Women Hike Duluth fosters love of outdoors

A desire on the part of Sandi Larson to share “pretty pictures” of her daily hikes has grown into a Facebook page, a Facebook group, and even coordinated events with Duluth Parks and Rec.

Sandi Larson started the Hike Duluth Facebook page years ago. She shares little moments from her hikes all over Duluth and the broader region.

Her love of hiking began when she got a dog.

“At the time, I didn’t think that I would be such a dedicated hiker, but the opportunity just to get out every day with my dog is so great,” Larson said.

In 2018, someone from the Duluth mayor’s office asked her if she would lead a women’s hike as part of a city initiative to get more women outdoors. She agreed and hoped 20 women might show up. She stopped counting at 125 women.

“So after the first hike with that huge response, we kept going with our hikes and women were asking me, ‘Can we keep this going? We only have the four hikes scheduled, but are you going to keep doing this? Because I need motivation for winter. I want women to hike with,'” Larson said.

She said yes and the group is now going on six years.

“We’ve had women who have moved to Duluth and immediately been able to connect with our hiking group and feel like they have a space to meet new people, to do something they love to do and get that connection,” she said. “We’ve had people decide to move here because of what they see on the Hike Duluth page.”

People can register for Women Hike Duluth outings on the Duluth Parks and Recreation website. You can also find Larson’s Hike Duluth page on Facebook.