Wilderness Heals

Thank you for visiting the Wilderness Heals blog. Wilderness Heals is an all-women, three-day annual pledge hike that benefits the Elizabeth Stone House (ESH), a Boston-based emergency shelter, transitional housing program, and therapeutic community that provides services to women and children who are escaping violence and overcoming trauma. By encouraging hikers to set challenging physical, emotional, and financial goals, Wilderness Heals mirrors the experiences of hundreds of women who have sought help from the Stone House. Committing to hike is a way to grow personally while simultaneously standing in solidarity with women of the Stone House and women everywhere who are working to overcome the effects of violence in their lives.
Wilderness Heals 2011 will take place July 15-17, 2011. Registration materials may be downloaded here.
Go here to view the 2011 routes, and visit our Who's Who page to meet this year's team leaders and Recruitment Committee members.
Want to learn more? Visit our list of Frequently Asked Questions.
Still have questions? Contact Erika Whyte, Wilderness Heals event coordinator, at 781-726-0551 or ewhyte@elizabethstone.org.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Register Now for Wilderness Heals 2009

Hello all,

Registration for Wilderness Heals 2009 is officially open! The beginning of a new year brings along a new trail option for the Wilderness Heals Annual Pledge Hike, which will take place July 17-19. Registration officially opens on Sunday, February 1, and women can participate in one of the original four trail options or the new Front Country option. All options take participants through New Hampshire’s White Mountains. The new Front Country option offers more manageable trails for those who are new to hiking, and it is also open to mother-daughter teams. Women who have daughters between the ages of 12 and 17 may register for this option.

This year only, Wilderness Heals’ mother-daughter teams who participate in the Front Country option will have a fundraising minimum of $2,000 for their team. The fundraising minimum for individual participants is $1,200. The hiker registration fee is $50, and the registration deadline is June 19, 2009.

Of the five Wilderness Heals trail options, four options offer hikers overnight accommodations in AMC huts, and hikers who participate in the Back Country option sleep in tents. Each team will include an experienced team leader. Round-trip transportation from Boston will be provided. If you would like to participate in Wilderness Heals, you can obtain registration materials through the Elizabeth Stone House’s Web site or by calling 617-427-9801, ext. 415.

In other news, Wilderness Heals has a new look! The Elizabeth Stone House’s logo and letterhead received a makeover last summer, and we have changed the Wilderness Heals logo to correspond more closely with ESH. Keeping the vision and work of the Elizabeth Stone House closely tied to that of Wilderness Heals is a goal of mine, and we are hitting the ground running. Also, check out the updated ESH Web site here.

On behalf of everyone at ESH, let me thank you for your interest and involvement in Wilderness Heals. We look forward to sharing the Wilderness Heals experience with both new and veteran hikers and building generations of individuals to whom social responsibility is a way of life.

Looking forward to seeing you soon,
--Amy