The Backcountry Squatters Story
From a college club to a nationwide community of women and nonbinary leaders in the outdoors.
Backcountry Squatters began the way many good ideas do: over bowls of cereal and honest conversation.
In 2014, co-founders Kit Kocha and Andie Creel arrived at Montana State University drawn by the endless outdoor opportunities. Bozeman delivered on adventure — but not on equity. Nearly every trip they went on had a strikingly uneven gender ratio. The question kept coming up:
Where were the women?
Rather than accept the status quo, they decided to build the community they were looking for.
In fall 2015, Kit and Andie started MSU’s Women’s Outdoor Adventure Club — now known as Backcountry Squatters — with the simple goal of creating a supportive, welcoming space for women to recreate, learn, and lead together outdoors. When more than 60 students showed up to the very first meeting, it became clear they weren’t alone in wanting something different.
In the years that followed, Backcountry Squatters grew through shared leadership, creativity, and a lot of heart. With the help of Darby Knoll, Kelly Balfanz, dedicated executive boards, and countless stoke-builders, the MSU chapter hosted technical clinics, story-sharing nights, gaper days, backcountry dances, and community events that reflected the joy, curiosity, and grit of its members.
What started as a campus club quickly revealed a much bigger truth: students across the country were looking for the same thing.
As chapters began popping up at other universities, so did the need for structure, sustainability, and funding to reduce barriers to participation. In 2018, Backcountry Squatters officially became a nonprofit — built by young leaders who were learning as they went, supported by mentors, and committed to creating something meant to last beyond them.
Today, Backcountry Squatters is a nationwide network of college chapters led by passionate students, supported by an engaged Board of Directors, and guided by staff who believe deeply in the power of community-led leadership. Each chapter brings its own personality and approach, while staying rooted in a shared mission: increasing participation, representation, and leadership of women and nonbinary individuals in the outdoor community and industry.
Backcountry Squatters chapters open doors to outdoor opportunities that women and nonbinary folks have historically been excluded from — and we work intentionally to keep widening those doors for communities who have been denied access to outdoor spaces altogether.
The nonprofit itself is now run by Squatters alumni and people who didn’t have access to a community like this during their college years — but deeply wish they had. Together, they bring lived experience, perspective, and care to the work of supporting chapters, launching new ones, funding scholarships and grants, and maintaining an alumni network so members can stay connected long after graduation.
Backcountry Squatters was never about one founder, one chapter, or one generation. It has always been — and will continue to be — about building something together.
