A Women-Led, Human-Powered Endeavor,
Connecting Stories Across the Americas.
SLOW TRAVEL
Walk, Listen, Connect
Purpose
The heart of this endeavor is connection. The Her Odyssey Expedition sparked curious minds and connects adventurous spirits. Through slow travel, intentional engagement, and sharing fresh perspectives to our worldwide network of supporters and followers, we make the world a healthier place.
A few examples:
-The “Story Time” series relates folklore and local legends which inform cultural perspectives and values.
-Through the ‘Pay it Forward’ commitment, like trees sharing their carbon or Christians tithing, I contribute 10% of my income to organizations and individuals at work in their communities.
-The “Herstory Series” illuminates the experience of women who live in pursuit of their own highest selves and are willing to share that adventure.
Herstory
The ‘Herstory: She Can’ series profiles women who pursue their passions. Each have stepped up with courage, a message, and a willingness to share her own odyssey. These are the personal tales of women from all along our journey.
Timeline
In October 2010, after completing her first official thru-hike on the Pacific Crest Trail, Bethany ‘Fidgit’ Hughes experienced a calling to pilgrimage; to connect the Americas by revisiting the stories of her upbringing in the humblest and mightiest manner possible, by Human Power.
She spent five years working, saving, researching, route planning, and establishing contacts and sponsors while working at the Family & Intercultural Resource Center in Summit County, CO. During this time she also volunteered with local kids, participated in a 9-month Leadership Summit, aided in the local roll-out of the Affordable Care Act, trekked the Langtang Region of Nepal with Oneseed Expeditions, thru-hiked the Colorado Trail, and juggled four other part-time jobs, as is common for those living in mountain towns.
In November 2015 Bethany kicked off the Her Odyssey expedition when she picked up a pebble from the Beagle Channel outside of Ushuaia, Argentina, promising to do everything in her power to carry it to the Arctic Ocean. Over the following seven years, she was joined by a dozen or so fellow athletes, trail makers, advocates, and wilderness lovers. The entire expedition was only possible thanks to the generosity, aid, and guidance of local land stewards, family lines, and communities.
For much of the Her Odyssey Expedition Bethany was joined by ultra-endurance Athlete and Triple Crowner Lauren ‘Neon’ Reed. The first day was launched hiking over the toe of the Andes with Dani, a Ushuaia local adventure race designer. The route wound across the island and the senos of the Magallanes Region until connecting with the Huella Andina and crossing Patagonia on the Greater Patagonian Trail.
They kicked off the second season in 2016 kayaking across Lago Nahuel Huapi, Argentina with Cheri Harris, and special thanks to Shelter on the Lake in Bariloche for providing equipment and support. Bethany connected the GPT, a nascent trail network to South America’s oldest trails, the Inca road system, the Qhapaq Ñan. In 2017 the women were joined by their mothers and a few of their closest friends for the walk into Machu Picchu, Peru.
In October 2018 the duo completed walking across South America at Turbo, Colombia.
In 2018 they paddled the Rio Marañón in Peru with the Waterkeepers of Marañón Experience in their ongoing efforts to protest the damming of the river, displacement and murder of local peoples, and further destruction of natural and historical resources.
Early 2019 Richard joined for kayaking between Bocas del Torro, Panama and Lago Cocibolca [Lake Nicaragua] spanning the Caribbean Coast and the Rio San Juan, the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. The trio stooped through the pulmón de Centroamérica [Lung of Central America], a jungle where Reserves and Parks are racing deforestation for land, and where border conflict, volcanos, and hurricanes are no strangers.
Bethany went on to sea kayak with Ilene Price, a deeply invested guide who shared her connections and love through the Guna Yala, [San Blas Islands], archipelago territory of the Guna Peoples. In 2020 Bethany was joined by Brian, another Triple Crowner, to bikepack the Camino del Diablo along the US Southwest border at the height of the Wall Building frenzy. They joined up with Lauren and the trio pedaled the Baja Divide and were onto the mainland when COVID hit and Bethany decided to pull the team out as she saw the safety and health of locals as eminently more important than her ambitions.
Bethany thru-hiked the Continental Divide Trail, connecting onto the Great Divide Trail in Canada once COVID restrictions were lifted in 2021. In 2022, Keith Webb and Heather Dempsey joined for the launch of the final segment of the Her Odyssey Expedition, canoeing the Arctic Drainage in Canada. With permission of the First Nations and the ongoing aid and web of support, canoed the Athabasca, Slave, and DehCho [Mackenzie] Rivers until, in late August 2022, she swam in the reflection of the Pingos outside the Inuit Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk, on the Beaufort Sea of the Arctic Ocean.
