My friend and fellow creative Shelby Little invited me on a hike to talk trail this spring, and just published this glowing (I’m blushing over here) profile.
I could do the same for this witty and entrepreneurial woman who started her own business a few years ago, Yarrow Creative Agency. I picked her brain more than once when planning for my own launch, and it was Shelby who helped inspire and encourage me to make a career path where no one had thought to before.
With this mutual love fest, I give you Thru-Hiker Renee Patrick Sits a Spell with Me.
Renee “She-Ra” Patrick on Oregon Desert Trail
I met Renee Patrick in the winter of 2015, shortly before she began a 160-day, solo hike of the Continental Divide Trail. We were bundled up, outside at a mutual friends’ house, where Renee was demonstrating the gear she and her partner, Kirk, had made for her backpacking trip.
I watched as she raised a dark umbrella with a mosquito-netting cloak. She stood under it, joyfully exhibiting the usual rain and sun protection and—as the small crowd oohed and aahed—how the mosquito net had an elastic waistband to keep bugs off her while she hiked or slept. Renee flashed her characteristically toothy grin and I got the distinct impression I was meeting the Mary Poppins of American Trails. But as Renee showcased more of her and Kirk’s creations—a beer-can stove, a trail wallet, alpine skis with modified bindings for hiking boots—I thought, no this is more of a James Bond scenario. What I didn’t know then, is that Renee Patrick is an original, a prototype, as made evident by her lifestyle choices and her accomplishments on the trail.
Read the rest over on Shelby’s blog, and enjoy these short clips of our conversation:
She-ra Hikes 