If you asked me a year ago if I would be the ambassador for the Los Angeles chapter of the international hiking group, Hiker Babes, whose mission is to unite women who share a passion for the outdoors into a community, I would have laughed.

We ended up taking the Ice House trail to the 8,859-foot summit and hiked nearly 12 miles there and back.

I was able to understand the bride better as I got to know the other incredibly smart and caring young women.

We’re clearly out there. The mountains are also a melting pot of a variety of different people hiking native lands, and yet we are only now barely seeing these faces in popular media.

I wrote a poem with the LA River in mind, but I also drew parallels between the river and the highways that weave in and around Los Angeles.

I still had my eyes on other peaks but being able to freely trek to the top of Baden-Powell with friends that day was satisfying.