Adventures Free You

05/31/2026

Careful near the water... it's high & fast 🌊
Horseshoe Rapids Rec Site
Kootenay River, British Columbia, Canada
Saturday, May 30th, 7pm

⚠️***Roads & campsites can wash out. These are 'User Maintained' sites, meaning that there isn't someone always there to check on you.*** ⚠️

🌧The Yoho Park - Kootenay Park, East Kootenay, and Elk Valley region has been issued a Special Weather Statement from Environment and Climate Change Canada:

*Total rainfall amounts of 40 to 80 mm.

*Today to Tuesday.

*'There is an elevated risk of flooding, landslides and washouts from heavy rain, and rain on snow in the mountains.'

When I was a teen, I woke up in a tent, in a creek. That was alarming & not ideal. This is much bigger! 🏕



🌎

05/30/2026

Anyone can learn.
Why not give it a chance?

There's all kinds of stereotypes.
As a woman working in trades, the outdoors, around heavy machinery, and in the kitchen, I've witnessed a few.

I was a storm chaser. While working in a field job for a very large organization, I was asked to 'go do paperwork & get snacks/water with the other girls', just after a tornado touched down. I knew way more about that tornado than anyone else around me did. I knew before it happened, that my crew should not be driving into the path of it to complete some field work. I told them it wasn't safe. We picked a different location & watched it touch down from there. Some male supervisors unknowingly drove directly into the path.

I have a lot of footage of the damage. I worked with HR & OH&S to add protocol to the handbook for extreme weather. Well, actually I brought up a few things that changed the handbook, safety training program, communication & reporting procedures.

Funny to be doing what I am now after working there.

It's important to me to learn how to build, & repair things. I'm into canoeing. It's been in my life since I was a kid & isn't going away. I've jousted, bobbed on the gunnels, tried to see how long I could sit once submerged, dropped an anchor & slept in the middle, cracked one on top of the van when we jumped it (accidentally) on an FSR 17yrs ago, & most recently caused a few more repairs... outfitting my own canoe last weekend was so fun! 😁

Stoked to be back at Columbia River Paddle again! I was just noticing the other day that a lot of my favorite shirts have blue collars. Haha. One is a CRP Tee!

It's fun to learn.
It's fun to teach.
It's fun to dream.
It's fun to live life outside.
It's fun to be a free woman.
🛶



💦

05/07/2026

05/05/2026

Meet Monica Dragosz of Wild Sense Psychology. A truly beautiful human.

Monica has worked in mental health for the past 30 years and has been a student of ecopsychology for at least the last fifteen. She recognizes that deep connection and reciprocity with other-than-human nature are central to our well-being, and that personal and planetary health are interconnected. She lives life with a naturalist mindset and has participated in bird counts and surveys for the past two decades, enjoys volunteering for conservation projects, and feels lit up by any encounter with wildlife.

I met her through our local Facebook Marketplace when I was downsizing & selling a set of barstools. Goes to show you... you never know who you might be talking to?

Turns out, Monica had just moved here & is interested in a lot of the same things that I am. She even showed up for a walk in a bamboo beanie from Back to Nature Apparel, having no idea that I had one too! I've known Stan & Keltie for years!

Through connecting with local people, I have found that there is a great deal of wisdom in this valley. There are also a lot of caring & adventurous souls. Monica is one of these people. I have been learning many new things from her & have never felt so inspired about birds. 🐦

Feeling very fortunate to be co-hosting our event 'Birds Talk & Foxes Walk' with Monica for the Wings Over The Rockies Nature Festival this week, May 4th - 10th. This is an introduction to “bird language” and “fox walking” as developed by naturalist Jon Young, as well as other somatic/sensory exercises adapted from forest therapy and ecotherapy. 🦊

Our event is sold out! However, there are still opportunities to take part in the festival.
Check out the Events Calendar & Ticket Sales at www.wingsovertherockies.org

For more about Monica's services check out:
www.monicadragosz.ca

To get yourself a sweet bamboo beanie like ours, check out www.backtonatureapparel.com

Links in Bio (click on Linktree) 🌱

05/01/2026

Kootenai Falls Suspension Bridge, Montana.
Found it on a road trip to a concert & supercross race in the States years ago.

Fun fact: This is in the Columbia River Watershed. It's a big river and we are at the start of it. Quite interesting to follow this river (or any river) closely on a map. Do you know your watershed?

Learning our watershed is also part of an ANFT Certification for Forest Therapy. That's a win. We need to understand where our water comes from & where it goes. 💦

04/24/2026

The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest.

We are in Invermere, British Columbia, Canada. Canal Flats, just to the South of us is located at the headwaters & this river extends up through Golden & Revelstoke BC, & then flows all the way down into the United States to the Pacific Ocean.

This river and these wetlands have a lot of cultural and environmental significance.

Thank you for connecting & caring for this place, all the beings and this watershed. 💧

Every day is 🏞

04/23/2026

This is why I've been wanting accessible outdoor programming. Especially, in schools. It helps! Trust me!
Trying to create that programming as a person who struggles with reading, or sitting still... that has been rather challenging.

When a person's nervous system is firing, it's really hard to focus. Nature naturally calms our nervous systems. That's why Forest Bathing started in Japan. Look it up!

Another reason why I am loving Nature & Forest Therapy (ANFT). It is inspired by Forest Bathing... 🌱

04/21/2026

I tried a new 'splitter app' to put this in a Story, rather than a Reel. It uploaded the clips in a different order, so I panic deleted and made a Reel. Not what I wanted, as I have another Reel to post instead, to follow up on yesterday's... Oh well.

Have you ever done that?

The good news about Nature & Forest Therapy is that all is welcome. Imperfect is welcome, and often encouraged.

Social media is generally a place where people try to look perfect, or like they have it all together. Although I am capable of looking that way at times, the reality is that I am just not. You know... no one is. I've worked behind the scenes in some fancy places and have seen some pretty curious things. 🤔 That's not to make you paranoid, but to remember that we are human. 💚

As a lifetime 'triple checker', 'likes everything a certain way' human, I'm currently practicing imperfection. Nature & Forest Therapy has a magical way of doing that for me. Who knew there is an art to it? Nature is imperfect & perfect at the same time, & beautiful because of it!

I'm grateful to be here, walking the walk, learning how to be an ANFT Guide, so that I can open the doors for you...

"The Forest is the Therapist, the Guide opens the Doors."

It was a humbling and good day for me! Every day is different and everybody's experience is different & all is welcome.

04/19/2026

Camera batteries are charged, SD card's ready... got my homework. Grabbing my paddles. Let's go see who shows up!

Wings Over the Rockies is coming and our Forest and Ecotherapy event is SOLD OUT. I'm co-hosting with Monica Dragosz - Wild Sense Psychology.

I used to not like birds because one of my jobs growing up was cleaning the chicken house. Now, I really appreciate them and all they do for the rest of us. They have a unique language. If you pay attention, they provide some helpful information & straight up joy. 🦅