She Treks

05/20/2024

It's been a busy week and weekend, but I found some time to create my North Island gallery for Te Araroa! The photos are in order, and actually have captions. Each time I make a gallery for one of my hikes, I do things a little differently. I took so many photos on this particular trip, I wanted to make sure I used all the best ones and maintained a level of continuity, to honor this Island to its full potential. Enjoy :)

Te Araroa New Zealand’s North Island 12/10/23—02/01/2024Between December 10, 2023 and March 22, 2024, I tramped the length of New Zealand's 3033km long trail, Te Araroa, from Cape Reinga to Bluff. My first 54 days on Te Araroa involved hiking and canoeing 1133.4 miles across the North Island to ...

12/04/2023

I’m finally done packing! So what am I carrying on Te Araroa? 😱

For my complete gear list PLUS a super awesome thru-hiking gear checklist for you to use on your next hike, visit:

https://shetreks.co/thru-hiking-gear-checklist

Or just click the link in my bio 🍄

I’m getting so stoked to hit the road for New Zealand! ✈️

I wanted to share a comprehensive gear list for THIS hike, because I feel like it is a realistic assemblage for most aspiring thru-hikers.

The pack I am carrying on the TA is definitely a little heavier than what I carried on the Benton MacKaye Trail in October. My baseweight for my unsupported BMT FKT was 9lb (4kg) and that was tricky to do while still making sure I had everything I needed.

The TA is longer, further away, and likely a bit rainier than the BMT, so I packed with all those variables in mind, plus I am bringing some extra technology to record my tramp.

And a couple “luxury” items :)

As you’re packing for your own hikes, don’t forget to bring a comfort item or two that makes you really happy!

12/01/2023

Are you planning a thru-hike for 2024? Is the Arizona Trail, Colorado Trail, or Vermont Long Trail on your list? I've written detailed accounts of each of my thru-hikes on these trails to be used as resources for aspiring hikers! Check out my trip resources page and use the search feature to sort through my reports 🌲🌵🏞🌅

Happy trails!

Trip reports and stories from Ivey's thru-hikes, backpacking trips, and trail running adventures.

11/29/2023

https://shetreks.co/email-newsletter

Venture out, that is all we have to commit to doing—to take that first, faithful step outside our comfort zone and then the adventure begins.

I have ventured out in big ways many times, but I find it’s in the small ways that I am challenged most. Like being brave enough to listen to a challenging opinion and then share my own, or in breaking a comfortable routine.

Big or small, there is no formula for venturing out. What matters is that we shake things up.

My project over the last few days has been to shake things up with my monthly email newsletter, I’ve given it a name and in doing so, a focus: VentureOut.

Embracing the unknown is a favorite theme of mine, it is the push behind much of what I do with She Treks and my personal adventures.

And now that I am about to leave the country for 4 months to tramp Te Araroa, the concept of venturing out has never felt more real. I’ll be leaving behind my fiancé, my friends, my routine, my “stuff”, my town, and walking quite a long distance, alone.

I’m nervous, excited, homesick already, and hopeful that I will learn a lot from this new trail.

I would love to walk with you, to show you what I’m seeing, to share with you how I’m feeling, to laugh at myself and any mishaps, together.

If you want to experience the TA through my writing & my photos, consider subscribing to VentureOut and I’ll have you along.

https://shetreks.co/email-newsletter

In the meantime, don’t forget to shake things up.

Happy trails,

Ivey “kaleidoscope” Smith

1st 📸 by Luke Young

11/21/2023

The Adobe Badlands of the Gunnison Gorge National Conservation area 🌵

If you’ve spent anytime recreating in desert environments, you’ve probably heard the directive: don’t bust the crust!

And maybe you’ve heard it so many times that now you are rolling your eyes 🙄

The soil crust is alive, though, and it takes hundreds of years to grow, especially in low-moisture environments.

The giant dunes in my photos are covered in these Cryptogamic (biological) soil crusts. Basically, the Cyanobacteria and micro fungi secrete a mucus to protect themselves from sand grains, and that mucus in turn, binds the soil particles together.

Why should we care? (Aside from being really impressed that these tiny organisms have been working around the clock for a bajillion years)?

These crusts help reduce erosion and leeching of selenium and salt into our waterways. Selenium has been shown to interfere dramatically in the reproduction of fish and water fowl, animals which cannot clear a build up of selenium from their system the same way we can.

Our farming and agriculture already dumps a lot of unwanted waste minerals into the water supply, without being able to make large changes to this pollution (given current structures and systems), staying on designated trails and protecting these fragile crusts is one small thing we as individuals can do ☺️

Stepping aside to let someone pass you on the trail isn’t the end of the world, the damage of one or two foot prints isn’t make or break—BUT—driving a moto or mountain bike up a dune without any trails, or completing an entire run off trail in an area where there already are preexisting trails would be very uncool.

Very. Un. Cool. Ya feel me?

Thanks for coming to my TedTalk.

https://www.montrosepress.com/news/science-sheds-light-on-the-adobes/article_b8ec712d-5e42-5a53-b66b-cbe36d718b95.html

11/10/2023

Living above 8,000ft means golden fall can shift to white winter in a matter of hours. All it takes is one storm!

These photos are from a hike Sarah, Annie and I snuck in just before a storm that catapulted the alpine all around CB into winter. It was such a fun day 🙂

I love my community here in the mountains, the friends I’ve made never cease to inspire and amaze me.

Find your people and stick with ‘em! 🌲

11/08/2023

The beauty of this place… is indescribable. Today especially, I feel so grateful to have landed here. Backpacking has given me many things, and a sense of home might be the greatest. 🍂

09/30/2023

Happy Autumn 🍂 🎃 ☕️

The mornings are crisp, the days are growing shorter and the angle of the sun is sharper. On a walk through the forest, the air smells sweet with decaying leaves and the aspen rain gold upon my shoulders.

I am filled with gratitude for this place, it’s colors, it’s seasons, for the opportunity to share it with you.

I hope you are finding time to get cozy with a good book, coffee and a blanket in the early mornings, to get out for a walk in the golden afternoons. I hope you are making time for yourself as the year wanes 🌝

09/08/2023

I want to share some of my favorite pictures from the Collegiate Loop! 🌲 👣

I was lucky enough to get a slew of gorgeous sunrises on high mountain passes, sunsets on snaking ridges, and pretty perfect weather the whole way through!

The Sawtatch Mountains are really something else 🙂

09/08/2023

164 miles // 36,709ft // 3d 23h 21m “The lake was a shining mirror a thousand feet below me in the pre-dawn light. And as I descended I couldn’t help feeling I was right where I was supposed to be—crazy or not and perpetually walking a winding path—I’d landed in the right place…”

08/28/2023

How do you do Mondays?

How do you self-motivate to tackle the week?

I want to know.

Today I motivated myself into the office by grabbing a coffee ☕️ and a croissant 🥐 with a friend.

And then jumped in the river 🌊 with Logan, Ueli 🐾 and Ben. Now I’m making Bibimbap 🍲

Coffee, sunshine, friends, and good food. That’s how I did my Monday.

How about you?

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