow us to do an initial short hiking loop, only three days with light packs. Then we returned to the airstrip a...

Adventure, Nerves, and Nature on the Globetrotters Podcast 

I recently joined Jonathan Otero on the Globetrotters Podcast for a heartfelt conversation about outdoor adventure, nervous system resilience, and what it really means to belong in nature. From learning to backcountry ski as an adult (with plenty of crashes along the way) to three-week wilderness trips in the Arctic, we talked about the joy, struggle, and lessons the outdoors offers.

We dug into how strength isn’t just about muscles, but about nervous system capacity and emotional resilience. Jonathan and I also explored the culture of outdoor recreation—everything from “bro vibes” and gatekeeping to finding more inclusive, compassionate ways of adventuring together. And of course, we swapped stories about Alaska, grizzly encounters, and why I keep returning to the Brooks Range year after year.

Topics We Covered:

• (1:30) Growing up in Alaska and finding my way into outdoor culture

• (5:14) What “mindful interval trai

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Have you ever been curious about how your menstrual cycle affects your training?

Have you ever tried to sync your workouts with your period?

Let’s talk about it! The relationship between periods and fitness as well as the general impact of the different phases of our period have been receiving some much-deserved attention on social media lately. People who menstruate know firsthand just how much hormonal cycles can affect how we feel. So it makes tons of sense that periods also affect how we exercise!

This blog is an exploration of the topics that my upcoming course, Train with Your Cycle, will cover in depth. We’ll be diving into the nuances of all the cycles: nervous system, menstrual, moon, creative, seasonal, grief, etc with the goal of learning how to understand and support the nuances of your particular cycles. 

Different phases of our menstrual cycles can yield dramatically different outcomes and feelings depending on what our body is feeling naturally prepared to handle.

T...

Real Tools for Nervous System Regulation

To listen to an audio version of this blog click here.

Looking back on the last few years, I can see a clear line drawn in the sand of my life. 

On one side is the way I used to handle stress and attempt to self-regulate before I knew much about my nervous system – and the other the way my stress and self-management strategies changed after I took a deep dive into the land of nervous system regulation. 

Before I started intentionally studying and practicing nervous system regulation, I was definitely using exercise and outdoor time to manage my nervous system activation. What I know now is that I was lacking the skillfulness, education, patience, and support (this is a big one!) to understand and navigate my body’s response to stress.

What follows are three ways that I’ve used nervous system work to help myself through stressful times. These are excellent entry points for anyone curious about or new to this work. 

Don’t be fooled by their...

The Brooks Range is Full of Magic 

Something really special about summer in Alaska is the short but magical window when we can access some of the most wild, remote places. One of the most special? The Brooks Range. Located within the Arctic Circle, I can’t help but keep coming back to these mountains.

This trip consisted of myself, Luc, and our good friend Will. The three of us hiked and packrafted our way around the Delong Mountains, surrounded by wildlife, sweeping vistas, and endless sunlight

How We Planned Our Brooks Range Trip

Planning to spend time in this extra-wild area takes a lot of effort. The Brooks Range does not have any roads or developed trails. A successful trip in this wild place requires hiring a bush plan to take you to a remote landing strip and doing lots of research to find good routes nearby.

Lining up the timing also feels like threading a needle. We try to go late enough so that the snow has had time to melt away for easier walking, but early enough tha...

Returning From the Wilderness Can Be a Big Adjustment

Sometimes, the hardest part of wilderness trips or vacations isn’t the challenge of hiking or long plane rides, it’s getting back home and adjusting back to regular life afterwards. 

Each summer, I take at least one long trip into the Alaskan wilderness. After about three weeks in nature, coming back home to the city often feels jarring. For many years, I struggled with reintegration from the wilderness back to my regular life. The first few days always felt awkward, sometimes even frustrating. More recently I’ve been noticing this after other intense experiences, like a week of nervous system training. Can you relate?

Whether you’ve been on a long wilderness trip, a retreat, or a vacation, it’s totally normal to feel a mix of emotions in the first few days of your return back home. It’s also totally normal not to feel able to jump right back into your routine at full speed.

This transitional time is called reintegration, and fo...

From High-Energy Summer to Cozy Fall

Up here in the northern hemisphere, summer alread passed us by and fall and winter are moving in fast! Especially in northern latitudes like Alaska, temperatures and daylight hours are dropping quickly… we even have frozen lakes and ice skating season underway!

We’ve talked before on the blog about the concept of “wintering,” including how the colder, darker season has inherently different energy and emotions compared to summer. But sometimes it can be hard to let go and flow with the seasons.

Summer is a very high-intensity season, which means it can be fun for a while, but isn’t sustainable. 

Especially in the high north like Alaska & Canada, the long daylight hours and short summer season lends itself to a fast pace & pressure to make the most of the light. Fall sometimes feels like that feeling of stepping off of a moving walkway and onto regular ground — a bit jarring and hard to prepare for. 

With fall starting to close in, it’s a great...

Reclaiming an Active & Outdoor Lifestyle with Chronic Illness

This is a guest blog by Mind & Mountain friend & member Rachel Collins. Rachel is a skier, park ranger, & mom, and in the last few years has been learning how to navigate the challenges of chronic illness alongside her active life. Rachel leads our Spoonie & Invisible Illness Affinity Group inside of Ski Babes!

Read on for more of her story: 

December 2022. I woke up with big plans today- big breakfast with the kiddo, Ski Babes workout, deep cleaning the house for guests, but as I crack my eyes open I realize none of those are going to happen today. I feel lethargic, nauseous, and despite my best intentions, my brain feels like molasses. I know this feeling now, my blood pressure is too low and my nervous system is on the fritz again. Is it the storm rolling in? Did I hit my salt targets yesterday? Did I eat something new? Maybe I overheated in my sleep again?

This is life with a chronic illness- while no one has a pe...

Tuning up our bodies & minds for the season

Winter is here and many of us are spending as much time as we can playing in the snow and the mountains! As we move through this winter season, let’s talk about how to tune up our bodies and minds for the season, too. Taking good care of yourself isn’t just something to practice in everyday life. We can bring self-care into the mountains too.

Taking time for cross-training both before and during the season can make your days on the mountain so much more enjoyable! Training helps us prevent injuries, keep up with our friends, and have more fun outside. But it can be hard to know how to adequately prepare for winter sports - especially for the backcountry. In this post, we’ll walk you through some simple exercises and mindset tips to practice.

We hope you use these moves and concepts to build your mind & body strength for this winter season! 

Training for Strong Winter Bodies

Let’s start with some simple moves you can do in your living roo...

Alaska’s Baird Mountains

For the last several summers, my husband Luc and I have been taking three-week long outdoor backpacking trips through the wild parts of Alaska. We look forward to this time as a way to both restore our spirits from our busy lives and connect with each other. These trips are a foundational piece of our relationship and a time we both cherish.

This past June, our big backpacking trip took us through Alaska’s Baird Mountains where we did some hiking and paddling. We had some magical moments plus some big learnings.

Planning Our Trip

Right off the bat, we knew this trip would look a little different from our past summer trips. As we’ve been navigating fertility challenges, I wasn’t sure how my body would feel when the trip came around. We knew we needed to build a lot of flexibility into our trip plan.

To stay adaptable, we designed a basecamp-style trip. This way, we could flex the total mileage and intensity of our trip depending on how we were feeling. This...