IN GOOD COMPANY

HOSTING GUIDED OUTDOORS EXPERIENCES IN IOWA AND BEYOND, WANDER WOMEN MIDWEST HAS A MOTTO: CHALLENGE BY CHOICE. I OPTED IN.

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Before I'd even put boot to trail at Yellow River State Forest, I fell—tripped, really—off the grid. En route to northeast Iowa from Des Moines, I clumsily cut off my navigation while switching podcasts. The map wouldn't reload. Adrift in a sea of September corn and already fretting about my hodgepodge hiking outfit, I felt mild panic set in. Somehow, I reoriented myself. But once inside the park, I lost signal again, looping past an equestrian campground three times before arriving, mortifyingly tardy, for a backpacking weekend with eight strangers. I got out of my car babbling apologies. No one minded.

Everyone was too busy telescoping loaner trekking poles, picking out dehydrated meals, and learning how to safely hoist 30-pound packs. These women had already stepped into their discomfort zones; I was just late to the party. I began to sense that a quiet load I carry in the real world—niggling, adolescent worries about looking uncool, unathletic, or unprepared— wouldn’t be in my bag this weekend. (What would? A poop trowel.)

This is the near-sacred magic of Wander Women Midwest. Jenn Riggs launched the Des Moines-based outfitter in 2018. She wanted to share her love of Iowa’s public lands, while creating a safe space for women. “In general, the outdoors industry is still very male-dominated,” she explains. “Some people are intimidated by an experience that’s coed or led by a man.” Despite living in Iowa for 19 years, I had never visited Yellow River State Forest until this guided trip. (That's me, far left.) On our first night, we fell asleep to the chatter of barred owls. My one-person tent, borrowed from a friend, is the blue coffin hiding among the more generous gray ones that Wander Women rents.