The outdoors is a place to feel free and alive, but not all shapes and sizes feel they can explore it that way. Summer Michaud-Skog is trying to change that, one trail at a time.
The 39-year-old childcare provider has piloted a growing movement she calls . It began in 2015, when Michaud-Skog posted photos online from hikes with her then-partner, using the hashtag #fatgirlshiking.
91裸聊视频淲e just wanted a place where we felt represented,91裸聊视频� Michaud-Skog told Black Press Media in a phone interview from her home in Portland, Ore.
91裸聊视频滿ost of the social media we were seeing was a very specific type of person 91裸聊视频� a thin, white, able-bodied person 91裸聊视频� and that just didn91裸聊视频檛 resonate with me.91裸聊视频�
Other people on social media began to use the hashtag, and as it got more popular, Michaud-Skog started up a blog about some of the inspiring women she91裸聊视频檇 interacted with online, body image and outdoor fitness.
91裸聊视频淎 few months after that, I started doing group hikes, and then after that, I started a few chapters,91裸聊视频� she said.
Her hiking website and social media accounts are now 14,000 Fat Girl hikers strong, wielding the motto, 91裸聊视频淭rails not scales.91裸聊视频�
Culture around hiking one large barrier for Fat Girls
Despite being an athletic child, there were years of Michaud-Skog91裸聊视频檚 life where the intense societal pressure to look a certain way prompted her to give up playing sports and being active.
91裸聊视频淚 have sort of what I call fitness trauma from my youth,91裸聊视频� she said. 91裸聊视频淚 loved running, but I was slow, and so I was seen as not being good at it. 91裸聊视频� I had a lot of shame put on me for not doing this activity in a way that was proper.91裸聊视频�
The same feelings would come during a hike.
91裸聊视频淚 felt like I wasn91裸聊视频檛 represented in media. I didn91裸聊视频檛 know that someone my size could even hike 91裸聊视频� I thought it wasn91裸聊视频檛 for me,91裸聊视频� she said. 91裸聊视频淚 just want people to know that they can hike if they want to.91裸聊视频�
Online commenters have criticized Fat Girls Hiking, saying the outdoors is obviously open to everyone despite their size or athletic ability, but Michaud-Skog said that couldn91裸聊视频檛 be further from the truth.
From hiking gear often not coming in all sizes, to some hikers needing to take more breaks, are some of the factors that aren91裸聊视频檛 always considered in what she calls a 91裸聊视频減ush-yourself mentality91裸聊视频� often practiced on popular trails.
Michaud-Skog said these groups give people the opportunity to pay attention to their body91裸聊视频檚 needs in a weight-neutral space around people who often face the same barriers.
91裸聊视频淔or us, it91裸聊视频檚 more about the journey of being together in community and connecting with ourselves and connecting with other people, and also connecting with nature.91裸聊视频�
Fat Girls Hiking looks to open Vancouver chapter
Fat Girls Hiking has grown greatly in the past three years. It now has five chapters: Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles, Knoxville, Tenn., and Minneapolis, Minn.
On Aug. 16, Michaud-Skog is hosting a pop-up hike in Stanley Park with the hopes it inspires a fellow Fat Girl to step up as an ambassador for a chapter in Vancouver.
91裸聊视频淚 am a fat girl, and I am a proud fat girl, and I invite anyone who identifies as a fat girl to come,91裸聊视频� she said.
The hike is open to people of all genders and sizes, she added. There is one rule: no talking about dieting or weight loss.
91裸聊视频淧eople, wherever they are, can get together and have this body-positive outdoor community in a place that feels accessible and welcoming, where people will be supported and empowered to be outside.91裸聊视频�
Vancouver Fat Girls Hike details:
- When: Aug. 16 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
- Where: Meeting at Third Beach Concession
- The hike: 5.3-kilometre loop from the concession stand to Avison trail and back on the Siwash Rock Trail
- Tickets are by donation to support the Fat Girls Hiking community
ashley.wadhwani@bpdigital.ca
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