Empowering Everyday Families to Explore the Great Outdoors

She Who Wanders

Mar 30

A Convo with Jess from @jesscsproat

Meet Jess. This adventure-driven, outdoor loving mom is originally from Alberta, and today lives with her husband and son in Vancouver BC, Canada. She’s a speech and language pathologist and creator of the app, TrailCollectiv, the first hiking trail guide created by parents specifically for families. She is passionate about helping all people have the resources they need to reap the benefits of spending time exploring the outdoors. An advocate for protecting childhood and giving children the opportunity to learn through free-play outside, she shares the highs and lows of parenting in the most authentic way to support + encourage all moms in every phase. She is a go-to inspiration for creating your own reality, outdoor motherhood, and adventuring around Canada and beyond!

Tell us a little about you and your family like where you’re from, where you live now, how old are your kids and anything interesting or unique you’d like people to know.

I grew up in Alberta close to the Canadian Rockies, and have always loved being outside. I spent my childhood camping with my family, playing sports, and generally playing outside.

I live in Vancouver BC, Canada with my husband and 5 year old son. We love living here because, despite the ridiculous cost of living, we have access to the beach, rainforest, and mountains right from our doorstep. We love exploring the outdoors and I travel with my son throughout Canada regularly. We haven’t crossed a border in 5 years but are excited to have our first trip out of Canada as a family coming up soon!

Living in Canada, it has to be hard at times to get outside and spend time in nature because of the cold. Seasonal Affective Disorder is a real thing! As someone who highly values spending time outdoors, how do you handle this issue? Any tips for those of us in cold climates several months of the year?

I grew up with the snow and cold, and YES it can be cold. Living in Vancouver the temperatures are warmer, but it’s rainy and the skies are often grey during the winter months. I personally think I suffer from SAD, the lack of daylight really gets to me. I set intentions for myself (and my son-he knows my “guidelines” for the day) and that is that we go outside every day, even if it’s just a walk around the block (and sometimes that is all that it is). This winter I worked to get myself out every day, and aimed for 10000 steps, because I know that I feel better with movement and fresh air. I have also invested in quality outdoor gear for myself -goodbye fashion, hello full goretex suit (that I expect will last for the rest of my life) water resistant in the PNW does not cut it.

We also invested in gear for my son, and always buy a couple sizes big so it lasts. He wore the same snow and rain gear from 18 months to 4 years old. I know that not everyone has this as an option as cost can be prohibitive.

It has helped me to get out in the colder months to have a child-he doesn’t care what the weather is like, so out we go! I also think just giving myself (ourselves) some grace -it doesn't have to be hardcore or big, it can be just going outside for a breath of air. This past Christmas it was 40 below zero in Alberta and I rounded up my nieces and nephews and my son, and said we are just going to walk to the end of the block. We’ll bundle up and we won’t be out long, and if anyone is really in pain we’ll turn around. We did it and we all felt better.

The Great Wanderlust is all about women stepping outside of the box and diving deeper in both travel and in life! The mission is to inspire moms + families to feel fully alive through adventure and exploration! What is your great wanderlust? What most makes you come to life?? Take us back to a moment when you felt that.

I love this! I love to travel, and being outside is hard to put in words for me. I generally just feel better. I absolutely love exploring new places, and learning about the history of those places. Gah, so many moments-it's hard to choose just one. I was able to go on a big road trip last year through Northern British Columbia with my parents and my son making stops along the way, we saw waterfalls, lava beds, fossils, trails, and ventured on a sea plane to the Khutzeymateen Inlet, where we had the experience of floating through the inlet through protected Grizzly Bear Territory. It was absolutely incredible to see these creatures, in the wild. To have the experience with my son and my parents was something so very special. My son ended up saying, “I’m tired of looking at Grizzlies” and fell asleep on the boat. I carried him to the floating lodge, where he laid on the floor still sleeping, because I needed to take a pee, then onto the sea plane, and into the car, back to our beds until the next morning.

I love your perspective on letting kids be kids! Society in general puts so many expectations on kids from a young age that can tend to steal parts of childhood. Are there ways in which you’ve felt your son’s childhood has been threatened or could be in the future? How do you actively work to protect it?

Oh my goodness, this is something I think about literally every single day. I fully believe that the expectations society puts on kids are things we would not expect of adults. Always “behave” and do what other people tell you to, be clean, be quiet, delight in learning to walk, but then constantly tell them to not run, rushing around to activities, spend all day in childcare or school then head to the next activity. If I am being honest, I am feeling anxious about entering into school-my son will be heading to kindergarten in the fall, and the transition from play based to adult directed and all the rules and expectations around that, I feel stressed. I do my best to advocate and stand up for my son, the way I parent, it's very intentional. I read a lot, I listen to a lot of podcasts. I’m a Speech Language Pathologist as well, and have had the opportunity to learn and observe a lot regarding child development, emotionally and neurologically. I dream of homeschooling my child, and having the outdoors playing a big role in his learning life, and at the same time I have a hard time imagining being fully responsible for his education, as I want to work too. I guess this is a work in progress. I would love to hear others’ perspectives on this, because this is something I am always conflicted about.

In our lives, we are conscious about what we do for activities, we try to do activities that we can do as a family, and we place zero pressure on our child to do anything he doesn’t want to do. We have a lot of free play time, no consistently scheduled activities, and I always remind myself that he is very much allowed to have feelings of frustration, anger, sadness, and he is allowed to say no things he doesn’t want to do. Of course there are some things that are not optional, but he is still free to express his feelings around them. Obviously all of these things live rent free in my head ALL THE TIME, as I have so much to say about this.

I guess you could say the bottom line is making time and space for play, and always remembering that children are humans and have all the emotions we have as adults, while their brains aren't fully developed to manage the feelings the same way as adults.

What is your definition of a life well-lived? What are some habits or regular practices that help you live this way?

I can honestly say relationships and connections are at the heart of a life well lived for me. I don’t care about prestige or having fancy things. Things that I work consciously at to practice this in life are to prioritize experiences over things in our home and in our family. Maybe seemingly contradictory also-I have worked hard to set boundaries around how our family spends our time, with the emphasis on choosing things that solidify relationships and allow for connection in our family, with my son. I book flights to connect with friends and family when there are deals and take advantage of phases where we have time available.

I don’t think I will ever regret spending money on experiences and connection with those who matter. At the end of the day, I choose connecting with the people I love over everything else. I acknowledge my privilege as a white, cis-gender middle class woman living in Canada in contributing to my ability to make decisions that aren’t based only on necessity.

I LOVE your mission to help families of all kinds feel empowered to get outdoors. Tell us more about your passion behind that and how you’ve been able to work toward this vision. Also, what can we all do in big or small ways to help further this cause?

Again, I know I have enormous privilege, and I grew up with that privilege as well. My family was far from rich, but we were able to be outside, to play, to camp, and to be kids. I know the benefits of nature from a research perspective, and first hand as a parent and a person who truly feels better outside. At times, I think social media presents an image where, in order to be outdoorsy, you have to be of a certain age bracket, or do a certain intensity level of activity, or do things that are “extraordinary”. While I think the extraordinary experiences are certainly inspiring and result in many beautiful photos, they’re also not attainable for most people. I have personally felt the negative impacts of comparison to others (whether it be the types of adventuring I’m doing, how other moms handle being a mom, and just wondering how other people seem to be able to do it all, and do it well), and I don’t want to continue to feel that way myself, and I don’t want others to feel that way either. I want moms, parents, women, people, to know that living a life where you go to work every day, or stay home, and go for a walk around the block, is a life of incredible value, and to live the life that works best for you. And also to recognize that different phases mean different things for different people. I know that being outside, being together with people you love and care about, connecting, is so valuable, and I think the outdoors in all of it forms, nature, if you will, can be a huge part of spending less time disconnected (on screens, at work, chasing whatever definition of success that is out there) and more time really connected with others. I think that is good for all of us, kids, adults, parents, friends…

I’m doing my best to share real life through media platforms, and will continue to work to show real life, and make a space for regular people doing regular things (it’s not so regular after all - it’s beautiful!) I am the co-founder of an app called TrailCollectiv-our goal is to provide information about all kinds of trails, pathways, walks, hikes so that every person and family can choose outdoor experiences that meet their needs (your easy might be really challenging for some dependent on lots of variables) by providing the information you need to make the decisions yourself.

We are always looking for trail contributors if anyone is interested in doing that, and just spreading the word about the app. I’d love to see anyone’s everyday (and extraordinary) adventures -tag me on IG and I’ll share. I always love connecting with people, and listening to real stories.

Where are you off to next and what are you most looking forward to about it??

Funny enough, my husband, son, and I are taking our first trip outside of Canada since my son was born. We have traveled a lot throughout BC over the last 5 years, which has been incredible. We are headed to Hawaii where my son was born, which is a whole other story. I ended up having a medically complicated pregnancy, and unexpectedly spent 4 months pregnant in hospital there. So, I am looking forward to sunshine and the beauty of Hawaii, and being there having experiences with my son and husband together as a family. I am also feeling a bit anxious about the trip, as it’s connected to so many emotions, and trauma too. Kind of a beautiful human thing that we can experience multiple emotions at the same time about one experience, isn’t it?

Is there a question you wish I would have asked or anything else you’d like to share with other mamas relating to travel or life?

Mostly, just do what works for you. Trust your own instincts, and know that you are the best parent for your children. If it works for you and you want to, do it, and if it doesn’t don’t. We all have phases in life and parenting, and even the things you value in some phases can’t be the priority. Parents and moms are freaking magical creatures, and I hope every single one of you knows it! Continuously remind yourself that the internet is not real life, and comparing yourself to others will only steal the magic away.