HI! 

My name is Ella Wren Running-rabbit and I want to share with you a little about my life and the experiences that I have had that have brought me to want to do this. It is also important to me that you know what my qualifications are and where my exact skillsets lie. I teach about the importance of being prepared for experiences (or for anything), of taking note of your surroundings, and of knowing the limitations of your body. Reading about me, as your outdoor guide helps you to be more prepared for what you're in for by doing the research. It helps us to be at a certain level of comfort with eachother before even meeting. Thank you for investing your time into learning about me and my skillset.

I was born and raised in Ward, Colorado and grew up living off the grid. Our family cabin was run on solar power and had wood heat. Since we lived so far out in the woods, in the wintertime the road to our house wasn't maintained by the county and we seldom had it plowed. We had to sled in our groceries, 5 gallon water jugs, laundry, and anything else that needed to be transported to and from the house and the car. It was about a 1/4 mile walk, sometimes in the most brutal of the winter elements and/or in the pitch black. Then coming home to a freezing house. The chores were not chores, it was just living. Living at 9,250 feet in elevation in one of the most windy locations in North America, in a shack made of lodge pole pines and an outhouse. 

This upbringing allowed me to make the forest my playground. I would walk and walk and walk. Following game trails, old mining or logging roads, little canyons and draws in the valley. I found the most beautiful places and they brought me comfort and joy. I learned to read the landscape and the woods. I learned to keep track of the different animals and I took note of their habits. I became wild like the nature around me. 

When I got into high school, my mom signed me up for a backpacking trip hosed by Womens Wilderness. It was 13 days and had rock climbing. I had such a blast and was hooked! I had so much fun that I participated in group back packing trips every year at every chance I coud get until I graduated highschool. Teens Inc. in Nederland was the main platform I used to go on thes kinds of adventures. They provided springbreak trips as well as summer trips. I did them all! These programs usually involved backpacking with a heavy influence on rock climbing, but some had rafting. I graduated from a high school that had an beginning of the year orientation backpacking trp that lasted 10-13 days that happened every year, and every student had to go.

Now I have over 4,000 hours backacking throughout Colorado. The Indian Peaks, Independance Pass, San Juans, Holy Cross Wilderness, Sangre de Cristo's, The Presidential Range, and Flat Tops Wilderness are just to name a few. Backpacking is a true love of mine and I am near home with just my backpack. 

Another notable asset about myself  is that I have been reenacting the fur trade era, by participating in historical reenactment events called Rendezvous. I have been participating annually for the past 10 years consecutively and teach the kids primitive skills and games. This era of history shines in outdoor wilderness survival tactics as the europeans learned from the land they were taking claim to, as well as from the Natives. I am an enrolled Native Citien of the Creek Nation and it is important to me to have a close tie with the land I walk on and with the old ways of living simbioltically with this land and with each other. 

It is my pleasure to show you a world of discovery deep in the backcountry. Test your limitations, grow your intuition and mental strength, and unlock the badass residing within you that could survive anything. Harness the knowledge that you need to be a surviver. 

Mental strength a clarity is essential to our survival and wellness practices can help guide us there. It is also my calling to hold healing space for people with sound healing, reiki and through ceremony. I have obtained my second level reiki, and I have been practicing and participating in Native ceremony for my whole life. Being connected has saved my life, and we need experiences that get us out of our comfort zones in order to access that flow of intuition. 

My flow of intuition told me to drop out of college, persuing Adventure Edu., and go back to Colorado to show everyone what I already knew. I am 28 years old, working on getting my W.E.M.T. instead of my bach., because as important as it is to know about how to tie a truckers hitch and bow-line, its also really important to know how to save someone from hypothermia because they went skinny dipping in the glacier filled lake by the camp site. It is my responsibility to keep my clients, friends, and myself safe while in the back country, which is way more important that knowing which tree and mountain is what. 

I do have basic medical experience, and have responded to a variety of medical calls throughout my trekking experience. Therefore I am not licensed to do overnight backacking, or to take groups of more than 6 kiddos out without another chapperone for more than one day. Please do not hessitate to reach out of you are interested in overnight backpacking I have several connections to WEMT's that would join the trip! 

Cheers, my friend! 

Ella Wren Running-rabbit