Fat Girls Hiking

We gasped when we saw this grantee’s name: Fat Girls Hiking. Isn’t that insulting? “Fat isn’t good or bad, it just IS,” says FGH founder Summer Michaud-Skog. “We believe that people of all ages, sizes, shapes, races, religions, classes, abilities, genders, and sexual identities deserve to feel comfortable outdoors. We think everyone should be able to access the outdoors in the ways that meet their needs. Everyone deserves to be represented, to be celebrated as they celebrate the outdoors, and to be able to claim their space on the hiking trail.”

Our favorite thing? FGH hikes are led by the slowest hiker. That’s so nobody is huffing and puffing and struggling to keep up and feeling like they don’t belong out there.

The slower your roll, the closer you are to the head of the pack so you can enjoy your time on the trail at your own pace.

Summer is enthusiastic about taking the shame and stigma out of the word “fat.” She created Fat Girls Hiking as an act of fat activism and body liberation to create social change in the outdoor community.

“We promote weight-neutrality and health at every size,” says Summer. (Even Barbie, once the stereotype of supposed beauty, got that memo.)

FGH’s motto, Trails Not Scales, reminds hikers that the reason to be outdoors has nothing to do with weight.

Our Awesome Without Borders grant will help Summer build chapters across North America, training the chapter ambassadors to be the inclusive and welcoming FGH leaders who will get the newbies on the right track. (Yes, some of our cash is going for ambassador swag — they need t-shirts and banners out there!)

Learn more at their website, and follow along with FGH on Facebook and Instagram.