Unlikely Hikers Plus Size Body Positive Fitness Insta

Get excited, because we just found your new favourite body positive Instagram account. It's called Unlikely Hikers, @unlikelyhikers, and is run by a badass woman named Jenny Bruso.

Bruso is a "self-identified fat, femme, queer, writer and former indoor kid" who credits an "accidental hike" in 2012 for changing her life. She now runs a hiking blog as well as the Instagram page, where she details her adventures as a fat woman in the great outdoors — but also highlights other "unlikely hikers" who don't fit into our assumptions of what an outdoorsy person looks like.

She's highlighting the voices of other plus-size people, people of colour, queer and transgender people, and differently-abled people.

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"I have always loved physical exercise. It wasn't until my late twenties that I gained the confidence to hike and work out in classes. I'm mainly an urban hiker. The city I live in has some of the wildest and most natural urban hiking trails. I started a BoPo (body positive) group a few weeks ago, @fatactiverva. We hike and move together. My goal is to help anyone who isn't comfortable on the trails, or in an exercise class." -Erin / @fatactiverva . Location: Richmond, Virginia . Tag #unlikelyhikers or #unlikelyhiker to be featured!

A post shared by Unlikely Hikers (@unlikelyhikers) on Jul 5, 2017 at 5:54pm PDT

"I'm a travel lover and blogger from Finland. My electric wheelchair is a part of me, the wheels that provide me with the opportunity to wheel around the beaches and nature paths of the world." -Sanna / @wheelsonthebeach . Location: Atmühlsee, Germany #atmühlsee . Tag #unlikelyhikers or #unlikelyhiker to be featured!

A post shared by Unlikely Hikers (@unlikelyhikers) on May 9, 2017 at 3:55pm PDT

"The first time I went hiking, I was eighteen years old. I chose to participate in a thirty mile thru hike along the Appalachian Trail in Maine for freshman orientation. My first hike. Ever. The girl from Alphabet City, NYC. Concrete jungle. I’ve always been the type of person to make a choice and just run with it without looking back. I still function the same way - making bold choices like moving across the country to live near my sister. But now there are layers of anxiety from losing a child and my husband that I have to peel through every time I do something new. It’s my new normal, for now, and I’m ok with that. This journey has been totally worth it." -Aleka / @alekamayr . Location: Carpenter Peak, Roxborough State Park, Colorado #roxboroughpark . #hiketoheal #4loveandscience . Tag #unlikelyhikers or #unlikelyhiker to be featured!

A post shared by Unlikely Hikers (@unlikelyhikers) on Jun 28, 2017 at 11:04am PDT

"When I first started hiking, I was an unlikely hiker because I had no outdoor experience. I didn't hike or camp growing up. But in the depths of depression, something called me to a trail near my house. I feel now that hiking helped save my life. I continued to be an unlikely hiker because back then I thought I was a cis woman. Now, as a transmasculine nonbinary person, I face new challenges on the trail due to being visibly gender nonconforming. My partner, a trans woman, shares in these challenges. Where will we pee? Are we safe in this rural area? But we hike anyway, because the power and beauty of nature is worth it. We're proud to be trans and be unlikely hikers in love!" -Ray / @ray.writes . Location: Grand Canyon, Arizona #grandcanyon . Tag #unlikelyhikers or #unlikelyhiker to be featured!

A post shared by Unlikely Hikers (@unlikelyhikers) on May 23, 2017 at 9:44am PDT

Bruso sat down for an interview with Portland Monthly recently to discuss the inspiration behind her blog, and what it really means to be an "unlikely hiker."

"My first date with my partner, Brie, was a hike up the Maple Trail in Forest Park," Bruso tells Portland Monthly. "I pretended I was into it because I liked her. It changed my life right then and there."

She fell in love with hiking, but noticed that the hikers she saw online all looked the same — thin, white, and able-bodied.

"How many times can you see photos of a flawless, thin, white woman on a summit looking like she got airlifted in? I tell you, that’s not what I look like when I’m on a summit," she said. "I look haggard and like I just worked my ass off to get up there. I’m invested in being another face for the outdoors."

It's not just her own face she highlights, but Bruso said that kind of happened by accident.

"I started calling myself by [that name] on my blog and people just grabbed onto it," she said. "I started the Instagram account in June 2016. It took off immediately. When people see the diversity of people featured, it really is a lightbulb moment. Like, this is for me, too."

No matter how Unlikely Hikers came to be, we're glad it's here and that more and more people are able to see that not only thin, white people are fit or outdoorsy.

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