The Vision behind the Wild Women’s Rendezvous

By Lindsay Persico

Imagine a serene Idaho morning in June. The sun’s rays peer over the Rocky Mountains surrounding Carey, Idaho and spill into the valley illuminating a unique scene. Long shadows extend across the vast land of Silver Peak Ranch. These shadows are all cast from women, outdoors, learning and teaching about the things of the wild. 

These women come from different states, countries, cultures and ethnicities. They are young and old. Some are seasoned outdoors women and some are brand new babies in the outdoor world. One thread connects them all, and that is the thing that makes them different in their circles at home. It's the unique and precious quality of curiosity and adventure they all share, and that unquenchable lust for anything wild and untamed. 

These women walk among us all and they have walked through the visions of Tana Grenda and Tara Bell for some time now. They envisioned this event where women will gather from all over the world in the Idaho hills to learn, bond, grow and teach about all things hunting and the outdoors. They will forge bonds between them that will stand the test of time while gaining the skills and confidence that will fuel many adventures in parts unknown and be spread within the areas these women call home. 

Their children and families will be better for the knowledge they have gained. Tana and Tara proudly present the Wild Women’s Rendezvous to the world and call all women who feel the tug at their wild spirits to come and connect, to learn and grow together with your tribe. They want to provide a place where women can learn about hunting, shooting, archery, survival, trapping, health, wilderness safety, connection and camping all while building their confidence in the outdoors and establishing a network of like-minded women that they can connect with. 

They want each woman to go home with their wild spirit rekindled, more confidence, and better equipped to chase their own adventures. Each day of the Wild Womens Rendezvous event, these women will have the opportunity to choose from a variety of workshops that cater to the areas they personally want to focus on and grow their skill sets. After a day spent in hands on instruction and connection outdoors, the evening will end with a woman speaker who will share her story and help connect the many things the women are learning to real life. This event has the potential to change the trajectory of women in the wild. 

For centuries, men have dominated the outdoor spaces. Many of them have graciously introduced the women in their lives to it and welcomed them into this space but it has taken a long time for women to feel confident enough to call this space their own. This event is created by women who are confident alone in these wild places and want to help plant that seed of ownership into the hearts of the women and daughters who come. An event by strong, confident, outdoor women to forge more strong and confident outdoor women because our daughters need us, the next generation needs us. Passing on these skills and this mindset is becoming more and more rare and isolated. Bringing each wild woman, somewhat alone in her area, across the US, Canada and beyond to one place, connecting them with others just like them and helping them see they are not alone.

This lifestyle is not forgotten and is important for the preservation of it for us all. Women have created waves of change throughout history and this June, a new wave is forming.

Bristol Bay Retreats and Tana Grenda

By Lindsay Persico

Visions like these are not unusual for Tana. She is a woman of vision. As a young girl, she stepped out from her small town in northern Idaho into the vast wilds of Alaska. As a pilot, she was free to traverse the open spaces above the tundra and build her dream life in a state that few call home. It is a wild place, untamed and teeming with opportunity, just like her. She carries this wild spirit so well, balancing it with the grounded and tender heart of a mother and wife. She does more than any one person can generally do as she chases wolves, caribou, moose and six children all while successfully building her business, Bristol Bay Retreats, focused on giving people experiences that will change their lives for the better. 

There is something special in people like Tana. Life will scar your soul. You cannot escape it. But, people like Tana take those scars and use them to create a map. They give this map freely to others simply to try and help chart a course, for those who come behind them, that is a little easier and a little freer from pain. One cannot help but be mesmerized watching Tana. Her infectious smile and laugh, the authentic understanding of pain behind her eyes, her incredible generosity and zest for life are all evident at a glance. 

She is magnetic and people are drawn to her and her lifestyle. She heard this call and opened her world to women. She created a space in Alaska for women to come and to experience her world. The women who have come on these adventures have left forever changed. Your eyes cannot deny the illusion we live under in day-to-day life when you stand in the open vast tundra, wind blowing at your back, strands of hair pawing at your cheeks and your eyes wandering the miles of untouched land before you. 

As you watch the brown bears digging the soft mossy ground into heaps like piles of snow you know that what we generally worry about really doesn’t matter. Tana gives this experience to those who are adventurous enough to make it to her doorstep and when they go back home, they take this new perspective on life with them and you cannot live life the same again. This passion for reaching women and changing their lives is the tie that binds Tana and Tara together. These two are the perfect pair to take their vision of long shadows of women stretched across the land and make it real.

The Thrival Foundation and Tara Bell

By Lindsay Persico

Tara Bell is a force to be reckoned with. Fierce in spirit and strong in will, she comes from a long line of women who don’t accept the place you give them. Instead, she makes her place and holds it with her jaw set and her eyes taunting you to dare and try to take it from her. This fiery spirit was blown to life by a world not designed to create strength, yet Tara’s spirit would accept nothing less. Tara blooms in the wild. Her life-giving smile beams across her rosy cheeks when she is in her element. Whether is it snow flowing fast over her skis, the dew dripping from the hair on the deer she is watching or the perfect hole punched into the bullseye of her target, nothing holds a candle to the beauty that is Tara Bell. 

Born and raised in Idaho, Tara embodies the wildness of Idaho in her spirit, perfectly blending savagery, gentleness, finesse and grit. She passes her wisdom down to her daughter but not just her daughter for Tara has many daughters in the women around her. The women in her world are the daughters of her spirit and she wants nothing more than to see her girls strong, safe, capable and confident. To know Tara is to feel loved. She takes you under her wing like a mother hen and shelters you there until you have gained the skills needed to thrive and then she releases you into the world to go and spread the word. 

She is a gift to those around her and this heart to teach and share skills has led her to create her non-profit, Thrival Foundation. The same spirit that embodies Tara is at the core of her foundation. She empowers women and youth in every way possible. Watching the confidence bloom in the eyes of a young woman as she learns how to defend herself or empties the magazine of her pistol or blows her first ember to flame is the fuel that  lights Tara’s fire. The passion that Tara has is evident when you look into her eyes. You can see the desperation she has for the good in the lives of those she reaches. Her heart is pure and her desire authentic in a way that leaves you wishing for more of that level of connection in your

life. She holds nothing back.