Holigay Gift Guide: For Queer Hiking Babes of All Shapes and Sizes

The hardest part about getting into hiking, for me, was figuring out what the heck I was supposed to wear and what I should bring with me. It can feel intimidating to go on even a short hike when you’re not familiar with the activity, and wading through online advice to decide what is a necessity can be super overwhelming. And for me, as a fat girl, there was the added layer of feeling stressed that most athletic clothes didn’t fit my body and feeling vulnerable to ask for help and guidance because I was worried I would be judged or ridiculed for my size and beginner capabilities.

That’s a lot to unpack when you’re just trying to take a short stroll on a nice trail!

From the very beginning of my hiking journey (which has included 450 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail, 500 miles on the Camino de Santiago, and many many many day hikes in between!) REI Co-op was a place I knew I could go and get attention and care that felt affirming. Recently, REI has committed to stocking extended sizes in so many of their clothing products, which is a huge deal to me and other fat babes and has made the co-op my go-to place to shop for plus size hiking clothes that feel good on my fat bod. These items are currently available online at rei.com/plus, and in 2020 REI will have women’s sizes 16 – 3X available in 32 locations, and growing. It’s honestly dreamy to walk into an REI store looking for hiking gear and know that I won’t have to leave in tears because nothing fits me, and I’m so excited for REI to stock these items in even more stores in the upcoming year. In the meantime, their online store is extremely user-friendly and the return and exchange process is painless, making it easy to experiment with buying plus size clothes online.

This holigay season, with the help of REI, I’ve put together a gift guide for hiking as a fat girl! This guide will work if you’re not plus-size too, as REI stocks clothing in a huge diverse array of sizes, but it feels particularly exciting to include clothes that extend to 3X. I’ve also included hiking accessories and an abbreviated list of the 10 essentials. Your particular hiking needs may differ than mine – for example if you’re in Southern California you’ll probably be wearing a t-shirt and maybe skipping the gloves – and you may find your personal essential items aren’t the exact same as this list, but this is the guide I wish someone had pressed into my hands when I was first starting to explore cold weather hiking many moons ago.

And I will say this – I have never ever walked into an REI or browsed their online shop and found that I had trouble finding things to buy…so if you’re an outdoorsy babe or looking to become an outdoorsy babe and nothing on this list speaks to you (nothing?? Really?!?!) I would encourage you to pop into your local REI or check out their online store…I promise I won’t tell that all the items in your shopping bag are really for you, not the friends / lovers / family members on your holigay shopping list!

See the full gift guide on Autostraddle's website here.