About

About the Trail Dames

The Trail Dames mission is to welcome, empower and educate women of all shapes, sizes, and experience and fitness levels to responsibly explore nature. TD accomplishes this by offering safe and supportive activities that promote personal growth, friendship, self-confidence, self-reliance, and a love of the outdoors.

Who Are the Trail Dames?

Simply put, Trail Dames is a hiking club for women of a curvy nature. These days you can find us on top of many a mountain, laughing and making new friends... But you can also find us dancing, kayaking, traveling and a thousand other things. In short, you will find us celebrating life. We hike slowly, looking closely at the beauty that is all around us. We stop to rest when we need to, but then we keep going. Because a Trail Dame knows that there is no feeling in the entire world like the feeling of accomplishing your goal. We also know that the only people who get to truly experience the view from the top are the ones that climbed up there to see it.

Is Trail Dames for You?

If you identify as a woman, then you are welcome. Any shape, size, color, religious, political, or otherwise persuasion...you are welcome.

Never Hiked Before?

This club was created for you. If you are nervous or unsure if you can do it? Again, you are welcome here. We take the experience of our members very seriously and want everyone to have an enjoyable time on the trail. Our Trail Dames Trust and Safety Pact is meant to create a circle of trust within our community so that you can be confident on the trail and we can offer hikes for a broad range of skill levels.
Take a deep breath and take the plunge. We promise you, you will laugh and make friends and finish the day feeling so, so proud of yourself. We are looking forward to seeing you on a hike!!!

A Letter from the President of Trail Dames

My name is Anna Huthmaker, but my trail friends call me "Mud Butt." It is a name that has been well-earned through my years of hiking and one that I am proud to wear.
I started hiking in North Carolina many years ago and quickly fell in love with the trail and all of its adventures. Years of short hikes in the mountains of the Southeast and the deserts of the Southwest prepared me for my biggest challenge.
In 2003, I attempted to hike the Appalachian Trail. I took six months off from work, hiked 700 miles, broke my foot, and met more amazing people then I ever dreamed.
But there was one thing that bothered me: I was the only overweight woman out there! Where were all my friends and sisters?! I asked around and discovered that lots of women weren't keen on hiking by themselves. And when given the opportunity to hike with a group, even more of them were worried about being slow!
Well, I couldn't keep all the fun to myself! I decided that I had to share.

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