Jen Giddens

-Wildland Guide and Blog Contributor-

Jen was born and raised near Birmingham, Alabama and earned a Bachelor of Science degree with honors in Kinesiology from Auburn University.  Her love of hiking and camping started at 17 with a spontaneous 65-mile, 7-day hike in the mountains near Cimarron, NM.  Before college she interned for an outfitter where her outdoor passions grew deeper as she discovered rappelling and climbing.  Following her freshman year of college, she spent the summer in Africa (which included living on an island and summiting Mt. Kilimanjaro).  Most of her college breaks were spent hiking and backpacking.  Immediately after college, she thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail (2200 miles) in 138 days.  Although her work as a DCA-based flight attendant for American Airlines soon carried her to many countries and opportunities for other experiences, her desire to be outdoors prevailed. She continued to add more miles to her long-distance backpacking list by completing the Colorado Trail and a thousand miles of the Continental Divide Trail. Jen lived in Montana for a couple of years where she worked at REI and a gym as a certified personal trainer. Most recently she worked as a wilderness therapy guide in Vermont.  In addition to hiking and backpacking, she also dabbles in: skiing, mountaineering, scuba-diving, and surfing. You can find Jen in her travel trailer headed for her next adventure.