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Kayaking
Foraging Exploration
Fly Fishing
Nature Photography
Wilderness Survival & First Aid
Discover. Relate. Inspire.
At the Palmetto Trail, we want to see more women of all ages, abilities, and experience gain the confidence they need to enjoy the great outdoors through South Carolina’s beautiful State Parks, National Forests — and especially, The Palmetto Trail.
Participation Requirements
Open to all Females 18+ who aspire to enjoy active, self-powered recreation — regardless of outdoor experience, skill level, body type, or any other factors. ALL WOMEN ARE WELCOME!
TICKET PRICES
First Aid & Wilderness Survival :: Friday ONLY
$115
Friday OR Saturday :: One Day Only
$175
Thursday–Sunday :: Full Weekend
$300
Full Weekend :: INCLUDING First Aid & Wilderness Survival all day on either Friday or Saturday
$350
Friday Happy Hour :: Trailside Temptations
$30
Ticket Prices do not reflect accommodations.
Please see options for providing your own accommodations on the SIGN ME UP page.
BREAKOUT SESSIONS
Backpacking the Backcountry
Nature Photography on a Mobile Device
How to Plan a Thru Hike
Foraging Exploration
Orienteering
Basics to Kayaking
Basics to Fly Fishing
Advanced Fly Fishing
Trailside Temptations
Hammock Camping
SOLO Southeast Wilderness Survival & First Aid
SASS Self Defense
24 Hour Backpacking Adventure
SESSION DETAILS →
Keynote Speaker: Martha (Mattie) Miller Decker, ED.D
Martha (Mattie) Miller Decker, ED.D
Dr. Mattie Decker is a certified Nature and Forest Therapy Guide with the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy (ANFT), an educator and a writer. Mattie is also a mindfulness teacher, a Zen practictioner, an Episcopal oblate, and a retired professor of education. She is certified in wilderness medicine and first aid. Mattie likes to share this saying from her forest bathing mentors: “The forest is the therapist. The guide opens the door.
”Shinrin-yoku in Japanese and Forest Bathing, are names for the medicine of being in the forest. Spending time in nature in a way that invites healing interactions, includes not only such benefits as cultivating wellbeing but each invitation is crafted to help participants slow down and open our senses, giving the forest access to our emotional, physical, and psychological and spiritual being. We discover our RELATIONSHIPS with the more than human world and how our presence may assist nature.
Breathe
She sat at the back and they said she was shy,
She led from the front and they hated her pride,
They asked her advice and then questioned her guidance,
They branded her loud, then were shocked by her silence,When she shared no ambition they said it was sad,
So she told them her dreams and they said she was mad,
They told her they'd listen, then covered their ears,
And gave her a hug while they laughed at her fears,And she listened to all of it thinking she should,
Be the girl they told her to be best as she could,
But one day she asked what was best for herself,
Instead of trying to please everyone else,So she walked to the forest and stood with the trees,
She heard the wind whisper and dance with the leaves,
She spoke to the willow, the elm and the pine,
And she told them what she'd been told time after time,She told them she felt she was never enough,
She was either too little or far far too much,
Too loud or too quiet, too fierce or too weak,
Too wise or too foolish, too bold or too meek,Then she found a small clearing surrounded by firs,
And she stopped...and she heard what the trees said to her,
And she sat there for hours not wanting to leave,
For the forest said nothing, it just let her breathe.
— Becky Hemsley
