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Blue ridge outdoors

Hard FOUGHT: Backpacking Buff Empoweres Women to Hike

February 22, 2018

By Emily Shea

Jayne Fought, a soft-spoken, tough-natured and empowered woman, is a born adventurer. She’s paddled in the swamps of the Everglades, explored remote rivers of the Northwest Territories and the Yukon, navigated all 220 miles of the French Broad River and led backpacking and hiking trips all across the United States.

But her affinity for nature spawned long before she even set foot on a trail. Fought grew up on her family’s dairy farm in Northern Indiana. She was the youngest of three and had two older brothers, Marty and Dan, that she was always trying to keep up with. Together they spent a lot of time exploring in the woods near her house.

“I was a total tomboy and was outdoors all the time, said Fought. “I grew up with a love for nature.”

After graduating high school, Fought immediately got married and had two children, Samantha and Ben. It wasn’t until many years later that she began pursuing her college degree at Goshen College, a small liberal arts university in Goshen, Indiana.

“I was a first generation college student and my daughter started kindergarten the same day I started college,” said Fought. “We have a first day of school picture with all of us together.”

In 1999, she graduated from Goshen College with a degree in sociology and anthropology and a certificate to teach United States history. Promptly after graduation she began teaching middle schoolers while pursuing her master’s degree.

“I was teaching full time, raising two kids and getting my master’s,” said Fought. “It was a lot.”

In 2003 she graduated from Indiana University with her master’s degree in secondary education. She continued to teach U.S. history to middle schoolers for 15 years until she retired in June 2014.

“You know, I tried a couple times to transfer to the high school and I always got passed over for the male history teacher that coached football,” said Fought. “I think there was a buildup of some of that frustration, but teaching is a high-stress job. There’s so much demand other than working with kids and teaching kids; so much that takes away from time in the classroom.”

Fought also explained that in 2009 her mom passed away from cancer. Because she was now the matriarch of the family, Fought said that this prompted her to take a critical look at who she was, where she was in life and where she wanted to be. Just a year before she retired from teaching, she divorced her husband and began looking for a new place to live.

“I really wanted to combine my love for outdoors and education,” said Fought. “And that’s how I found Brevard, NC.”

Fought moved to Brevard immediately after her retirement in June 2014 and began instructing at the Rockbrook Camp for Girls in 2015. At the camp, Fought teaches young girls how to backpack and zipline, and even takes them on the occasional overnight trip.

But what Fought really enjoys doing is teaching her women’s backpacking class. Before moving to Brevard, she connected with Clyde Carter, a knot tying extraordinaire and associate professor of Wilderness Leadership and Experiential Education at Brevard College. Fought conversed with Carter about his wilderness and backpacking courses at the college through email, considering the possibility of teaching her own women’s backpacking class when she moved to Brevard.

“I asked him what certifications I’d need and all that,” said Fought. “I think he responded to my first email, but wasn’t able to respond to the second because he was gone on an expedition.”

The two eventually reconnected almost year after Fought moved to Brevard while volunteering at a race for the nonprofit Mountain Roots. Still determined to start teaching a women’s backpacking class, Fought spoke to Carter again about his work at Brevard College. Long story short, Fought is now getting ready to teach her third women’s backpacking class and the two adventurous spirits are happily married.

Fought’s class is available for women of all ages and fitness levels. During the class, women learn how to plan a backpacking trip, learn what equipment they’ll need, how to select a base camp, nutrition and campsite cooking, map reading and outdoor ethics.

In an age where we are constantly bombarded by the media, Fought said that she hopes to empower women and help them connect with nature by teaching them the skills they need to feel confident outdoors.

“I think women are given so many mixed messages and there is so much expected of them from different angles,” said Fought. “It’s just impossible to be everything.”

Laura Rhodes, a 36-year old woman and general manager of Brevard-based adventure store D.D. Bullwinkel’s attended one of Fought’s backpacking classes and said she now feels confident enough to hike by herself at least once a week.

“Before I had done a lot of hiking with family and friends, but this class really pushed me to the next level and allowed me to become 100 percent confident in hiking by myself,” Rhodes said.

Fought’s backpacking class is set up over a four week period with class residing one night each week at the French Broad Community Center in Brevard, NC. At the end of the course, the women have the option to take a weekend trip with Fought to put their knowledge to the test and have a little fun, of course.

“We don’t need to wait on the guys to take us,” said Fought with a chuckle.

To learn more information about Fought’s women’s backpacking class, check out Fought’s site here.Feb

Transylvania Times

Ladies – Gear Up For Women's Backpacking Course

August 20, 2018

By Park Baker

These ladies were all smiles after applying what they learned in the classroom to the field.

This September, local women interested in learning more about the great outdoors – from an accomplished outdoors-woman – can sign up with Jayne Fought for her women's backpacking class in September.

The course is an introductory class for all ages for women who want to build confidence in trip planning, equipment fit and selection, the art of camp craft, nutrition and cooking, map reading and pretty much anything any lady would need to know to get out on their own.

Her first course was in 2015, and the class has helped a number of women boost their self-reliance over a four week program. The class meets once a week for four weeks and ends in an overnight trip on local public lands. Where exactly depends on the registered group and of course bear problems, which may narrow her choice. Fought said not to worry about bears though, when camp is set up right, they shouldn't bother anyone.

Fought just returned from a summer long trip with her husband, Clyde Carter, who teaches Wilderness Education at Brevard College. The two spent time in Denali National Park in Alaska pack rafting, Kayaking, backpacking, orienteering, Canoeing, ice climbing and honing the rest of her skills.

She wants to take her knowledge of knots, equipment like camp stove selection and the "triangle method," which she describes as the basics for camp layout, and apply it to real world situations for these women. Campers should always cook, sleep and store their food in separate areas, according to Fought. One skill set she is particularly excited about teaching is Leave No Trace (LNT) ethics.

She is a certified LNT trainer, and wants more people to understand the impact that humans are having on everything from trail tread to wildlife. Fought is also certified in Wilderness First Reponse, a combination of CPR, automated external defibrillator use and Epinephrine application. She is also certified in swiftwater rescue, has an instructor certificate in whitewater Canoeing and has a North Carolina teaching certification.

More in depth knowledge like backpack selection and weight adjustment for carrying these heavy loads is something she is extremely familiar with – she has been backpacking since she was a teenager – having notched a huge solo trip through the Grant Teton National Park in the 1970s.

"My first backpacking trip was in the Grand Tetons, I was a full-time teacher in a public school system so I had time off the in the summer," she said. "I've been to the Pacific northwest, backpacked in the Smokie's, Michigan, Wisconsin and the Ozarks in Arkansas. But it wasn't until I took early retirement from teaching I started looking for ways to combine my love of teaching and outdoor education."

Her course has women of all ages, her last program ranged from age 21 to 68.

She said there wasn't a lot of opportunity in the community for a course designed for women like this, so she got to work.

Fought and husband Clyde Carter spent the summer in Denali National Park kayaking, ice climbing, mountaineering and pack rafting.

"Our society is such a fast paced one, we are so preoccupied with doing – we're so busy and overcommitted and tied to electronics and isolated to everything," she said. "We come from air conditioned cars to air conditioned buildings to our homes. There's something special about getting out in the outdoors that forces you to slow down, to feel the wind, the heat, the rain and the humidity. We need to be connected to nature, and our bodies are physically healthier and our minds and souls are too."

Fought said that our culture sends a lot of messages that nature and the wilderness are scary, particularly for women, but there are easy ways to be smart and manage a trip in the outdoors.

Being aware and having a basic skillset can go far, she said.

"I like being alone in the forest, to me it helps with being connected, you don't find yourself through conversation, you're really in tune with what's happening right in that moment," she said.

For more information about Fought and her women's backpacking courses, visit islandfordadventures.com