Adventure Travel for Women Since 1978 |
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Our Guides & Trip Staff
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Carole LatimerCarole Latimer founded Call of the Wild in 1978. A descendent of an old pioneer family in the California gold country, Carole grew up backpacking, fishing and camping in the Sierra. A graduate of U.C. Berkeley, Carole has worked as a fire lookout for the U.S. Forest Service, a radio reporter, newspaper photographer, ski instructor, and went to law school; but after being fired from a secretarial job, Carole found her true calling: organizing and leading adventure travel trips for women. In 2002 she was inducted as a charter member into the California Outdoors Hall of Fame. Carole is the author of Wilderness Cuisine, the gourmet's guide to outdoors cooking. She has written articles for numerous periodicals including Backpacker Magazine, Eco-Traveler and Sunset and was featured in the May 2006 edition of Cooking Light. You may have seen Carole on Good Morning America, the Food Network, or the Outdoor Life Channel. As Call of the Wild nears its 30th year, Carole says "Back in 1978, women in the wilderness were pioneers. Today we're the longest-running adventure travel company for women and have a solid reputation for excellence and safety. Our focus has always been to empower women and each trip has been such fun. Thank you for your continued support and I look forward to another year of adventure with wild women!" |
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Janet Holt provides our customer service and is the friendly voice behind the phone. She grew up on a Virginia farm with lots of animals and room to roam. She's lived at Lake Tahoe and the Bay Area and has degrees in recreational travel marketing and multi media. "I try to combine my passion for the arts with my love of animals and nature; time stands still when I'm in the great outdoors with my camera and my dog Sky." |
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Leslie Appling, a guide since 1983, has worked in some of the most remote regions of North and South America and Australia. In 2003 she was inducted into the California Outdoors Hall of Fame for her world-wide work with NOLS and the Leave No Trace program, training land managers from as far afield as Saudi Arabia. Of the many types of trips she has led over the years, working with women in the outdoors is her absolute favorite. Leslie's guiding philosophy is "...After all the freeways and skyscrapers have melted back into the earth, the earth will still be here.....so come on out and enjoy the "real world"!" |
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Amanda Basler has been leading backpacking trips for women and teenage girls for the past 10 years. She loves empowering women and girls to feel confident and comfortable venturing into the wilderness. She has an MA in counseling and works as a therapist at a middle school in San Francisco. She also enjoys painting, sailing, and snowboarding. |
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Tacy Weeks Hahn is a world traveler with over 20 years of experience guiding and teaching wilderness skills. Tacy has been with Call of the Wild since its beginnings—she was instrumental in starting the cross-country ski program in 1979. Besides being a licensed pilot, Tacy has an MA in Exercise Physiology, meditates and practices yoga daily. Tacy lives in Nevada City, California, with her husband and daughter. Together they get away to their cabin in Montana whenever possible. Tacy just completed the challenging 60-mile Haute Route through the high Alps on skis from Chamonix to Zermatt. |
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Lisa Harding hails from the San Francisco Bay Area. A traveler at an early age—celebrating her 1 year birthday in Guatemala—she has been to all of our 50 states, Puerto Rico, The Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Canada, Europe, Turkey, Kenya, Namibia, Japan, Hong Kong, Mongolia, India and Sikkim. After a five year stint in the urban jungle of Manhattan, Lisa left the bright lights, big city and returned to California to embark upon an outdoor career. She has backpacked California's coast, mountains and deserts as well as the canyons of southern Utah and the Brooks Range in Alaska. She has been guiding backpacking trips with Call of the Wild since 2003 and also teaches at the Boulder Outdoor Survival School. |
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Laurel Holding grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has been guiding with us since 2002 and has raised trail dust in California, Utah, and Europe. As an instructor at Boulder Outdoor Survival School in beautiful southern Utah, she takes great joy in learning how to do more with less and sharing this knowledge. She enjoys working for Call of the Wild because she loves to cook and because she appreciates the women-only experience. Perhaps the best part of guiding for Call of the Wild, Laurel says, is “being witness to amazing and diverse women surpassing what they thought were their limitations, or comfort zones—discovering new vistas, outside and inside.” Laurel likes high places, cold lakes, and hearing new jokes. She holds a BA in English from UC Berkeley. |
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Bria Larson brings 6 years of experience as a guide and outdoor educator to Call of the Wild. A graduate of Williams College, Bria's personal and academic interests in education, women's issues, and studying diverse cultures have led her on many journeys both in the United States and around the world. She believes deeply in the transformative power of living in nature, and enjoys helping others discover and explore such power. Her professional experience includes working as an Outward Bound instructor in Brazil, and as the Assistant Program director and Grant Writer at GirlVentures in San Francisco. Currently, Bria teaches yoga and is pursing a Master's Degree in Chinese Medicine. There are few things Bria enjoys better than taking a good, long walk. |
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Bonnie Russell, a giude with call of the Wild for 10 years, has been camping and backpacking all her life. Bonnie led trips for the Boy Scouts for six years, and came on Call of the Wild trips for seven years before becoming a guide. Bonnie says, “Nothing relieves stress like hiking up a mountain or down a canyon. This is what I need to keep me centered.” Bonnie is the mother of two grown sons and has been married to her high school sweetheart for 32 years. Besides guiding wilderness trips, Bonnie is certified in Pilates, is a personal trainer specializing in women's fitness, and loves studying Hawaiian culture, especially the hula. |
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Celine Stokowski grew up in the Bay Area of California and spent her summer holidays camping with her family in the Sierras. She has a degree in Business Administration from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and did a study year abroad in New Zealand. In 1997, she moved back to New Zealand where she received a certificate in Outdoor Education, worked as a glacier guide on the Franz Josef Glacier, was a scout leader, and got married. She has backpacked hundreds of miles in California and New Zealand. |
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Every guide is a certified Wilderness First Responder and trained in Leave No Trace |
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What's New |
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| Phone: 510.849.9292 Toll-free outside California: 888.378.1978 Fax: 510.644.3811 E-mail: trips@callwild.com Mailing address: Call of the Wild, 2519 Cedar St., Berkeley, CA 94708 Home URL: http://www.callwild.com © Copyright 2000 by Call of the Wild |