SALT LAKE CITY ā Carrie Gregg moved to Utah in 2022, knowing nearly no one. She has since made friends from all across the state thanks to Girls Only Adventure Trips.
The company has created a way for women to connect over hiking and the outdoors ā even changing Gregg’s life, as it helped her to meet hundreds of new friends in a unique setting.
The business venture, informally known as GOAT, began around the same time that Gregg was trying to spend more time in nature through hiking.
“It’s hard to make friends as an adult and I don’t have children, so that made it even harder,” she shared. “One of my neighbors told me that the rite of passage of living in Utah was to hike Mount Timpanogos.”
After a quick Google search, Gregg discovered that the nearly 15-mile hike would be challenging for her to do alone. She knew she needed some friends to go with her. So, she posted about wanting to do the hike on her Facebook story and waited for responses.
Two of her friends, one from Texas and the other from college, both flew to Utah to do the hike. The two women, who didn’t know each other at all beforehand, connected and bonded through the hiking experience. Gregg soon realized that hiking was the key to connecting with the women all around her.
The next week, she posted on her story again and found a new group of seven women to hike with. The hikes and adventures snowballed into today’s version of Girls Only Adventure Trips, which unique women frequent from across the state. The group has taken trips to Capitol Reef, Goblin Valley, Zion, Bryce Canyon and many other spots in Utah and beyond.
Girls Only Adventure Trips hosts different options for every interested woman. Free hiking happy hours happen in the evenings. The trips consist of a short hike near Salt Lake City, followed by a visit to a local restaurant or fun spot in the community. Day trips are also an option, which is an upscale version of the happy hour, complete with lunch and carpooling opportunities.
For those looking for a bit more intensity, the company also offers moderate and difficult hikes and adventures. That way, each hiker is free to connect and interact with others.
“My favorite memories in general are the amount of laughing that happens,” Gregg said. “We are adult women and it’s not often that you get to revert back to your childlike self and play in the woods ā¦ There’s something really unique about a group of women getting together in the outdoors.”
Gregg plans every detail of the trips, ensuring the women only have to worry about the hike and meeting new friends. She also sends out weekly newsletters to nearly 300 women and posts frequently on the group’s social media channels. The group typically tries to keep hikes between 10 and 15 women to ensure connection and minimize trail disturbance.
“It’s great because they get to know each other and make friends, but then new people come into the fold all the time,” Gregg shared. “I’ve met women who have lived in the Salt Lake area their entire lives, and it’s the first time they are going on a hike to Donut Falls or Stewart Falls. ā¦ It’s really fun and I like to joke and say, ‘Let me show you your own state.'”
While hiking and using outdoor spaces, Girls Only Adventure Trips strives to educate its members and encourage preservation and care for nature.
“I want to reiterate the importance of supporting our public lands and national parks,” Gregg shared. “We need to keep protecting the public spaces we like to use so we can continue to enjoy them.”
In August, Girls Only Adventure Trips will celebrate its first anniversary. To commemorate, the company will be hosting a free “trailgating” event, an outdoor equipment and clothing swap, followed by a hike. Many of the weekend’s events are open to all who are interested, not just women.
Girls Only Adventure Trips is open to all women 21 and older who are interested in joining a unique and outdoorsy community. Costs vary for trips, with some being free and others requiring payment to cover the costs of food and travel. For more information, visit the group’s website or TikTok account.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.