Emily Ford (outdoorswoman)

Ford grew up in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota.^[2] Ford developed a love for the outdoors as a child, and spent time at her grandparents' farm in Jacobson, Minnesota.^[2][3] After graduating college, Ford moved to Duluth, Minnesota.^[2][4] In summer, she is head gardener at Glensheen Historic Estate in Duluth and is based in Willow, Alaska in winter.^[2][5]

Ford began long-distance hiking by completing the Superior Hiking Trail in northern Minnesota.^[6] Over the winter of 2020–21, Ford became the 78th person to thru-hike the Wisconsin Ice Age Trail, and the second person (and first woman) to do it in winter.^[2] She was accompanied on the 69-day, 1135-mile hike by a sled dog, Diggins; the pair averaged 16.5 miles per day.^[7][8] The journey attracted media and social media attention.^[8][9][10] It was the subject of a short documentary called Breaking Trail produced by a Minneapolis company; the film premiered at Banff Mountain Film Festival in fall 2021.^[10] In the winter of 2022, Ford (with Diggins) journeyed 28 days by ski along the Minnesota-Canada border through the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, beginning in Crane Lake and finishing early near Grand Marais due to an impassable Pigeon River.^[11]

Ford subsequently became interested in dogsled racing and was mentored by Paul Schurke of Wintergreen dogsled center in Ely, Minnesota.^[5] In early 2024, she competed in the Copper Basin 300 and finished 21st of 35; she subsequently competed in the Kobuk 440 race and qualified for the 2025 Iditarod.^[4][12] In the Iditarod, Ford placed 18th (of 33 teams), and finished 3rd among 16 rookies.^[13]