Cierra LeVan started the Facebook group 'Women Hiking Western Colorado' about a year ago. The group includes women all the way from Aspen to Durango and is all about connecting women who love hiking.

Cierra has lived in Grand Junction her whole life and has hiked all over Western Colorado. She told us she was a part of some other hiking groups on Facebook and noticed a lot of women in Western Colorado posting, but since the groups are so Front Range dominated it made it difficult to connect with Western Slope women.

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Cierra decided to make a Facebook group dedicated to women hiking on the Western Slope. She encourages any woman to join the group and say every woman is welcome to as long as you like hiking and live on the Western Slope.

She says she used to be overweight and hiking was what she did to get in shape and gives her great joy. Cierra says that hiking was always a solace for her no matter what size she was. She told us that there is a trail and wilderness for everybody and she hopes that the group helps women find their way out into nature.

She says the reason why she made a women-only hiking group on Facebook, was because there was already a hiking group for all genders in Western Colorado, so she saw a need to make a women-only group.

Cierra told us that women don't feel comfortable talking about certain topics around different genders. (Things like their bodies, their pace, hormones, and other things that affect the way they hike, etc.) She says the group is an asset for women to meet other women without feeling uncomfortable.

Cierra's Facebook group, 'Women Hiking Western Colorado', is a comfortable place where women can be who they are without feeling any pressure. She says it's a community where everyone is accepted.

She told me that all of the admins on the page, including herself, have put together some group hikes on the Palisade Rim Trail, in Dominguez-Escalante Canyon and in other places around Western Colorado. The Facebook group Admins get together to form events and members are also welcome to create events too.

Cierra encourages everyone to be as active as they can in the 'Women Hiking Western Colorado' Facebook group and encourages people to reach out to each other, she says involvement is what makes the Facebook group happen.

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