About Us FAQ

We bring women together in outdoor settings to enjoy nature, outdoor activities, and the camaraderie of other women. Leave your problems at home for a few hours (or even a few days) and return healthier, happier, and with a renewed ability to take on everyday life.

GENERAL GROUP INFORMATION

-       What is Outdoor Connection? Outdoor Connection is a group of active women who enjoy getting together for hiking, walking, paddling, biking, camping, backpacking, and other outdoor activities. Originally founded in 2007 as a group for walkers, we have morphed over the years to include a variety of outdoor activities. If you enjoy spending time outside, getting in a good workout, and connecting with others, Outdoor Connection is the group for you.

-       Who is this group for? Our target membership base is women who enjoy being active in the outdoors. We welcome all adult women (21 or above) who are physically capable of participating in our events. While most of our events are fitness-focused, none of them are extreme, and we do occasionally host beginner friendly events. As long as you're able to cover the distance and pace for a particular event, you're welcome to join us! We're an inclusive group comprised of women from all walks of life - age, outdoor experience, race, religion, sexual orientation, body size, etc. Our goal is for our events to be a safe and welcoming place for everyone.

-       Where do you host events? We host events throughout the entire Dallas / Fort Worth metro area, extending east towards Paris, and occasionally explore the rest of TX and surrounding states on camping trips. Some of our more frequent locations include: Cedar Hill State Park, Cedar Ridge Preserve, Cleburne State Park, Dinosaur Valley State Park, Eagle Mountain Park, Eisenhower State Park, Fort Worth Nature Center, Getzendaner Park, Ray Roberts State Park, River Legacy Park, The Colony Shoreline Trail, and White Rock Lake.

-       What types of events do you host? Our primary focus is hiking, but we are open to most activities that involve exercise and socializing outdoors. This includes hiking, walking, paddling, biking, camping, backpacking, and other outdoor activities. We are always growing and looking forward to new activities! Members chose which events they want to attend, and you can view our calendar to get an idea for what sort of events are coming up soon. New events are added on a regular basis. (The full details of the events are only visible to registered members.)

JOINING / MEETUP

-       How do I join? It's easy! (1) Create an account on Meetup.com (click 'Join Meetup'). Make sure to pick a profile picture that meets the requirements in our group guidelines. (2) Once you've successfully joined Meetup (or logged in to an existing Meetup account), go to the Outdoor Connection homepage, click 'Request to join', and answer a few brief membership questions. Membership requests do require organizer review, but we're normally pretty quick about it. :) There is also a Meetup app for Android/Apple if you'd rather access Meetup on your phone.

-       How do I sign up for an event? Check out our event calendar and click on any event to access details. Click 'Attend' on events you plan to join. (Please make sure you're familiar with our attendance policy and update this if you're no longer able to join us.)

-       Does it cost anything to be a member? We do not charge any sort of membership dues. We do occasionally request small, voluntary donations to help cover the expense of running the group. Each member is responsible for their own costs related to any Meetup event. This includes meals, travel, park entry fees, launch fees, campsite reservations, etc. If you regularly attend our events at state parks, a Texas State Parks pass can be a great way to save money.

-       How can I get help with Meetup questions/issues? Our group organizers and event hosts aren't able to provide Meetup technical support. Meetup does sometimes have bugs, so if you're seeing something odd, it's probably not just you! You can access Meetup help resources here. If something is not working on your web browser, consider trying the phone app, and vice versa. 

EVENTS / GROUP GUIDELINES

-       Can I bring my dog(s)? No, we do not allow dogs at Outdoor Connection events. See below for more details.

-       Can I bring my kid(s)? No, we do not allow children at Outdoor Connection events. See below for more details.

-       Why can't I bring my dog(s)/kid(s)? Our group is intended to get women together to enjoy each other’s company and pursue their own physical fitness and outdoor interests. Our events are a time to focus on yourself, make long term friendships, build fitness, and leave your usual responsibilities behind. When you're hiking with a dog/child, the hike is their hike - their pace, need for snack/water/potty breaks, and wellbeing all have to come first. Hiking with dogs and kids is very rewarding (and many of our event hosts hike with dogs/kids outside of the group), it's just a very different type of hike than what our group focuses on.

-       Can I bring a friend? Our events are for members only. If you'd like to bring friends to an event, they must first join the group, and then sign up for the event themselves. This is necessary in order to ensure all participants have agreed to the group guidelines, have accepted our disclaimer/waiver, and have access to full details about the event.

-       What do I need to bring? Please see our day hike supply list and camping/backpacking pages for more information on what to bring.

-       What does "fitness pace" mean? Please see our pace guide for more information on our various paces.

-      It's looking like bad weather. Will an event be cancelled? Our event hosts carefully monitor conditions leading up to an event and will use the comments section to keep attendees up to date. If we're cancelling an event, it will always be officially cancelled on Meetup. Please make sure to check one last time before heading out to an event. We want to get outdoors if at all possible, just like you do, so weather cancellation decisions may not be made until late the night before or early the morning of the event.

-       Why do you meet so early / do you ever host events later in the day? Most of our events start early to avoid heat, sun exposure, and crowds and to ensure adequate/easy parking. Additionally, our event hosts and many of our members hike with us on a regular basis as a part of their normal lives and fitness routines (vs. as a special event). Hiking early allows us to do that without it taking up the whole day and conflicting with other responsibilities.

-       Why don't you wait for people who are late? We respect our members' time, and part of that is starting on time. The nature of Meetup means that we never know for sure who's a little late vs. very late vs. no showing, and waiting for latecomers encourages people to put less effort into being on time. We know everyone is human, and sometimes we all run late due to unforeseen circumstances, but expecting a whole group of people to wait for you (often very early and in the dark/cold) is not reasonable. Please give yourself extra buffer time to arrive, take time to familiarize yourself with where you're going ahead of time, and be comfortable catching up to us on your own or hiking on your own if you are late.

OTHER

-       Why are hikes cancelled after it rains even if the weather is going to be nice the day of the event? The soil in the DFW area is clay-based, which means walking on muddy trails causes permanent damage and many trails officially close for several days or more after heavy rains. See this article for more details. Our event hosts carefully monitor trail status before an event, and will cancel a hike if the trail is closed or if they deem the trail is not in a condition to responsibly hike it.

-       What is the difference between a hike and a walk? There's some debate about this question in the broader hiking community! For the purposes of categorizing our group events, walks are either on pavement or flat/wide gravel trails (like Shoreline and the Ray Roberts Greenbelt) and can be done in normal walking/running shoes. Hikes are on natural surface trails that are generally single track, have rocks/roots and elevation changes, and likely need footwear with more tread. The event details of each event include brief info about terrain specific to that hike.

-       I'm new to hiking/camping/kayaking. What do I need to know? REI's website has tons of great basics articles for all types of outdoor adventures. You can also check out our day hike and camping/backpacking pages.

-      What is Leave No Trace? In order to preserve our natural spaces, it's critical that we leave as little impact on them as possible. This is especially important as a group. The 7 Principles of Leave No Trace provide an easily understood framework of minimum impact practices for anyone visiting the outdoors. Learn more at LNT.org.

-      What is DORBA? DORBA stands for Dallas Offroad Bike Association and is a offroad cycling group that builds and maintains many of the trails in our area. See dorba.org for more info and to check close/open status of DORBA-maintained trails.

-       What if I've read everything and still have questions? For general questions, please feel free to use Meetup's message/chat feature to contact our group organizers. For questions about a particular event, you can also contact the event host or post a comment in the event's comment section.