No ordinary women’s group
- John Fitts
- Mar 15
- 9 min read
Updated: Mar 20
Mountain Mommas have ventured into the wilderness for 30 years
By John Fitts
Editor
Submitted Photos
The beach, a yoga retreat, a swanky inn, or a famous wine trail might come to mind when one thinks of a women’s excursion.
But while wine, yoga, good food and a little self-care isn’t foreign to the Mountain Mommas, this group has spent the last 30 years taking annual trips that involve rugged outdoor adventures such as backpacking, canoeing and cycling – while also developing unbreakable bonds.
“Outdoor adventures build camaraderie, and the deep ties of friendship that make us the Mountain Mommas,” said Joyce Kennedy, a member of the group who formerly lived in the Valley area but now resides in Colorado.
It all started in the mid 1990s. Mary Ellen and Harold Mullins, who now reside in Canton, were veterans of the outdoor outfitting industry and had met while working at Clapp & Treat in West Hartford.
Not surprisingly, the two were big into outdoor adventure, including backpacking. When their kids were young, however, it became difficult to go on remote adventures, particularly in a time before cell phones were so ubiquitous.
“We had two little kids – one was only six months old – and we couldn’t really go away together safely because we would go into the backcountry and couldn’t be reached,” Mary Ellen Mullins said during an initial LIFE interview with original Mountain Mommas member Donna Myslow, a long-time friend and fellow Simsbury High School graduate. “So, that’s how the Mountain Mommas was formed. I sent out 10 invitations to people who I thought were athletically up for it but may not have had the experience and they all were excited to begin.”
While athletic, many of the young moms were not seasoned outdoor enthusiasts. Harold, who for many years, worked as an independent representative for major outdoor brands, stepped up to help.
Dubbed the “cotton police” – since lightweight, moisture resistant fabrics are much safer in extreme weather – Harold had the resources and the skills as the “diesel fitter,” because he would often quickly proclaim “these will fit her.”
Over the years a few women came and went, and most members have had to sit out a year here and there due to life’s triumphs and challenges. The core group, however, has remained remarkably consistent.
The first trip in 1996 was to New Hampshire. It involved a stay at an Inn and one of the famed Appalachian Mountain Club’s huts. It was just a quick weekend. The women had a few worries on whether the husbands had really taken care of everything, but they all realized the time away was therapeutic.
“We found re-entry to be very difficult. ... So, after that the trips became longer and longer … The first one was a weekend and now we’re up to pretty much a full week together,” Mary Ellen Mullins said.
Over the years, the group has taken most of their annual trips in the northeast, especially to the White Mountains in New Hampshire and the Adirondacks in New York, but also in Maine and Canada. They’ve also gone to out west to the Santa Fe area, the Grand Canyon in AZ, and to several spots in Colorado.
The group has logged some impressive miles, even early on. In 1998, for example, the group planned a trip to Zealand, Galehead and Greenleaf huts in the White Mountains over four days. While the first and last days involved shorter distances, the second day involved 7.4 miles of hiking that included a 4,508-foot peak and some rugged terrain. The next day involved another peak – 4,488-foot Mount Garfield – and a 6.8-mile hike.
In 2017, the group tackled “The bonds,” in New Hampshire, a grueling hike that the AllTrails site clocks in at 21.5 miles, with a 4,530-foot elevation gain. It typically takes some 12 hours, but the group shaved about two hours off that time. And that, keep in mind, was just on one day of the trip.
Trips have also ventured to different activities, such as cycling around Lake Champlain, a journey enhanced by the knowledge and experience of Benidorm Bikes co-owner and cycling legend Jan (Bolland) Tanner.
Additionally, there have been trips to Algonquin Park in Canada – sojourns facilitated by Collinsville Canoe and Kayak co-founder Sue Warner. The trips involve some remote camping and portages, one as long as 3.7 kilometers, or 2.29 miles. (Portages involve carrying canoes, packs and gear on trails between bodies of water).
“One of my favorite trips was one of the four trips we took to Algonquin Provincial Park in Canada,” said Diane Sullivan of Simsbury, referencing the first trip there in 2002. “Outfitted with canoe, 50-pound pack filled with food and gear, and high spirits intact, we paddled across big wide lakes. [We] encountered multiple portages with one being a full mile – canoe held up overhead. We set up campsites on a remote island, another on a wide berthed shore. We sat around the fire laughing and reconnecting. Everyone pitches in. We know where we work best together in the interest of the journey.”
Such trips, of course, require intense planning and physical fitness and there’s been a few mishaps, ripped pants, the occasional ER trip, supplemental oxygen and countless blisters and sore muscles.
Safety is always paramount, and on backpacking trips, the Mommas generally split into smaller groups so there aren’t some 12 women together on a cramped, narrowed trail and hikers of similar abilities are paired. They even come up with names for the smaller groupings – such as the slugs, jack rabbits, gazelles and Billy goats.
Canoe trips have also been split into at least two offerings. One group, for example, might take a “strenuous” trip with major and minor portages and strict rules around sleeping, eating and drinking – while others have the option of staying in a home-base cabin, with shorter day trips or quick overnight excursions.
The Mountain Mommas have also upped their game over the years, constantly figuring out ways to improve the culinary experience, communication, pack weight and more.
Other logistics have also improved and the ability to text has greatly enhanced planning.
Of course, the trips involved so much more than hiking or paddling.
Mary Perkins, formerly of Simsbury and now living in New Hampshire, fondly recalls getting a photo with famed poet, writer and thru-hiker Earl Shaffer; the moment of silence and American flags on Mount Katahdin post 9-11; flying into Colorado and talking 14,000 footers; post-hike activities like disco nights and lawn bowling at the Ausable club; and the post-trip slide shows.
“Two favorite après-hike moments include Mel (Mary Ellen) leading a packed Lake of the Clouds in “A Roosta Sha,” and Sarah’s tabletop belly dancing during Amy’s birthday celebration in the Adirondacks,” said Kennedy, who has been with the group since the very first trip.
Dale Ruth of Simsbury has learned so much from the group, including “that north doesn’t actually move on a map, I can fit in an industrial sink with a friend and that I truly love, admire and be infatuated with Mother Nature, my true religion.”
And the women love that each member brings something unique to the group.
“I really was kept on for my humor if nothing else,” said Lucy Eyre of Granby, known to have topped a mountain or two wearing a tutu. “If you are really feeling down or that muscle is being pulled, I will do something that will make you laugh. ... That’s my niche in the group. You’ll find there are lots of other sides.”
Eyre isn’t the only one with a sense of humor.
“I’ve found that balancing my husband horizontally across my shoulders and strapping his belt tightly around my head at the same time gives a similar sensation to portaging a canoe,” Mary Ellen wrote in one of here colorful trip fliers, this one for the 2005 trip to Algonquin Provincial Park.
Simsbury resident Amy Stevens, who has been with the group since the second year, noted that the women always returned from a trip “tired, sore and very proud of our accomplishments.” Stevens also noted how technology, field experience and the time spent together now allows the group to relax a bit more while continuing to bond and challenge themselves.
“Now it’s really about gathering, connecting, supporting and laughing,” Stevens said. “We laugh our way through the many memories we have created; we have an endless vault of funny stories, scary stories, stories of impressive feats, long hikes, bad weather, good weather, good bunks and bad bunks, cold swims, gorgeous views, cloudy views, frosty weather, mountain trails, Swift canoes, bikes and books, bags and blisters.”
But as members will tell you, it’s the personal growth and close friendships that really hit home.
” I never really hiked before meeting these women in year three,” Ruth said. “I walked but one, never traveled to hike an adventure and two, I never hiked like these women ahead of men. Through the years I recognized, by lack of previous doings, there are different abilities and assets. I may not be the first to propose but I am the first to join in. I learned I am a great team player. I love these women from the bottom of my heart to the joyous adventure of my mind. These women have brought me through adventures that I never knew existed.”
“For me, it’s the moments when we push our physical limits that stand out,” said Kennedy. “The Knives Edge of Katahdin, Algonquin canoe trips (also the wilderness factor), the White Mountain hike where Becca talked us down rock faces, and the Bonds (probably our longest hike in the White Mountains, but a total joy).
“Imagine yourself on a lake in the middle of Algonquin Park in Ontario, Canada with 12 other women in canoes and tents for three nights under skies with absolutely no other human within miles,” said Heidi Lane of Avon. “This is my favorite place that the Mountain Mommas have ever taken me. Oh yes, they have taken me other places – like the Grand Canyon, the tops of a 14,000 peak in Colorado, Santa Fe to celebrate our 30th anniversary and so many more place. But camaraderie, solitude and sheer beauty of those Canadian lakes…. still resonate deeply with me. But then, I would follow these women anywhere.”
More than anything, perhaps, has been the forged friendships in and beyond the wilderness. The group has celebrated weddings, shared countless ups and downs, exchanged advice, mourned the loss of parents, and shared so many emotional experiences.
“Being with [these] women year after year and getting through some difficult physical stuff together builds this camaraderie that is really hard to find,” Mary Ellen Mullins said. “When my parents died … It was the mountain mommas who showed up, bringing food and bringing desserts and being on the sidelines, cleaning up andhelping.
To have that posse of women is just the most valuable thing a person could have. I would just recommend any young girls, any young moms who have a set of friends, to start their own group and just build over the years. We are such a tight-knit group. We don’t see each other every day or all the time, but we know we’re going to get together once a year and we laugh, and everybody is on the same field about being together. It’s just a wonderful, wonderful thing.”
“If I may equate this group to the outdoors, I’d say you’re as strong and rugged as the mountains, as fluid as the waters you paddle and swim in, as beautiful as the skies above whether day or night and the laughter shared is like the air that surrounds us all,” said Tanner. “I love the capable attitudes, the whit, the knowledge, the sense of adventure, the determination, the laughter and the gentleness of each of you. I have fond memories of roaming the roads around Lake Champlain, carrying oxygen in Colorado, making great campfire food, hanging food bags, paddling under the stars and listening to some of you snore. You all are the best!”
It all started with a bunch of young moms wanting to get away for a couple of days without their kids,” Sullivan added. “What evolved over the next 30 years was a friendship and camaraderie we never dreamed could be.” VL
