The phrase “it takes a village” may be a cliché, but if you ask Julie Bacon, it’s 100 percent true. When Bacon, a lifelong outdoor adventurer, got pregnant, she felt lost. She wanted to continue hiking and mountain biking during her pregnancy, but had so many unanswered questions about gear and safety. Instead of sifting through niche corners of the internet, she decided to create the Mothership Collective, her own virtual village to connect with other moms and moms-to-be.
What started out as a Facebook group has become a thriving in-person and online community of women coming together to help each other enjoy the outdoors in all phases of life.
The Challenges Outdoorsy Moms Face
Women who want to pursue motherhood and their outdoor passions face several obstacles. In addition to the obvious ones like the high price of childcare, for Bacon, there were many intangible ones, too.
“The loneliness epidemic is very real, especially for new moms and stay at home moms … I think that’s one big piece,” Bacon told GearJunkie.
When it comes to doing activities like biking and hiking during pregnancy, information is power, and the Mothership Collective provides plenty of it. In a Facebook group (with over 12,000 members) and WhatsApp group chats, members talk about how they approached their outdoor hobbies in light of their changing bodies.
“It’s so unique to everybody and every person and you get medical advice from different doctors and it’s hard to know what to trust,” Bacon said. “It’s really special to have a lot of anecdotal evidence and stories from community members on how they modified their activities.”
Climbing harnesses specifically designed for pregnant women can be hard to find, so members have shared a single harness with each other to use. When they give birth, they send it along to the next pregnant mom, in a Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants kind of way.
The need for advice also extends to bringing your kids along on outdoor adventures. Moms in the community frequently discuss tips and tricks for bringing babies and toddlers camping, for example. Getting your kid to get a quality night’s sleep can be a challenge at home, let alone in a tent, but these women are up for the task, and aim to support each other.
Pushing Through Pushback
While internet trolls can easily harp on any topic, motherhood and pregnancy is a particularly hazardous minefield online. The Mothership Collective posted a photo of a smiling pregnant woman on a wall in a climbing harness, and it went viral, with the comments full of criticism. Bacon wants her space to be one where it’s safe to ask questions.
“The world has a long way to go in terms of understanding that risk isn’t binary. And that we need to trust women to make the right decisions for their bodies,” she said.
The organization has 61,000 followers on Facebook and 66,000 on Instagram, and to Bacon, that says everything.
“It’s to me just constant social proof that the Mothership messaging needs to be out in the world, and that moms need to know that there is life beyond the picture of motherhood that society often feeds us.”
What Else Does the Collective Do?
In addition to its active online community, Mothership Collective also aims to bring moms together in real life. In its Rally The Village campaign, people sign up to host free outdoor events like hikes, skateboarding meet-ups, and group paddles during a specific month. Some events are just for moms, while others invite moms to bring their kids along.
Mothership Collective organizes all the events in a single calendar, and promotes them on social media and group chats to get the word out. In its last campaign in September, it hosted 160 events in states ranging from Maine to Missouri to Mississippi, and even abroad in countries like Australia and Japan. Bacon estimates that around 4,000 women participated.
“I was actually going through the footage from the September rally today, and the uniqueness and specialness of the events is so apparent,” she said. “There’s women in glitter at beaches and at trailheads, all over the place connecting in just a very mothership-esque way.”
She’s currently working on setting up the event calendar for 2027, and Rally the Village will be back in a big way. Bacon is also planning two big group campouts in Colorado and North Carolina to enable even more in-person community building.
Bacon hopes that the Mothership Collective will continue to empower moms to live whatever lives they want. “There’s more beyond you being just mom. You’re a whole person still, and I think that’s the piece that women really, relate to is the [idea of] ‘I still want chase my dreams and show my passions to my kids,’ and we’re all about that,” she said.
