Women build self-confidence amid outdoor challenges

One weekend each summer and spring at Friendly Pines Camp near Prescott, women from all walks of life come together to learn how to paddle canoes, read animal tracks, use a compass and fly-fish.

Part 2: One giant leap of faith

Part 3: Nobody here but us girls

SLIDESHOW: View photos from the BOW camp at Friendly Pines Camp

They share meals at long picnic tables, sleep in creaky bunk beds, sing silly songs in a campy talent show and pass wine bottles and s’mores around the campfire.

“We try to get ladies out to learn something new and appreciate the outdoors, whether they know anything about being outdoorsy or not,” says Becoming an Outdoors-Woman Arizona director Linda Dightmon.

The program is designed to teach women outdoor skills in the company of other women.

Last weekend, 110 women arrived at the wooded camp ready to rough it from noon Friday through lunch Sunday. At orientation, leathery gals in camo and khaki mingled with suburban women wearing capris, pastel visors and diamond rings.

Some, like Robin Yowell and Nancy Burke, lab techs at Yavapai Regional Hospital in Prescott, were return visitors ready for a girls’ weekend of activities they don’t get to do in everyday life.

“I don’t really have anyone to do archery with, so when I come here, it’s my chance to do it. This is my fourth time,” said Yowell, who also went night fishing with a group of women at the pond until almost midnight.

Others come to work on themselves.

Susan Zinn, 34, saw the trip as another chance to make headway in a year of positive life changes.

“I came by myself, and I signed up for everything I’m afraid of,” said the ASU student from Tempe. Not only did she wind up in a cabin with three women — now potential friends — who happen to live within a mile of her, she challenged her fierce need to be in control.

Moments after zipping across a meadow on a cable suspended 18 feet above the ground, she couldn’t stop smiling.

“Making myself go off that edge and trusting that I was going to be OK was huge,” Zinn said. “That was so powerful. SO powerful. It just made my day.”

BOW was founded in 1991 at University of Wisconsin — Stevens Point.

More than 80 workshops are conducted in North America annually, and more than 20,000 women participate worldwide each year. In our state, the Arizona Wildlife Federation hosts the program, with contributions of manpower and materials from Arizona Game and Fish Department, Audubon Arizona and Arizona State Parks.

“It’s such a boost of encouragement to know you can come out and be who you are, and no one’s going to judge you. No makeup, no hair dryer, flip-flops work,” said Cherie Barker, a 55-year-old real estate agent from southeast Mesa, as she passed through the lunch line. Over the weekend, Barker tried her hand at outdoor photography, rappelling and still-water paddling.

Giving women a place where they can ask questions or even look foolish as they’re getting to know a new activity is BOW’s aim, says Dightmon.

Women can learn to bait hooks and work their GPS devices without the tension that can develop when spouses turn into teachers. They also learn things they may not be eager to discuss with a man, such as how to make an emergency tampon or go No. 2 in the woods without leaving any evidence behind.

“They have a place to network, to make friends, and from there they can plan camping trips and outings on their own. That’s what we’re looking for. We want them to be confident enough to go out there and do what they want to do,” she says.

That spirit was already rubbing off on Jane Joynt, a school nurse from Tempe, when it came time to head home. Instead of turning back out onto the highway the same familiar way she had arrived, she followed a whim, looking for a back road to Lynx Lake. Joynt, 52, didn’t find one and wound up taking a longer route back to the Valley, but it was a baby step toward adventure that any outdoorswoman could be proud of.

Becoming an Outdoors-Woman

Arizona Wildlife Federation’s next BOW workshop, featuring basic accommodations and space for 100 women, will be spring 2009 at Friendly Pines Camp near Prescott. The approximately $250 fee includes meals, lodging, instruction and class materials, but you must bring your own bed linens and towels.

BOW Deluxe, which features cushier digs at a rustic bed-and-breakfast resort, will be January or February 2009 at Saguaro Lake Ranch northeast of Mesa. In addition to creature comforts, it offers classes tailored to the ranch’s Sonoran Desert setting. The approximately $420 fee includes meals, lodging, instruction, class materials and a trail ride on horseback. Registration is limited to 40 participants.

BOW is open to women 18 and older. For information and registration materials, call (480) 644-0077 or visit www.azwildlife.org/bow.html.

BOW wherever you go

Got a sister or best girlfriend in another city?

BOW workshops are offered in many states across the country, and there are BOW adventure trips coordinated by the program’s international office.  For more information, visit www.uwsp.edu/cnr/bow.