Sol Fitness Adventures

24/01/2025

Last May, I took a 3-day break from social media during a backpacking trip to the Grand Canyon. What I thought was a short detox turned into nearly a 6-month sabbatical that reshaped my approach to business and life.

I guess you could call me someone who drank the Kool-Aid leading up to this point. Like, I was listening to the people who tell you that if you’re not posting every day, your business will fail. That proved not to be the case, thank goodness! I do look forward to posting more again and sharing what we’ve created at WebbWell. But it will be in a different way than it was before, on my terms.

I decided to write a blog about my experience stepping away from The Socials. You can read about the top 3 benefits I discovered while off the grid at https://webbwell.com/blog/

Have you ever taken an extended break from social media?

04/01/2025

All eyes on that Big Hairy Audacious Goal again! 🏜️ 🥾

I’m not a New Year’s resolution kind of person - but backpacking below the rim of the Grand Canyon twice during the year I turn 50 has my full attention. A hard hike in the desert environment is good soul medicine for me. It makes me keep my mental edge and whets my appetite for a challenging training goal.

What’s your favorite trail below the rim? 👇🏼

03/01/2025

I dubbed 2024 ✨ The Year of Doing Hard Things. Maybe that’s why the Universe dealt a hand of shingles, 3 separated ribs, a broken business partnership, and a promising but short-lived romantic relationship of deep learnings.

We know the low’s are but one side of the coin. The highlights: A thriving fitness training practice and a rebuilt digital platform with no threads or broken promises attached. Enjoy a few pics from the highlight reel 🎥:

Santa Barbara, CA, December. The West Coast was just what the doctor ordered for my newly single and sad heart. Thank you 💙

Zion NPS, November. A sunset solo hike into one of my favorite backcountry spots flooded me with memories of the 17 commercial trips I once led to the area. Anyone down for an 18th?!

Deer Valley, UT, October. Looking up from my hammock, I contemplated my place in a community where people value their natural surroundings and take the time to “stop and smell the roses” 🍁

Taliesin West, AZ, October. Exploring one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpieces, I was struck that beauty is a key value in my entrepreneurial life. With the help of an awesome team of interns and graphic designers, we updated WebbWell’s digital look to harness and share more beauty.

Uinta-Wasatch NF, UT, September. Never underestimate the restorative power of waking up in a tent on a crisp morning in late fall. 🏕️

Park City, June. and threw a surprise 50th complete with blasts from the past and fun photo montages, while treated me to the amazing RHCP 🎵

Grand Canyon NPS, May. Committing the year I turn 50 to doing hard things, I hiked 28km to the Colorado River and back on a lesser traveled, spectacular historic trail with the support of two partners in crime 🏜️

Sebring, Florida, March. Entering the fast and furious world of motorsports and experiencing life in the pit with was a surprise turn and career highlight. 🏁

Park City, February. Skiing a few of the best powder days I’ve ever had with the help of who somehow inspired me to fight for first chair. ⛷️

To 2025 🥂

31/12/2024

HAPpy NeW YeAR! 🎊

Best wishes for a year of adventures, health, and love 💗

25/12/2024

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! 🕊️

Going back to our roots, it’s a red dirt Christmas in the Mojave Desert with my family this year. I drove in last night just in time to take a solitary walk into the sunset. The moody lighting, wet smell of land and creosote, rivers of petrified wood underfoot with not a soul in sight created the perfect cocktail of endorphins to decompress before the festivities.

Wishing you all groundedness, connection, peace and contentment within and without! 🏜️ 🚶‍♀️🌞🎄🥳

15/12/2024

It’s been too long since I got my on. 🌊

Good Morning 💙

28/11/2024

Happy Thanksgiving Friends! 🍂 🫶🏼

22/07/2024

Highlights from a special invitation to co-create community, share my gifts and help others find their frequency with . Fernanda thank you for seeing me and encouraging us to redefine what success looks like for us. Namaste my friend 🙏🏻 🧘🏼‍♀️ 🌀

17/07/2024

Thinking of a few close friends and colleagues today ♥️ and how grateful I am for them. Not only that our paths began to cross and converge 20 years ago, but that we’ve cared to continue to pour into and show up for each other as friends and professionals. Thank you for being strong and loving to each other 🫶🏼

❤️

11/07/2024

“To the desert go prophets and hermits; through desert go pilgrims and exiles. Here the leaders of the great religions have sought the therapeutic and spiritual values of retreat, not to escape, but to find reality.”
Paul Shephard

Friends, I’m back from an oh-so-restorative hermit phase. I thought I’d just step away from the socials long enough to focus on hiking an incredible, lesser traveled route in the Grand Canyon; but once my posting sabbatical started, I realized how much I’ve needed this time to focus on my own life and business - the kind that takes place IRL, out of the public eye and off of the internet.

Wow, that was a refreshing experiment!

My personal training business in Park City is booming. I get so excited every time I receive a word-of-mouth referral or someone finds my bio and reaches out because they are finally ready to heal and transform their body. I’m excited because that’s when I can bring my full self - all of the personal and professional learnings of how to heal and get strong, mentally and physically - to the experience of my clients.

Me and everyone at WebbWell have been hard at work creating digital programs and content that can help more people, the same way I get to help my in-person clients. Big changes to the way we deliver that content will roll out soon - Stay Tuned!

One last learning from my hermit phase: always remember, our health is our wealth. May we all be fearless in enjoying sabbaticals when and where we need to, and may we all embrace showing up IRL as much as possible!

What lessons have you learned from taking care of yourself? 👇🏼

26/05/2024

Grand Canyon, Arizona, May 2024. 🏜️

From the 37 degree start on a trail 114 years old to marveling at the agave bloom stalks that stood sentinel on the trail to being pleasantly surprised by the ease with which we ascended the steep switchbacks for Cathedral Stairs, this backpacking trip was every bit the pilgrimage I set out to accomplish.

To anyone who has experienced a setback and is putting in the work to come out the other side I have one thing to say: don’t look back, you’re not going that way!

18/04/2024

“We do not run risks acting on our beliefs, but occupy hours each day watching actors who pretend to have adventures, engaged in mock-meaningful action.” - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

In 2018 I was a guest on a river trip on the Green River - a floating think tank, if you will - to engage in deep conversation with a group of outdoor industry leaders around what would happen if more people could experience what it’s like to have 3 days unplugged. Without mentioning names, there were founders there from 3 of the biggest social media platforms we all know and use. One of them said:

“Technology is occupying so much time that our ability to choose and discern is becoming threatened. Our ability to manage technology is critical.”

The truth is, I thrive in community and in direct contact with living beings. My soul is fed when I get to spend meaningful time in conversation with others, training clients in the gym, and playing outside in nature. But scrolling through the nonsense, feeling compelled to be here because I’m a small business owner and ‘need’ people to know what I’m up to now? No.

Earth Month and Earth Day feel like the perfect opportunity to take at least 3 days off to recalibrate. Join me if you’d like! Let’s compare notes on the other side of peace and quiet and thinking our own thoughts, the way our brain was designed to work.

In the meantime, exciting things are coming up at and we’ll leave the light on for you 😚

💙Melanie

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Obligatory hashtags

04/04/2024

The last two days of skiing have been fabulous, sunny, ‘bluebird’ spring skiing days and I have loved every one of my “lunch run” laps!

It’s usually about this time in the season that I set a goal of vertical feet, but I might not even do that this season. What I feel great about is that I skied like I wanted to this year – with the goal of improving my technique by skiing 90-minute to 2-hour sessions max, midweek only to mitigate the risks of getting hurt, and feeling the snow “feel me back” so I could be in Flow. ⛷️ Judging by the joy on my face the last few days - I think it worked!

Don’t ever let somebody else run your railroad. Only you know your body, and what is best for you. Carefully create your team of friends and health and fitness experts who can support and guide you, create a strategy with their help, set your boundaries, and execute on that strategy. You are bound to succeed! 👊🏼

02/04/2024

Big shout out to for hosting the coolest gathering ever: a poetry slam + networking event at .co that lifted my spirits and touched my heart. 🫶🏼

The invitation to share a favorite poem took me back to the early days in my career as a wildlife biologist, when my uniform consisted of a pair of river sandals, river shorts, a few t-shirts and my sports bra. Hiking Utah’s desert river corridors and wetlands working to save native aquatic species from extinction while book clubbing with my Mother Nature loving colleagues was a simplicity I haven’t known since, and I often find myself walking the tightrope between my capitalist aspirations and the desire for a life that keeps me in direct, face to face, soul to soul contact with real life humans. It’s important. It’s life-affirming, and I’m so grateful for the friends who still relish in sharing arts and culture, an outdoor fitness adventure and a deep conversation with me.

An excerpt from the poem I shared, from the Tao de Ching:

Bend and be straight
Empty and be full
Wear out and be new
Have little and gain
Have much... and be confused.

22/03/2024

I can’t believe I’m sharing this publicly but...🙈

I’m turning 50 years old this year! To celebrate, friends and I plan to backpack an extremely difficult 24-mile permitted trek in the Grand Canyon. The terrain is steep and due to the lack of water and potential heat on the trail, there are consequences if we don’t do our due diligence. While this may seem daunting to most, I love wrapping my head around the logistics of a great outdoor fitness adventure! What gear to pack, how much food and where to find water are top of mind. Of course how and when to train our bodies and minds leading up to the trip is my forte.

This is when I’m glad I can draw upon the many years I worked as a wildlife biologist exploring the tributaries of the Grand Canyon and as an adventure travel guide for my own business Sol Fitness Adventures and top-rated Amangiri Resort, Adventure Partners, Butterfield & Robinson and Gray & Co. In spite of approaching the half century mark (yikes!), I know I’ve got this and I’m stoked to feel physically and mentally up to the challenge!

What challenges are you taking on in your life? Does age fuel your passions or hinder you?

14/03/2024

That time I got to hang in the hot pits with the crew, drivers and engineers…oh wait, it’s the 3rd time, somebody pinch me! 🏁

Let’s Go #21!

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10/03/2024

Still stoked on winter at the moment - and having more daylight!

📸 By at Vermejo Ted Turner Reserve, New Mexico

08/03/2024

Creating a fitness app that reflects my philosophy that fitness is more than a gum workout - it’s a way of life - has been a heavy lift. Having the support of the expert female personal trainers and mindbody specialists I call friends and colleagues has lightened my load, made the process less lonely, and without a doubt elevated the level of play of the WebbWell App. I am so proud of what we’ve created.

Thank you for showing me the power of what women can do when they support each other in reaching for the stars ✨

Read all about them at the link in the comments 👇🏼

Amie Kane-Lee Jennifer Simone Schwartz Tedi Searle Monique Derfuss Rachel Friedman Elberts

March is Women's History Month – a time to honor the achievements and contributions of women throughout history. At WebbWell, we're proud to recognize the remarkable female personal trainers who lead and inspire us in the fitness industry.