Miranda Leitsinger
Instructor
Miranda is a hiking enthusiast who grew up in the Bay Area but lived away for about 20 years as my journalism career took her around the globe — from Asia to Europe to the Caribbean. In her most recent job at KQED, she wrote popular hiking guides for the station’s audience.
Her daughter, Elise, was born the day that the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic and since then, she have been taking a mid-career break. During that time, she began hiking on local trails with Elise, which helped her to recover from the PTSD and acute stress she suffered due to a life-threatening condition at the end of her pregnancy.
Friends asked to join her on my hikes with their babies and toddlers, and soon the group blossomed into Mommy & Me Hiking — bringing together new parents looking to build community, get support for postpartum issues and of course, to get some exercise in the great outdoors! She knows the challenges of the postpartum period and want all families to feel welcome to join the group and to discuss these issues together. Diversity is important to me and the term “mommy” is meant to include anyone who cares for a child.