Moms Go Wild: Facebook, Female Empowerment, and the Outdoors

Aided by social media communities and contests, there has been a reemergence in the popularity of mothers engaging with their children in outdoor adventure activities such as hiking. While the effect of participation in outdoor activities on children is well documented, effects on mothers and their social groups is less explored. Through ethnographic fieldwork conducted using methods of participant-observation surveys, and interviews, this paper aims to understand how hiking groups and interaction with these groups on social media platforms such as Facebook shape the identity and self-perceived empowerment of mothers involved with the Little Laramie Hikers.