Adventure She magazine, Issue 19, December 2022
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Featuring Tierra del Fuego to the Arctic Bouldering in London Packrafting Iceland
Plus Swimming the English Channel Photography Insights Colorado Trail & Lots more 1 Issue 19, December 2022 issues www.adventureshe.com
Price £5.00 for 1 issue or £12 for all 4 of 2022’s
Adventure She magazine, Issue 19, December 2022
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Topics In This Issue Of Adventure She Magazine Page 8: Bears and the Bus Driver
Page 16: Colorado Trail - FKT
Page 30: Expat Life, New Zealand Style
Page 44: Book Reviews
Page 52: Breastfeeding and Long Distance Swimming
Page 46: Adventures in the City
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Adventure She magazine, Issue 19, December 2022
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Page 58: What A Woman – Her Odyssey
Page 68: Packrafting Iceland
Page 108: Driving v Bikepacking
Page 92: Photography Tips
Page 114: Swimming the English Channel
Page 122: Racing the Coast to Coast
Page 136: - Coming Up in 2023
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Adventure She magazine, Issue 19, December 2022
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Bears and the Bus Driver By Atli Pommer 8
Adventure She magazine, Issue 19, December 2022
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It was a rainy afternoon in Fairplay Colorado. Our editor sat in a café gorging on food and real coffee, her taste buds and empty stomach relishing their taste and calories. An hour or so later she finally managed to move, not far though, just to the ladies’ loos. En route to the loos, she had to walk through the cafe’s back room. There sat another hiker doing the Colorado Trail. They got talking, talking and talking. The other hiker was called Alti and she lived in Vancouver Canada. The only time our editor had seen bears in the wild was Canada. She was apprehensive of bears, she’d walked on for miles, rather than camp in a spot that looked like it might be prone to visiting bears. They talked of bears. Our editor was in awe at Alti’s experience with bears and asked Alti if she’d be happy to share her story in Adventure She. We’re delighted to report Alti jumped at the chance. The photos are all courtesy of Pixabay and are for illustrative purposes.
The first time I ever saw a bear, I was at a garbage dump in rural Canada. I was visiting family in Manitoba with my parents. One afternoon my dad asked me, "Do you want to go see some bears?" Being about twelve years old I immediately said yes. So my dad, my dad's cousin Bruce and I all piled into an aging 1980s Ford pickup truck and off we drove to the dump, which was really just a huge pile of garbage in the middle of a clearing in the forest. There we sat in the truck and watched about ten black bears dig through the refuse of rural Manitobans, looking for a snack. I was thrilled. It would be another twenty four years before I saw a bear again.
within the Arctic Circle. Polar bears are the largest bear species. While their fur appears white, it’s actually transparent, reflecting the light so it appears white. Brown bears (aka Grizzly bears) are the second largest bears, and known for the unique large, muscular hump on their shoulders. The grizzly bear’s range includes the US states of Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming and in Canada their range includes British Columbia, Alberta, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and part of northern Manitoba. Grizzlies come in colors from blond, brown to nearly black.
Canada has three main species of bears: the North American brown bear (more famously known as the grizzly bear), the American black bear, and the polar bear. The range of the polar bear is largely
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The American black bear is found in most of Canada and much of the Northern, Western and Eastern US states, as well as along the Rockies and even down into parts of Mexico. They range in color from blond, cinnamon, light or dark brown, to
Adventure She magazine, Issue 19, December 2022
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Setting a Fastest Known Time on the Colorado Trail By Kristina Bodewes
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Adventure She magazine, Issue 19, December 2022
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It was day 2 of our editor’s hike on the Colorado Trail. Only 10 miles or so, but her pack at close to 40 pounds weighed her down. The near 90 plus degree temperature didn’t help. Thank goodness she was now in the shade of some trees, no longer in the open burned area. Then out of the blue a young woman came towards her from the opposite direction. She looked fit and appeared to move with the agility and speed of a day hiker. Her pack, the same as our editor’s, instead of bulging at the seams though was light. They got talking. Three other hikers caught up with them. They all chatted some more. Then our editor shooed away the young woman, told her to keep going, to waste no more time chatting with them, for the young woman was on a mission. That mission, to set a fastest known time for a woman, along the Colorado Trail going from Durango in the southwest, to Denver in the north east, via the Collegiate East route. That woman name’s Kristina Bodewes and here is her story.
H
iking the Colorado trail alone, in 14 ½ days was hands down the most physically challenging thing I have ever done. Forcing myself to get out of my warm sleeping bag on chilly 4am mornings and cringing while putting on my still soggy socks from the night before, to continuing to trudge up steep, seemingly endless climbs with legs burning, and rain and hail on the top of ridgelines.
freezing. I was wearing my shorts and t-shirt and rain jacket. I sat under a tree for 15 minutes after putting on some more layers until I stopped shaking. It was my first call from Mama earth shaking me with both hands to wake me up and realize the reality of the dangers out there. Now that the trail is pretty far behind me, I’m realizing that it was the times that I was the most frightened, most tired, in pain and discouraged that I remember and hold onto the most. Reminding myself that I pushed through hard things out there helps me to push through hard things now. With that said, I was absolutely struggling on the trail. I can’t think of a single day that I did not cry or wish at some point that I was back home, taking a hot shower, sleeping in a warm bed and eating a hot home cooked meal or even
The very first day I was out there, several miles in, I reached Indian Ridge just as a pretty gnarly storm was coming in. As I reached the ridgeline, thunder and lightning began cracking above me and large hail pelted me from above. When I finally made it to the end of the ridge and down into the trees, I was shaking uncontrollably from the fear of the lightning and because I was 17
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