- When Angelina Stancampiano started her job with the Wyoming State Parks Division, one of her prime directives was bringing the Women Who Hike program to our state.

Now, through a series of fun, healthy, and informative hikes around Wyoming state parks, this energetic Parks Ranger is showing that hiking is a great way to connect with nature, learn more about Wyoming history and get some exercise in the bargain.

I'm Steve Peck of Wyoming PBS.

This is "Wyoming Chronicle."

(bright, dynamic music) - [Announcer] Funding for this program is made possible in part by the Wyoming Humanities Council, helping Wyoming take a closer look at life through the humanities.

Thinkwhy.org.

And by the members of the Wyoming PBS Foundation.

Thank you for your support.

- Angelina Stancampiano, thanks for being with us on "Wyoming Chronicle."

Now, before we get anywhere deeper into the Women Who Hike program, I have to ask you about a picture I saw of you in which you had a tarantula on your hand.

Were you being punished in some way, or how did that come about?

- No, luckily that's something I enjoy doing.

- I see.

- So the more, the better.

- So you were one of these little kids who liked bugs and snakes and worms and things like that really from the beginning?

- Yes.

But also while wearing a tutu, like very girly girl, very outdoorsy, all in one.

- How long have you been with the state of Wyoming, State Parks?

- I've been a ranger with Wyoming State Parks for two years.

- Before that you worked in Oklahoma.

- I was a ranger there for three years prior to that.

- You began your career there.

What sort of, something that as a child you thought of doing a lot?

"One day, I want to be a State Park interpretive ranger in Wyoming," or how specific did it get?

- My dad is a biology professor.

And so every walk in the woods was a guided hike for my brothers and I, and we didn't even realize that's what it was.

We thought everyone's dad knew everything about the ecosystem.

And the farther I went into school, I realized what an anomaly that was and how I had peers and classmates who didn't have that experience.

And so that started me down the path of, maybe this is something that I could do too.

I could connect people with nature as well.

- So that's what you're doing now.

You're the person who gives the guided walk and knows everything about what's being seen in nature.

So the degree that you have is what?

- Biology.

- Where'd you get it?

- Oklahoma City University.

- Is that the type of training that someone who becomes a State Parks Ranger typically has, a biology degree is a common enough pathway to it?

- Yes, what I like most about what I do is that it's skills from all different realms.

And I went to a liberal arts school, and so I took public speaking and I took arts and culture and I took all of these creative writing courses.

And so it was a well-rounded education.

I also took organic chemistry and biochemistry, and so you can go the biology route, history, some people come up through parks and recreation, but I was science focused.

- So, in your job now as an interpretive ranger, you came to Wyoming to do that position.

What's the general job description?

- I say that it is translating the natural and cultural resources of a site to visitors.

So, having that knowledge and presenting it to them in a way that they're engaged and that they care about these sites as well.

- So you said, a site.

Now, you have some responsibility or oversight or programming duties for more than one site.

What's your realm, your bailiwick, so to speak?

- We have the Shoshone District, which is Southwest Wyoming.

So I have here at South Pass City and Fort Bridger Historic Site are my two historic sites.

And then Bear River in Evanston, Seminoe outside of Rawlins, and Sinks Canyon and Lander.

- And you live at Sinks Canyon, you were telling me.

- I do.

- Year round?

- Yes.

- And so we're sort of in your workplace here now.

- Yes, workplace, home, all of it in one.

- I get the impression of talking to you that that's a fun job to have.

- It is.

- What are you liking about it five, six years into your career?

- I love that with each program I can still see the spark in someone.

I can share a fact that I've known for years and that I've shared hundreds of times.

But connecting that one person with that fact about a site and seeing them light up about it fuels me doing this six years in.

- We're here today.

We happen to be at South Pass City State historic site.

I don't know how many state parks, state historic sites under the State Parks Department, division that there are.

Do you by any chance?

- Around 32.

- Yeah, I was gonna say, it's more than a couple dozen.

So it's more than a few.

And one thing that has always stuck out to me, when you look at a list of what the parks are, where they are, when they're open, and what you can do there, you could have a lot of fun almost year round doing the state park event circuit, couldn't you?

- Yes, a lot of people say, "Oh, you live in Wyoming, so are you off all winter?"

But we lead guided tours, we'll go snowshoeing with classrooms, we will go caving.

We even had a Women Who Hike event where we went ice skating, ice fishing and snowshoeing.

- And there's the the First Day Hikes program.

Have you been involved in that?

- Yes, January 1st, it's a nationwide initiative through the National Association for State Park Directors.

And we have them here in Wyoming, and sometimes they are with snowshoes.

- Now, you mentioned Women Who Hike, and that's one of your particular areas of emphasis.

Tell us what, it's a national initiative that you are localizing.

Is that a good way to put it?

- Yes, it was co-founded about six years ago, and it was co-founded by a woman named Nicole, who thought she was the only woman that enjoyed the outdoors.

And so she set off to make it into a collaborative effort.

And now every state has a chapter.

I am the ambassador for Wyoming.

So I create programming under Women Who Hike here in Wyoming.

- And that's one of the things you came to Wyoming to do.

You knew you were gonna be involved in Women Who Hike, and what was the first Women Who Hike program you put together in our state?

- We put together one at Seminoe, which is about 37 miles from Rawlins.

It's not a park you happen onto.

- And its foundation is the big reservoir there.

- And so if you have a boat or you have a trailer, you might have set out to go to Seminoe, but day hikers and other folks maybe have never discovered the secret gem of a park.

So we wanted to emphasize that park and create an opportunity for people to come and enjoy.

- What are the hidden secrets of Seminoe, for example?

What's the sort of thing that you want people to know about?

- So we brought in canoes, and we canoed across the reservoir and went hiking.

So there's not any trails currently within the park, but we took the opportunity to go across that big famed reservoir and hike on the other side.

- I see.

Canoeing, part of your bio degree at Oklahoma City U?

- Yeah.

- Was it?

- I mean, I canoed and kayaked for a job fresh outta college.

That was part of my.

- So, when you say Women Who Hike, women who canoe and-- - Ice fish and ice skate and cave and-- - You do all that stuff.

- Yeah.

- Good.

So, we are now here, it's in late July, last weekend of July at the South Pass City state historic site.

What is Women Who Hike history about here?

- This is the first ever history kind of thematic approach to Women Who Hike.

I am especially proud of South Pass City's history involving women's rights.

- I think a lot of people who watch "Wyoming Chronicle" might know about that, but maybe they don't.

What do you mean by that?

- Esther Hobart Morris served as Justice of the Peace here.

She was the first female public officer and-- - Not just at South Pass City, in the United States.

- In the United States.

And then I'm sure everyone's aware we're the equality state, women's suffrage.

Wyoming had the right to vote for women before statehood.

And so just all of those elements that I'm so proud of for Wyoming, I wanted to bring that emphasis with Women Who Hike, that's for women.

- Yeah, it's a great place to do it.

Esther Morris, as people know I think, or are about to know, she got the position Justice of the Peace in South Pass City, when it was a rollicking gold mining camp, and the other residents of the town picked her to do it, wanted her to do it.

- Right, and that's something that's really important to me with Women Who Hike.

It's not anti-men or excluding men.

It's the combination.

It's the being welcomed into the outdoor world.

And so it was a man who put her up for the position, just like I have male bosses who make it possible for us to have these.

- And this was in a time when this idea was fairly radical.

1867, I believe, was the year, not a time when you might've guessed that this would happen.

What do you know about why she was deemed the person for the job?

- She was handpicked, as far as I know.

So, the population wasn't huge here, but she was chosen to serve in that role, and she did for only a short time, a few months.

But what a cool place to have it happen.

- And as we get deeper into, as you get deeper into the Women Who Hike history program, for example, or other programs too, if you need regional or outside authorities to come in and supplement what you're teaching, you do that.

In fact, that's what's happening here, right?

- Yes, site superintendent Joe Ellis will be doing a program tonight.

- He knows all about Esther Morris.

- He does.

And then we'll have a Continental Divide Trail through Hiker that will be helping us on the trail in the morning.

So I don't know everything, as you said earlier, - But that's a big part of what you do is facilitate, introduce, connect, whether it's the nature history or people who who can help you.

What would a typical Women Who Hike program be like?

Is it just an afternoon, is it an overnight thing or does it depend?

- It's typically a whole weekend.

As you know here in Wyoming you have to set out, make a little drive to just about anywhere.

So we like to make it that whole weekend so that women come from Utah, Colorado, and all over the state to spend close to 48 hours together.

- So we're here on a Friday.

On a typical Women Who Hike weekend, participants would arrive on Friday afternoon or evening.

What's the first night typically like?

- Setting up tents, helping one another.

Sometimes we have first-time hikers or first-time campers.

So we show 'em how to set up a tent, a good spot, make sure to put your rain fly on, cook dinner.

Usually have a campfire and kind of create that community going into the weekend.

- So it's not exactly wilderness roughing it, but they're not staying in a hotel room either.

- Right, we're all tent camping, but we do have some nice kitchen setups and we eat pretty well.

- So after the first night in the campsite around the campfire with a good meal, then, I haven't heard anything about hiking yet.

I'm presuming that starts the next day?

- Yes, Saturday is usually our big hike day.

Get up, have a good breakfast, go over some group rules, group vibes, what we hope to get out of the weekend, and then set off on a hike.

- People who've signed up for it I think are, they're not surprised to hear what you've said.

They're up for this.

But it's not just a stroll in the park either.

You're gonna do some work.

- Usually a couple miles.

- What's another Women Who Hike program that you've done in Wyoming or a couple that you still wanna do?

- We had a really fun one this winter.

I turned to a district manager for another district and I said, "Hey, when are we gonna have one in your district?"

And he said, this winter.

Said, we can't have a camp out in the winter.

And we did.

So we stayed in cabins at Boysen, and that district manager, Brooks Jordan, taught wintertime survival.

And the crew at Boysen, the superintendent John Bass, they built a skating rink on Boysen Reservoir for us.

Game & Fish worked with us and two game wardens came and taught us how to ice fish with all the gear.

And then we also had snowshoes for the whole group and just had a really unique time being able to appreciate the outdoors even with several feet of snow.

- Yeah, it's a harsh, harsh winter, especially in most of Wyoming, but especially there.

So that took some doing.

How was the turnout for it?

- We sold out within 48 hours.

- Selling out meant how many?

- Nine women.

Yep, we capped it at nine women to be able to stay in those cabins.

- How many will be at South Pass City this weekend?

- We'll have 11 here.

We had 16 for our Leave No Trace trainers course that we taught a few weeks ago.

- And that's part of Women Who Hike also?

All right, tell us about that.

- An all women Leave No Trace trainers course co-taught by Nicole Brown, the Women Who Hike co-founder.

So she flew in from Oregon, and the two of us taught the course over the weekend.

- And Leave No Trace, I think I know what you mean but you better tell me.

- So Leave No Trace is a now global initiative for us to be the best stewards of the land possible.

There's seven principles that are kind of like the guiding outline for how to recreate responsibly.

- I'm assuming then that the seven principles you're talking about, even if, for example, Women Who Hike History is not a Leave No Trace event, but those principles will be in place for what you're doing.

In that case, let's test you, what are the seven?

- One is know before you go, plan ahead and prepare.

Two is camp and hike on durable surfaces.

Three is dispose of waste properly.

Four is leave what you find.

Five is campfire safety.

Six is respect wildlife, and seven is respect other visitors.

- A lot there.

Some of it's common sense, but my experience has been, gee, I thought I knew what I was doing or the way to proceed or the way to act, and I didn't always.

- And Leave No Trace does research.

So sometimes what was the right thing to do 10 years ago, now new research has come out and it's not, and it's not a way of enforcing or writing tickets.

It's just a way of further educating people so that they can be the best stewards when they're on our public lands.

- Any other Women Who Hike events in Wyoming that you've done or that you're looking forward to doing?

- We had one last fall, and we'll do it again this year for National Public Lands Day at Sinks Canyon State Park.

- What would be your ambition for the program statewide?

I know you mentioned that you called another district and said we'd like to do one there.

Something you'd like to grow to corner to corner?

- Yes.

There's really cool sites throughout the state, and it really started as hiking, like we said, and it's really morphed into this women's empowerment, women getting together to enjoy the outdoors.

And I've heard feedback that they want a fly-fishing women's weekend.

So that might be on the radar.

- What will you tell the visitor, the participants tonight as they arrive as an introduction?

- Luckily at this point, that's become easy because I have so many repeat participants.

- Is that so?

- Yes.

So this is our fifth Women Who Hike event.

And I had a woman who attended the first four.

She attended three of the first four.

and I have one coming today that this will be her third.

And then I have I think five others, this will be their second.

- So these are people that you get to know, become friends of yours, friends with each other.

That's gotta be a gratifying part of the program too.

- It is.

My best friend in Wyoming I met through Women Who Hike.

- At the end of the Women Who Hike event, whether it's this one or another one, what do you want the participants to have gained and to leave with?

- It seems trite, but I like to say empowering women.

So for them to leave and feel comfortable in the outdoors after we go over what to pack, how to be safe on the trail, the Leave No Trace principles.

A lot of times they're already doing those things, but they just need someone in a uniform to say, you're doing a great job.

And then they can go out and use our public lands well.

I also hope that they leave with better knowledge and understanding and maybe appreciation for our agency.

I think that that human connection that I can wear both hats as a Women Who Hike ambassador and a park ranger, I've had a lot of feedback like, "Before, I never thought "to tell a park ranger I was going "to be out on a hike all day alone.

"But now after meeting you all, "now I always tell them where I'm going and it makes me feel a lot safer on the trails."

- Interesting, and so many things are politicized these days and you use the word empowerment, which in some context and some people has this connotation.

You're not talking about that at all.

For example, knowing to tell someone where you're going to make yourself safer, that's part of empowerment.

- Right, empowering them to go out on their own and just with, like you said, just those little bits of information that they might not have thought of before, or maybe they're already doing, but just hearing someone say, that's the right thing to be doing.

- What are you looking forward to the most, or what's the best part of a Women Who Hike weekend for you, or can you say?

- It's day two, once everyone's settled in and I can look around and they're all talking and laughing with one another.

We've been together for a day, and they've already created new friends and just knowing that all the work I put into it is worth it in that moment.

Those are my favorite points of the weekend.

- We've been watching you and your fellow, your seasonal coworker, Wyatt, here today, unloading a lot of stuff, getting a lot of preparation in the hours before anyone even arrives.

In terms of your field, your specialty, your science, you make a point of pointing a lot of things out to the participants.

- Oh yes, they get packing lists.

They know everything ahead of time.

You've mentioned that it's a fairly small group.

What if someone who hasn't done it, and it's even a smaller group, considering how many people try to redo it, someone who wants to do it for the first time, how do they get involved?

- We open up registration online, so you can see it through Women Who Hike or through Wyoming State Parks.

And it's not super strenuous hiking.

So if you are a three to four-mile hike kind of gal, you're more than welcome to come.

We had a woman at our last camp out who had never been camping in her life, and she had a great time and wants to come back.

- Is there a cost to participating?

- There is.

There's a cost that covers food and basic supplies.

We keep the cost low just to cover.

There's no money-- - It's not a moneymaker for the division?

- Nope, and it's all through Women Who Hike, which is a 501(c)(3).

So they handle all of the registration and the purchasing of all of those supplies.

- What's a typical sitting around the campfire Women Who Hike supper like?

- So usually day two, like I was talking about, my peak time, someone else is cooking, because I'm tired, and they've all become friends and they've taken over the grill, and so there's usually some cooking conversation going on and then some around-the-fire conversation and swapping good trails, good sites that they've visited.

And I really count on those women who are repeats sharing some tales of, "Oh, you should go to Boysen.

You would not believe how fun Boysen was."

And then these women are saying, "Okay, will you host Boysen again next year?"

A lot of outdoors talk.

- Do you find that the participants keep in touch with you or with each other in between times?

- Yes, both.

We just last weekend had a woman who lives in Laramie, and she was coming through the Lander area, and she called up these three ladies we called the Golden Girls, and they met at Lander Bar and had some beers, and I had a program the next morning, and they were out too late for me, but they were getting together, they invited me.

We all keep in touch.

It's a really fun community.

- I get the feeling you're loving this job, but it's a busy job, you do a lot.

What are some other things you've done, say, this summer, besides get ready for Women Who Hike?

- So just this summer, we've hosted a series of camp outs with Women Who Hike but also with Latino Outdoors.

We work with our great friend, Cassie, and host the events together to actively invite underrepresented groups into parks.

So we had a whole Spanglish weekend just two weeks ago at Sinks Canyon where they rock climbed, and we had great time cooking out, sitting around the fire.

Cassie attended my trainers course, so she taught Leave No Trace in Spanish to participants, which is really cool to see the fruition of that work.

I also have been working on a $40,000 pollinator grant, statewide.

- Pollinator?

- Positively impacting pollinators through demonstration gardens and through visitor education.

So we have sites at Bear River, Edness Kimball Wilkins, at Keyhole, at Curt Gowdy, and at Medicine Lodge.

And then we also have a victory garden at Camp Douglas.

- So, people thinking about the large, mostly square shape of Wyoming, you are going border to border just for this program alone.

- Yes, we have five districts, and so my goal was to have one demonstration site per district.

We have a poster campaign as part of it, a beautiful poster made by a local Lander artist, and we've been making seed bombs.

We've been doing all kinds of really cool pollinator programming.

- The impression I'm getting, there's just lots of areas of interest and types of work that come into this altogether.

You talked about artists, you've talked about cooks, you've talked about pollinators, you've talked about.

- I just got an inspiring message from the printer in Lander who told me to have a great weekend.

I've spent so much time at the printer printing Junior Ranger books and pollinator posters.

I work with a lot of different types of people.

- I'm sure you do.

That's good for the State Parks Division.

And just to show people what goes on there, again, the variety of fun things to do compares favorably to standing in a long line somewhere outta state to do something for two minutes.

- We had a really cool program this week that I've been working on for about a year and a half with a deaf child.

Her mom contacted us last year, saw some of my programming and wanted to know how to be a part.

So we've been working for a year and a half.

We had four programs this week in the Bighorn District with an American sign language interpreter.

For the one child.

And that's how we function in Wyoming State Parks.

Our mission is to improve communities and enrich lives.

- You get freedom, I imagine, to do.

You can do what you want in your field.

- Yes.

I had this inquiry from a person that needed American sign language interpreter, and I sent an email to the deputy directors and the director telling them, this is what we have to do, this is what ADA says, you guys have to do this.

And my deputy director replied and he said, "I don't care what we have to do.

This is what we should be doing."

And that totally changed my mindset of working for the government.

And I tell people that, and I think about that line all the time, because that's how I felt with every program.

It's not me having to try and validate what I'm doing.

They say, "Yep, great idea.

"Let me know how I can help.

Let me know how I can fund it."

- Angelina, thanks for being with us on "Wyoming Chronicle."

I know it's gonna be a fun weekend and a fun year ahead for Women Who Hike.

- Thanks, Steve.

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