The desert, as is true with the feminine soul, carries her most vital webs of life, sustenance and waters below the surface of the landscape. The desert is an archetype worth traversing as a reclamation, a celebration and a song to sing. These red-rock lands and the precious waters that flow through them in the melt of Spring will shepherd us into a profound encounter with our inner worlds, the wild, our gathering of souls and the astonishing loving wisdom of Life itself. This is an invitation for the deep nourishment,  true adventure, slowing down, restoration, care, silence and transformation. This is a place to bring all of you. A place that can hold and welcome all of you. 

These are no ordinary wilderness trips. Sarah Byrden, a wilderness guide of 25 years, is a master of her guide-craft, of facilitating and opening a life-shaping dialogue and communion between the human and more than human worlds, between wild self and wild earth. These trips will be a more intimate, sensual and vulnerable encounter with wilderness than perhaps ever before in your life.

These trips are a dive into the brave and bountiful work of soul, of cycles, and of wildness – yours and that of the natural world.  We let the wild into our skin, let ourselves be touched by this immensity and power and let it rearrange us, bring us back into coherence on a cellular level. Countless participants have remarked over the years that this single week in the wild is worth the transformative weight of years of “therapy”. This single week will reverberate in your cells as a counsel of elders for months and longer.

Our work here is the recovery and amplification of the indestructible soul…which is our only true aquifer of sustenance.

It’s time for us to claim the old knowing- to return to a communion with the land, with ourselves and each other, with that which is sacred, sustaining and wise, and to walk that path together. This trip is a pilgrimage that will breathe life back into your lungs, quench what is thirsty and re-member us back down to the bone. There is an other-worldly yet profoundly primal and visceral power to the stunning red rock canyons and mesas of the Southern Utah desert. This land is ancient, dramatic and speaks in hidden rhyme and verse.  Bears Ears National Monument is the modern name for the unceded lands that were home to the Ancestral Pueblo people- Ute, Paiute, Hopi, Navajo, and others- prior to their migrations south where their descendants live today near and along the Rio Grande Valley. We go here with acknowledgement of the people who walked before us, to tend the conversations this land will give us, to witness and to listen.  

We come together to true our lives (true as a verb).  Not to get out of our lives, but to reconnect with a powerful source so we can step more fully into them, with greater coherence and soul-fire. To return home with the spark to take action, to live differently, make necessary changes, abide in a place altogether closer to our marrow.

In the words of Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes, “One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on deck shines like gold in dark times. The light of the soul throws sparks, can send up flares, builds signal fires, causes proper matters to catch fire. To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like these — to be fierce and to show mercy toward others; both are acts of immense bravery and greatest necessity. Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit and willing to show it. If you would help to calm the tumult, this is one of the strongest things you can do.” 

We will dive deep, slow down, and become the breathing body that the wild wants to be near. We will remember- in our tissue and cells-that we are part of wise living system, an intelligent web of life. We will  give space for the tender, fierce and soul-soaked parts of us, touch the wildness that we know we are made of but that somehow evades us in the busyness of our lives. We will honor our cycles. Gather the courage to see hard truths, the fire to shift what no longer serves, and the balm to gentle and replenish ourselves. Here lies the support to see, be seen and dive deep. We will raise up as a “sudden village” with the longed-for medicine of face-to-face connection and intimacy.

These trips are a space of immersive refuge for anyone who identifies a woman, femme or a non-binary individual who feels called to the wild, inside and out, and to explore the depth of the feminine soul. These trips strive to be inclusive of a broad spectrum of human beings who wish to explore a reclamation of the feminine soul through a more feminine approach to nature, self and process. 

** We will note be hiking for all 6 days. We will spend multiple days without packs on our backs, day hiking, resting, soaking up slow-time and sinking into the earth’s rhythm.

“The old knowing is long overdue”

– Clarissa Pinkola Estes

It’s time for us to claim the old knowing- to return to a communion with the land, with ourselves and each other, with that which is sacred, sustaining and wise, and to walk that path together. This trip is a pilgrimage, a 6 day wilderness immersion that will breathe life back in, quench what is thirsty and re-member us back down to the bone. There is an other-worldly yet profoundly primal and visceral power to the stunning red rock canyons and mesas of the Southern Utah desert. This land is ancient, dramatic and speaks in hidden rhyme and verse.  Bears Ears National Monument is the modern name for the unceded lands that were home to the Ancestral Pueblo people- Ute, Paiute, Hopi, Navajo, and others- prior to their migrations south where their descendants live today near and along the Rio Grande Valley. We go here with respect and with honor for the people who walked before us, tending conversation with these lands with each and every breath.

The desert, as is true with the feminine soul, carries her the most vital webs of life, sustenance and waters below the surface of the landscape. The desert is an archetype worth traversing as a reclamation, a celebration and a song to sing. These red-rock lands and the precious waters that flow through them in the melt of Spring will shepherd us into a profound encounter with our inner worlds, the wild, our circle of  souls and the astonishing loving wisdom of Life itself. This is an invitation for deep nourishment,  slowing down, restoration, care, silence and transformation. This is a place to bring all of you. A place that can hold and welcome all of you. 

These are no ordinary wilderness trips. They are a dive into the brave and bountiful work of soul, of cycles, and of wildness – yours and that of the earth. We will let the wild into our skin, let ourselves be touched by her immensity and power and remember to carry her with us everywhere. We return to a more natural state and revive right relationship with our planet, each other, and what is being asked of us in these times. We go to the wilderness not to get out of our lives, but to reconnect with Source so we can step more fully into them, with greater coherence and soul-fire.

We will dive deep, slow down, and become the breathing body that the wild wants to be near. We will remember more that we are part of wise living- system, an intelligent web of life. We will relish in the play of light on water for hours at a time, give space enough for the tender, fierce and soul-soaked parts of us, touch the wildness that we know we are made of but that somehow evades us in the busyness of our lives. We will honor our cycles. Gather the courage to see hard truths, the fire to shift what no longer serves, and the balm to gentle and replenish ourselves. Here lies the support to see, be seen and dive deep. We will raise up as a “sudden village” with the longed-for medicine of face-to-face connection and intimacy.

No matter our ancestry or heritage, across cultures we share roots that understand Nature as teacher and elder, as eternal wisdom and love. Many of us have forgotten, been interrupted, been severed.  It is possible to go into nature and miss it altogether. It happens all the time. We hold on to our “front-country” mindsets and use nature as a backdrop and stomping ground for the drives of our ego. These trips are not that. We will go into the wild with deep intention and listening, to recover and commune with a bone stirring memory of our place in and as the “family of things”. We will find the wilderness and all of her cycles of life and death, and be gifted map, mirror and medicine- trustworthy maps to follow and locate ourselves within. Mirrors in which to see ourselves and lives . And reservoirs of medicine to fill our cups.

Come for adventure, for solitude, for sovereignty and challenge. For refuge, connection and inspiration. To feel your animal body. To wash your mind with beauty, ceilings of stars and the sound of waters wide, both above and below. If you feel a call, I assure you there is big medicine waiting for you on this trip.

 Among whatever arises in the moment, we will explore and knock on doors of deep knowing through primal gesture and movement on the earth, archetypal qigong forms, stillness, silence, voice, creative writing, land-art, play-time, solo time, the mythic world of story in Women Who Run with the Wolves, and the art of simply being.

Prerequisites

• No prior backpacking experience necessary. Participants must be physically able to carry a 35-40lb pack, and to 2-6  miles per day with this pack on their back. (You definitely don’t have to think this will be easy, it just needs to be physically possible for you- the rest is a mental dance)
• *Participants need to know they have the confidence, physical centering, and psychic anchoring to hold them in time and space. A clear sense of containment is required. This trip is not a fit for those who may be currently feeling destabilized, traumatized, struggling to heal, or in need of reestablishing basic nervous system or life coherency.” We will be moving not only into the vast wilderness of the land, but into the wilds of our psyches, hearts and somas. ( *Thank you to Liz Koch for this language). Of course, much healing is available here. And many of us have been moving through variations of instability…if you’d like to join but are wondering if this may apply to you, please reach out to Sarah. She is happy to get on the phone to see if this trip and timing is a fit for you.

Prerequisites

• No prior backpacking experience necessary. Participants must be physically able to carry a 35-40lb pack, and to hike up to 8 miles per day with this pack on their back. (You definitely don’t have to think this will be easy, it just needs to be physically possible for you- the rest is a mental dance)
• *Participants need to know they have the confidence, physical centering, and psychic anchoring to hold them in time and space. A clear sense of containment is required. This trip is not a fit for those who may be currently feeling destabilized, traumatized, struggling to heal, or in need of reestablishing basic nervous system or life coherency.” We will be moving not only into the vast wilderness of this coastline, but into the wilds of our psyches, hearts and somas. ( *Thank you to Liz Koch for this language). Of course, much healing is available here. And so many of us have been moving through instability…if you’d like to join but are wondering if this may apply to you, please reach out to Sarah. She is happy to get on the phone to see if this trip and timing is a fit for you.

Trip Details

Location: Cedar Mesa, Utah.

Meeting Time and Place: We will meet at Sand Island Recreation Site and Campground near the town of Bluff Utah at 12 pm on April 14th. We will spend our first night here and drive to the trailhead as a group the next morning. Please note that we will enter our trailhead near the Kane Gulch Ranger Station, which is about 1-1.5 hours from our meeting spot at Sand Island. Factor this distance in for your travel plans on the back end of the trip.

Field Area: Average mid-April temperatures in the Cedar Mesa area are typically in the high 50’s, with average high’s at 70 degrees and lows at night in the mid-40’s. We will descending into a red rock canyon (likely around 1500 feet into the earth), and hiking back out that same range of elevation gain. Exact route TBD based on water-flows.

Travel: Please note you will likely need to drive multiple hours to our meeting spot. I suggest you plan to arrive in the area by April 13th. On the back end, DO NOT BOOK any time-sensitive travel or make any plans for April 19th.  You can plan to drive a few hours to a hotel, for example, on the night of the 19th, but the earliest flight travel etc should be for April 20 or later. Requested time off from family and work should be no shorter than April 13-April 20. Giving yourself extra days on either end, especially upon landing back into your life is a good idea, if it’s logistically possible. And if not, you can trust that too.

Closest Airports:  Salt Lake City, Moab, Grand Junction, Durango

Drive times to meeting spot:

From Durango: 2.5 hours
From Salt Lake City: 5.75 hours
From Moab, UT: 2 hours
From Grand Junction: 3.75 hours

CARPOOLS AND COST SHARING: As soon as our circle begins to gather, we’ll connect you for carpools and sharing the cost of rental cars and accommodations…which we highly recommend. This happens every trip and creates a really fantastic connection and spirit of adventure before the trip, if you do want to create joint plans. Others make it more of a solo adventure, which is just as beautiful and personally needed.

Pre-Trip ZOOM call: Wednesday, March 27 at 6:00 pm MDT

Trip Details

Location: Cedar Mesa, Utah.

Meeting Time and Place: We will meet at Sand Island Recreation Site and Campground near the town of Bluff Utah at 1 pm On April 15th. We will spend our first night here and drive to the trailhead as a group the next morning. Please note that we will enter our trailhead near the Kane Gulch Ranger Station, which is about 1-1.5 hours from our meeting spot at Sand Island. Factor this distance in for your travel plans on the back end of the trip.

Field Area: Average mid-April temperatures in the Cedar Mesa area are typically in the high 50’s, with average high’s at 70 degrees and lows at night in the mid-40’s. We will descending into a red rock canyon (likely around 1500 feet into the earth), and hiking back out that same range of elevation gain. Exact route TBD based on water-flows.

Travel: Please note you will likely need to drive multiple hours to our meeting spot. I suggest you plan to arrive in the area no later than April 14th. On the back end, DO NOT BOOK any time-sensitive travel or make any plans for April 21st.  You can plan to drive a few hours to a hotel, for example, on the night of the 21st, but the earliest flight travel etc should be for April 22 or later. Requested time off from family and work should be no shorter than April 14-April 22. Giving yourself extra days on either end, especially upon landing back into your life is a good idea, if its logistically possible. And if not, you can trust that too.

Closest Airports:  Salt Lake City, Moab, Grand Junction, Durango

Drive times to meeting spot:

From Durango: 2.5 hours
From Salt Lake City: 5.75 hours
From Moab, UT: 2 hours
From Grand Junction: 3.75 hours

CARPOOLS AND COST SHARING: As soon as our circle begins to gather, we’ll connect you for carpools and sharing the cost of rental cars and accommodations…which we highly recommend. This happens every trip and creates a really fantastic connection and spirit of adventure before the trip, if you do want to create joint plans. Others make it more of a solo adventure, which is just as beautiful and personally needed.

Pre-Trip ZOOM call: Wednesday, March 29 at 6:30 pm MDT